BOOK REVIEW: With No One As Witness

While trying to empty a shelf of want-to-read books, I came across WITH NO ONE AS WITNESS by Elizabeth George. Because she does thrillers and is very prolific she has always been on the edge of my want-to list so I figured the time was ripe.

After the body of a fourth young boy is found in London, Scotland Yard has become aware that they not only have a serial killer to find, but that they are in the middle of a public relations disaster. The fourth victim was white, the first three had been black, or at least of mixed blood, and been overlooked by the local police.

Detective Superintendent Thomas Lynley,along with his disgraced partner Barbara Haver and hastily promoted Winston Nkata, has been assigned to find the murderer. The three are hampered by the powers at the Yard being aware that the Media will make much of the fact that the growing number of deaths have been black and the police force is mainly white. Hence the token black face of Nkata at each press conference.

Elizabeth George is not an author that I will probably read again. It may have helped if I had been more familiar with the characters of Lynley and Haver. I understand that they are recurring leads in her books and it may have helped to know more of their backgrounds. That was not my biggest problem with the book.

There is nothing overly original about the plot therefore I wanted to be captured by something else in the author’s style. Instead I was treated to way more information then I needed on the streets of London and personal situations involving lead characters that were never resolved.

The chase scenes were detailed about what streets, passing what points of interests until I wanted to scream to just get on with the chase. Instead of a hold your breath car chase, we got a scenic tour through various parts of London. This may have been of interest to Londoners, but it slowed the action too much for me. The slang was also new to me and at times confusing, though after awhile I was able to translate some of it.  ( I was surprised to learn that Ms. George is an American.)   

The little tidbits involving Barbara and her neighbors and  Winston with a young mother and her son were never fully explained nor resolved. I  assume that this is probably a hook to get the reader into the next book, but I just found it to be sloppy writing.

My apologies to George fans, I know that it is not completely fair to judge an author by one book, but I need a better understanding of characters and less fillers in a book. There are too many authors who do this type of novel to read one that does not suit my taste.