Title: Careless In Red
(Inspector Lynley #15)
Author: Elizabeth George
Genre: Mystery, Fiction, Crime
First published: 2008
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Finished reading: August 30th 2016
Pages: 568
DNF at page 80
WARNING: upopopular opinion ahead!! Honestly, I’ve tried. I think this is only the second or third book I have ever DNFed and I still feel a bit guilty for doing so… I must have started reading Careless In Red at least four or five times before over the last two years, but I just can’t bring myself to keep reading. There are too many storylines and the pace is slower than a sleeping snail. On top of that the descriptions are superlong, dull and the story itself just doesn’t grab my attention either. It’s honestly a shame because this book belongs to one of my favorite genres… And I’m aware Careless In Red is actually book nr. 15 in a series, but after this sample I don’t think I want to read the first book after all. I know a lot of people seem to enjoy this series, but it definitely isn’t for me.
Detective Superintendent Thomas Lynley retreated to Cornwall after his wife was murdered. There he spends six solitary weeks hiking the coastline, but he cannot seem to escape his memories. On the forty-third day of his walk, Lynley discovers the body of a young man who seems to have fallen to his death. He has no choice but to abandon his solitary life and has to ask for reinforcements. While the closest town seems to be an unlikely place for murder, it soon becomes clear that a killer is indeed at work. And this time, Lynley is not a detective but a witness, and even a possible suspect…
I always enjoy reading a good mystery/detective story, but somehow I never managed to read but a few pages at the time of this fifteenth book in the Inspector Lynley series. The pace is so slow and the descriptions are so long that it’s really hard to stay focused, and I also found that it had way too many storylines going on. That said, I’ve only managed to read the first 80 pages, so things might improve later on. I guess I will never know…
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maybe starting in the 15th book of the series threw you off or something , I mean the too many storyline could just be a result of accumulation of plot points from the first 14 books .
But then again you did say it’s a slow pace and distracting so maybe it’s not the fact that it’s 15th book in a series and just dull storytelling who knows . Sad to read it didn’t work out for you , Best of luck with the next one 🙂
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Part of the problem could have been the fact that it’s the fifteenth book in a series, but after such a slow pace and overlong descriptions I don’t think I will enjoy the first book either… Especially since it seems to be part of her writing style in the first place. Luckily I’ve been able to read lots of great books since.
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I always feel so guilty when I DNF a book. Maybe starting from the beginning of the series would have helped? Sometimes it just doesn’t work and it’s better not to force things 🙂
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Since part of the problem I had was with her writing style, I don’t think switching to the first book would have helped… I normally never read a book out of series order, but I got a copy of this one at a book exchange and realized too late it was a series.
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I’ve watched some of the Lynley stories on TV and quite enjoyed them but don’t know if I’ll ever get round to reading the books. Well, maybe just one as an experiment.
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I’ve never since the TV stories, but it might be interesting to watch one or two some time to see if I like them better than the book.
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