Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

After the excruciatingly awful "Believing the Lie", I promised myself I would give Elizabeth George one more chance, for old times' sake. I have read every one of the books in the Lynley-Havers series, and most of them more than once. George is an immensely talented writer, and I was not ready to give up on her after a (hopefully) brief decline in the quality of this series. However...I am roughly 20% (according to Kindle) into this book, and sweet baby Jesus, I don't know what to say. Who wrote this? Certainly not Elizabeth George! She used to be able to draw the reader in immediately with fresh dialog and rich atmosphere, but this book breaks all the rules of "show me, don't tell me". Rather than give us dialog between characters, we get dry narrative of what the characters said to each other, in passive voice. The central dilemma of the kidnapping of Azhar's daughter is strangely bereft of any emotional impact. And Lynley? Don't even get me started. We're supposed to believe he's some suave Lothario, but he's more clumsy about asking for a simple date than a pimply 12-year-old. I suppose it's supposed to be cute vulnerability, but I find it ridiculous. His pretense of enjoying roller derby just to get into a woman's pants is even more preposterous than every other absurd, childish, borderline sociopathic twitch in his recent "romantic" history. I don't like these characters anymore. I used to adore them. So far, the only saving grace of this book is the absence of the self-absorbed and abhorrent Deborah St James, but I have a feeling that won't last. I don't know what happened to Barbara Havers. She was always a reliable favorite, long after Lynley became a cardboard, self-pitying cliche, but she is not present so far in this book. And for Christ's sake, we know by now that she has a working class accent. Is it REALLY necessary to write "I c'n get that, Guv."? It's okay to write the whole damn word, we can fill in the accent on our own! Also, the Italian passages: give me a break. I've only just started to see them, and I promise you, this book is not worth employing Google Translate to decipher whatever hidden meaning is in those passages. So, I'll (probably) soldier on, since I paid for this nightmare. But this is the last Elizabeth George book that will be foisted off on me. Next time, someone else can be the guinea pig. If there are the same 1-star reviews right out of the gate, I'm done. UPDATE: I did finish, finally. Geez. Barbara became only more foolish and deranged, and although I understand that we are supposed to recognize her empty life drives her to go "off reservation" for her few friends, this was just too much. Breaking a few rules is one thing, but being totally stupid at every turn was another. Also, the same slangy harassment of the same sleazy characters at least three times over was hopelessly repetitive. My wife is English, and I have only once heard her say "Bob's your uncle." Normal Brits don't pepper every single conversation with that quaint phrase. I'm tired of Barbara's disgusting eating habits (shoving food in her mouth instead of employing a modicum of manners), ridiculous clothing, incessant smoking, and strained metaphors. Her quirks and basic unattractiveness used to be interesting and authentic, but now George seems to be deliberately making Barbara repulsive. If that was the aim, well done. Also, the two "twists" were not all that twisty; I correctly guessed how they would come out without thinking very deeply about it. This book is still better than "Believing the Lie", which was by far the worst book I've ever read all the way through, but that's not saying much. I don't think this series can be saved.