C. (Don't blank click my reviews, comment please!’s Reviews > Playing for the Ashes > Status Update

I am jogging along, always interested enough in Thomas, Barbara, Helen, Simon, Deborah that I never find Elizabeth George's stories too long. Her début had 400 pages, the next few contained an average 300 pages. I knew that she evolved her series instalments into doorstoppers. Believe me, those softcovers and hardcovers are piled atop our home shelves. This is the first novel of 678 pages but I was entirely keen.

You never like the guest narrator, Olivia. I did not, because she is too crassly dirty mouthed even to her parents. I include a little swearing in my own modern day dialogue but this novel's two youths appallingly lack manners. However I see how her chapters contribute drama and understanding to Thomas' & Barbara's investigation. A side note about extreme animal rescue from laboratories is touching and redeeming.

To my taste we are leaping too much to chapters that unknown guest characters narrate, for whom I have no liking either. I suppose we will focus on Thomas, Helen, Simon, Deborah, Barbara in the main and make use of our extra external insight. However it is ample for me, to receive insight from following principal personages exclusively. I am always keen to return to them and disliked narration being parcelled out.

And so I return to a familiar authoress on another mystery. If I criticize anything, it is that her introductions can be cumbersome. She should not open with external characters and take long to bring in the regular crew. I would reassure new readers to ride it out because you will love Thomas, Helen, Barbara, Simon, Deborah. Professionalism and compassion are enriched by very personal friendships and home lives.