Amazon.co.uk Review
Gideon Davies is a classical violinist who has lost his ability to play. In the middle of a Beethoven trio, his mind has been wiped clear of everything related to music. But what he can remember is the weeping of a woman and a single name: Sonia. Davies is soon involved with the death of a young woman called Eugenie, who is run down by a car in the streets of London. On the track of her killer, Lynley and his associates Barbara Ramiz and Winston Nkata become aware of a connection with the violinist and a mysterious group of people somehow linked with a crime and its consequences that took place over 20 years ago.
As always, George is faithful to the demands of the classical detective narrative, and the reader is challenged by the slowly unfolding revelations just as much as her struggling protagonists. But, unlike so many of her contemporaries, George never forgets that the sense of place is quite as intrinsic to a mystery story as any whodunit elements, and the panoply of England unfolded before us here is richly and vividly realised. In earlier books, Lynley has seemed almost preternaturally gifted, but here his desperate attempts to penetrate the dark secret have much more of the quality of a struggle - and perhaps this is why A Traitor to Memory is possibly the most satisfying outing for George's detective yet. --Barry Forshaw
Review
'A long and absorbing read that will please lovers of the traditional crime novel' (Scotland on Sunday )
'Elizabeth George orchestrates the family-secrets theme like a maestro . . . worthy of a standing ovation.' (Amazon.com )
'keeps the reader on the knife's edge of suspense, thanks to George's skill at weaving together intriguing characters, disturbing action, police procedure, psychological insight, and mordant wit. First-rate suspense with a stunner of an ending.' (Booklist )
'A very accomplished crime writer who is able to keep the reader's suspense right up to the last page.' (Woman's Way, Dublin )
'Thoroughly enjoyable.' (Bookseller )
'A Traitor to Memory is more PD James than Ruth Rendell . . . very convincing . . . the book makes a serious and valid point about what is left of the personality of a musical prodigy if the music is taken away.' (Classical Music )
'Plots of dazzling inventiveness are the hallmark of George's first-rate murder mysteries. A story to keep you engrossed al the way to Inverness and back.' (Livewire )
