- Hardcover: 576 pages
- Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd; Book Club (BCE/BOMC) edition (21 Aug 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 034076709X
- ISBN-13: 978-0340767092
- Product Dimensions: 37.6 x 23.6 x 16 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 993,501 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
A Place of Hiding (Inspector Lynley Mysteries 12)
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Product Description
Amaazon.co.uk Review
A Place of Hiding is a solidly crafted novel by one of the queens of the traditional detective story, Elizabeth George. Someone killed millionaire Guy Brouard by slipping him a sedative and popping a stone in his throat and the Guernsey police have opted for a suspect who has, from their point of view, the advantage of being an American stranger. However, China has the good fortune of knowing English friends who are determined to see that justice is done, and who feel considerable loyalty to her and her brother Cherokee.
Elizabeth George relies heavily on misdirection--there are almost too many suspects for this killing because Brouard was a games-player with a distinctly iffy set of personal habits and relatives. Not least among the plot strands is the whole question of Guernsey's occupation by the Germans in WW2; Brouard's involvement in a scheme to establish a Museum of Occupation precipitates an entirely different set of tragic events at a tangent to those surrounding his own death. This is a book impressively pervaded by vividly evoked places and by the legacies of history, both national and family; the eventual revelations about specific guilt and innocence are secondary, in a sense, to the implication that we are all involved, dangerously, in each other's lives. --Roz Kaveney
Oxford Times
'rewarding and fascinating . . . intricate plotting and finely tempered finale'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
BAD THINGS ABOUT THIS BOOK
- At a page count of over 600, the story is rather bloated. It could have been told more effectively in 400 pages.
- I think Elizabeth suffers from thesaurus-mania. She perseveres in her custom of employing very convoluted and curious words where an uncomplicated one would have sufficed.
- This book proves that meticulous research doesn't always guarantee authenticity. Elizabeth is a Californian anglophile and her novels are peppered with the quirks and details of British life - but for someone who actually lives in the UK, it just doesn't read true.
- Where is Barbara Havers?
- At a page count of over 600, the story is rather bloated. It could have been told more effectively in 400 pages.
- I think Elizabeth suffers from thesaurus-mania. She perseveres in her custom of employing very convoluted and curious words where an uncomplicated one would have sufficed.
- This book proves that meticulous research doesn't always guarantee authenticity. Elizabeth is a Californian anglophile and her novels are peppered with the quirks and details of British life - but for someone who actually lives in the UK, it just doesn't read true.
- Where is Barbara Havers?
GOOD THINGS ABOUT THIS BOOK
- It's a labour of love. The author seems to write without too much regard for what sells or not, which oddly enough makes for more enjoyable reading.
- It's got a satisfying tangled and twisted plot.
- It's got three-dimensional and intriguing characters.
- It evokes atmosphere and tensions brilliantly.
On the whole, it's a competently crafted detective story - and who really cares if it is really, really realistic? If you're on the lookout for a thumping great read, this should do the trick.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Don't get me wrong, this is a very good book. But the main characters (Simon and his wife) are not as interesting as Lynley and Havers. Besides I waited more than a year for this book because I wanted to know what was going to happen with Barbara and her neighbors just to find out that she is not mentioned in this new book in the series.
I hope George goes back to the characters that really characterize this series in her next book!
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
First it is important to write that I like E.George's books and have read them all. This one is so disappointing I could hardly
believe my eyes. I'm afraid that I have to say that bying that book is wasting money and reading it is wasting time.
In my opinion it has nothing to do with its being a St James story rather than a Lynley/Havers one. I have always liked Simon St James as a character and have always found him interesting. No, the problems are elsewhere. The plot is slow-paced, the story hard to credit, the dialogue dire and the neverending quarrels between spouses just boring. We had the 'Deb is in love with Tommy one' then the 'Deb is in love with Simon one' then the 'Deb can't get pregnant one'then the
'Deb doesn't want to adopt one' then the 'Deb had an abortion one' now it is the 'Simon treats me like a child one'. What is it going to be next time? 'Simon doesn't like my cooking' or
' How is he going to cope with my getting wrinkles'?
This book reads too much like soap watching. If you like soaps fine, if you don't you're going to be very annoyed by the banality and cheap psychology of that novel.
A word of advice. If you want a good read, buy some Rendell, PD James, Colin Dexter, Reginald Hill whatever... but not this one!
believe my eyes. I'm afraid that I have to say that bying that book is wasting money and reading it is wasting time.
In my opinion it has nothing to do with its being a St James story rather than a Lynley/Havers one. I have always liked Simon St James as a character and have always found him interesting. No, the problems are elsewhere. The plot is slow-paced, the story hard to credit, the dialogue dire and the neverending quarrels between spouses just boring. We had the 'Deb is in love with Tommy one' then the 'Deb is in love with Simon one' then the 'Deb can't get pregnant one'then the
'Deb doesn't want to adopt one' then the 'Deb had an abortion one' now it is the 'Simon treats me like a child one'. What is it going to be next time? 'Simon doesn't like my cooking' or
' How is he going to cope with my getting wrinkles'?
This book reads too much like soap watching. If you like soaps fine, if you don't you're going to be very annoyed by the banality and cheap psychology of that novel.
A word of advice. If you want a good read, buy some Rendell, PD James, Colin Dexter, Reginald Hill whatever... but not this one!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Long-Winded
Book 12 in the Inspector Lynley series
Ms. George has created a tale of human relationships, a story of betrayal and devotion. Read more
Ms. George has created a tale of human relationships, a story of betrayal and devotion. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Toni Osborne
Have to hide this one on my book shelf
I have read all of Ms George's books so far and find the more she writes the longer and tiresome they get. What drove her to leave the main characters out of this one and put St. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Reader's Digest
No place to hide
I wondered if it was me, but no, other reviewers didn't like this book either. When so much work goes into writing a novel it seems rude to be disparaging but as far as this book... Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2010 by lily mandolin
Deborah goes undercover! (warlockb@hotmail.com)
Elisabeth George was the absolute top writer of the late eigthies-early nineties and still holds a position as one of the
most read and most liked of crime writers... Read more
most read and most liked of crime writers... Read more
Published on 22 Nov 2004 by B. Jonsson
A place of Hiding - Truth and Deception
This is the latest paperback from Elizabeth George and hardly features Thomas Lynley at all - instead the action is with Lynley's former lover, Deborah St James, married to... Read more
Published on 16 May 2004 by Victoria M. Willemse
A Place of Hiding - Elizabeth George
I have read several of Elizabeth Georges novels, from the early days when she struggled in my opinion to formulate a good plot to the later ones where her characters are developed... Read more
Published on 13 May 2004 by katyann
a disappointing 2 1/2 star read
I have to confess I was rather disappointed with "A Place of Hiding." Perhaps it was because Barbara Havers (my favourite character in the series that Elizabeth George has created)... Read more
Published on 22 Jan 2004 by Burjiz
DID I MISS THE PLOT??
I picked up this book at the Airport last week and started it as soon as I got on the plane. I found it quite difficult to put down - but when I got to the end I felt I'd been... Read more
Published on 7 Nov 2003 by "elleha"
complete waste of time
The book was a gift from a dear friend who took the trouble to bring it back to me from London - even obtaining an autographed copy. Read more
Published on 20 Oct 2003 by vickie graham
Warning about tape: not read by Derek Jacobi
I bougth the book as an audiobook and unfortunately I had to find that while on the back it states "read by Derek Jacobi", the information on the front "Read by Simon Jones" is the... Read more
Published on 6 Sep 2003
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