Progress Report: Elizabeth George’s Careless in Red

I’ll admit I wasn’t brimming with excitement at the prospect of reading the 15th installment of Elizabeth George’s Inspector Lynley mysteries. Partly this is due to my own disappointment at the previous book (that wasn’t really in the series at all but did relate to a character) and partly this is because reviews by people’s whose opinions tend to coincide with mine haven’t been glowing (see Maxine’s review from earlier this year). But mostly it’s because the damned thing is enormous.

I chose to listen to it rather than read the print version (I’m desperate for audio books and I’m too cheap to buy as many as I need so make do with what’s at the library) but it’s 23 hours and 15 minutes long! I have to assume she was paid by the word. I also have to assume she’s too ‘big’ to warrant an editor these days. I don’t know what else would account for the kind of wandering down rabbit holes and meandering off on tangents that have, so far, filled the book (I’m somewhere in the middle of CD13). No first time author would get away with this.

There’s not a whole lot of story to date and I’m not nearly as interested in the sex lives of a bunch of dreary Cornwall residents as George seems to be (seriously the woman’s obsessed). There have been some decent moments but the book doesn’t have nearly the punch (nor the brevity) of the excellent earlier books in the series like For the sake of Elena and Deception on his Mind. All the regular minor characters are missing (even good old Havers took until CD 11 to make her presence felt) and their replacements haven’t grabbed me much. The DCI investigating the case, Bea Hannaford shows potential but it’s a toss up whether I find out how she finishes up or pour superglue into my own ears to make it all stop.

 

Can you have too much of a good thing?

I’ve got two books on the go at the moment and coincidentally am experiencing the same problem with both: they’re too long although neither is a bad book.

I’m about half way through Michael Connelly’s The Lincoln Lawyer which runs to 12 CDs (just over 14 hours). It follows the plight of Mickey Haller, a 40-something defence lawyer in Los Angeles. There’s a big case where Mickey is defending a rich person who’s been accused  of assaulting a woman and there are a lot of other cases along the way. I’m quite engaged by Mickey and the big case has just gotten to a crucial point which I am very curious to see resolved. But, and it’s a big but, the thing is dragging like a wet weekend. I can’t believe the amount of detail included (long descriptions of meals eaten and every item of clothing someone is wearing etc).

I’m about a third of the way through the print version of Stephen Booth’s Blood on the Tongue. This one weighs in at 632 pages. The third in a series featuring DC Ben Cooper and DS Diane Fry who operate in England’s Peak District. A Canadian woman wants the local war-time crash of her grandfather’s plane to be re-investigated 57 years after the incident occurred and an unidentified man has been found in the snow. Both cases are at least mildly interesting and Ben Cooper is a character who has the potential to be someone I would like. But, and again it’s a big but, this one is dragging even more slowly. I’m at page 184 and I’d only need the fingers of one hand to count the important plot developments. But I can tell you what everyone’s wearing and describe in some detail the shops in the high street of the local town.

It’s not a length issue precisely, I recently listened to Child 44 which was also 14+hours long and I loved it so much I’d have been happy for it to go on longer. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed both the Stieg Larsson books that have been translated to English so far and they were nearly as long as Booth’s. It’s more an issue of the lack of a red pen during the editing process.

Normally I don’t have a problem stopping a book if I’m not enjoying it but in both these cases I’m quite interested in the stories.

I’m just not sure I’m interested enough to slog through the minutiae both have incorporated, especially with so many titles giving me come hither looks from my TBR shelves.

Sigh.