Just One Evil Act

A Lynley Novel

By: Elizabeth George

Narrated by: Davina Porter

Length: 28 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

#1 New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth George offers the latest in her Inspector Lynley series: a gripping child-in-danger story featuring fan favorite Barbara Havers.

Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers is at a loss: The daughter of her friend Taymullah Azhar has been taken by her mother, and Barbara can't really help - Azhar had never married Angelina, and his name isn't on Hadiyyah's, their daughter's, birth certificate. He has no legal claim. Azhar and Barbara hire a private detective, but the trail goes cold.

Azhar is just beginning to accept his soul-crushing loss when Angelina reappears with shocking news: Hadiyyah is missing, kidnapped from an Italian marketplace. The Italian police are investigating, and the Yard won't get involved, until Barbara takes matters into her own hands. As she attempts to navigate the complicated waters of doing anything for the case against her superior's orders, her partner, Inspector Thomas Lynley, is dispatched to Italy as the liaison between the Italian police and Hadiyyah's distraught parents.

In time, both Barbara and Lynley discover that the case is far more complex than just a kidnapping, revealing secrets about Angelina; her new lover, Lorenzo; and even Azhar - secrets Barbara may not be willing to accept. With both her job and the life of a little girl on the line, Barbara must decide what matters most and how far she's willing to go to protect it.

©2013 Elizabeth George (P)2013 Penguin Audio

The Italian was awful.

The pronunciation and the lack of male/female agreement when Italian was used was very distracting. For someone who knows the language, placing the accent in the wrong place made it difficult to follow. There was also the issue of placing an “a” at the end of a male word and an “o” at the end of a female word. The audio version of this book would have been so much better if these small details were fixed.

Just One Evil Act

This book created real characters that became friends. I didn't always understand them, but I was piqued to try.

The plot was deliberately convoluted and not at all predictable. Eventually everything falls into place and things work out better than I expected.

I am new to listening to a book, and I found it more of an adjustment than I expected.

Almost Put Off By Criticism...Glad I Ignored It

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes...the story has excellent details and a variety of characters, all contributing to a satisfying audiobook.

What did you like best about this story?

I'm a George fan and so glad to be hearing more of Lynley and Havers.

Have you listened to any of Davina Porter’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Davina is very competent with different voices...particularly men versus women.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Absolutely.

Any additional comments?

I don't understand all the criticism about the Italian with which the novel is peppered, purportedly "without translation". However, there is contextual translation of every Italian comment/dialogue, and I enjoyed the additional challenge to my attention while listening. Davina Porter did it beautifully, at least to my uneducated ear.

Get another narrator who can pronounce Italian

Would you consider the audio edition of Just One Evil Act to be better than the print version?

I love Elizabeth George's characters and always look forward to the next book in the Lynley series. This is the first time that I have bought one of her books on tape, and I have to say that I am very very disappointed. When I read that part of the story takes place in Italy, I was excited because I speak Italian and am very familiar with Tuscany. I really like the way Ms. George uses Italian words without translating them but in context so it is easy to figure out what the words mean. However, this narrator almost ruined the experience for me because of her horrendous Italian pronunciation. How hard would it have been for her to learn some basic rules of pronunciation before accepting this job? Italian is a phonetic language, and unlike English, it is easy to learn what sounds the letters make. It is not always easy to know which syllable to stress, but she certainly could have asked a native speaker. Practically every single word has an error, either of stress or major mis-pronunciation. I'm not expecting her accent to be perfect, but at least she could have made an effort. Students of Italian on the very first day of class usually do a better job of pronouncing words. I find myself screaming at the recording, which obviously detracts from the experience. Please please please don't hire this woman again if there is even one word of Italian in the book.

Would you be willing to try another one of Davina Porter’s performances?

absolutely not

Elizabeth George needs a editor armed with a chain

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I liked the basic plot idea but this book was overly long. Long and tortuous at times. It didn't need so many subplots. They were so unnecessary, I found myself fast-forwarding through them, and could easily pick the plot back up on the other side.

Not even Davina Porter could save Elizabeth George from herself.

Only mildly enterntaining

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I love the Barbara Havers character and would have liked to love the book but I found it to be overly long and under edited. I think that Havers is marginally within character and I welcomed her chance to bloom, but I found the plot to be contrived and trite (I figured out pretty quickly what had happened).

I suppose the bottom line is that Elizabeth George was not able to develop the plot and the characters enough to give Barbara the leading role. She still seems more like a secondary character and wasn't enough to carry the book for me. Sure, she's headstrong but I find it difficult to imagine her getting so intertwined with Mitchell Corsico and Isabelle Audry did an about face that was a bit too convenient.

Unlike some, I didn't mind the Italian as it wasn't too hard to follow the plot. I enjoyed the scenes in Lucca, as I've actually been there and can picture it.

I agree that the book is way too long. not enough happened to justify it. A tighter edit could have helped it a lot.

Would you ever listen to anything by Elizabeth George again?

Sure, I would listen to some of her earlier novels as they were captivating. Will I listen to future books? No, I'll wait until I can get them free from the library until I'm convinced they are worth purchasing again. I only slogged through this one because I kept hoping it would get better.

What three words best describe Davina Porter’s performance?

fine, not great

Any additional comments?

Like many authors with long-running series I fear that Elizabeth George has run her course with these characters.

Running out of Steam

I have been a fan of Elizabeth George and her main characters, Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers, for many, many years. But I fear that EG is running out of steam. This book was too long (I can't believe I said that); the ending was facile; and I found the choices some characters made difficult to believe (out of character). I actually found myself drifting off periodically because the story simply didn't hold my interest.

The narrator was excellent.

Hang in there it's all worth it by the end

I am a big fan of this series. This book concerned me in the beginning. Some of the plot seemed much too obvious and I was tempted to be disappointed feeling like it was so clear where the story was heading. However, this author is truly excellent and nothing was as it seemed. Very very good book, and another great adventure for all the beloved characters in this series

Leisurely stroll through a police procedural

I was quite surprised at the negative tone of other reviews. Perhaps we have read different books. This volume seems very much in keeping with others in the series. There is the leisurely pace, the telling detail, the slightly grotesque ancillary characters, the mild fantasy element (he's an earl! she's a veterinarian! Let's solve crimes!) along with some deft plotting and some quite moving moments. One has no feeling of an author coasting or merely going through the motions. E. George has produced a novel very much in keeping with her previous work.

That being said, this remains genre writing so the ascent into the "4 star" territory is a bit precipitous, however an extra point should go to balance out the undeserved "1 star" ratings.

Too silly

As much as I enjoy the characters that Elizabeth George has created, their behavior in this book was just too much like slapstick. Yes, love can make fools of us all, but even so...
Maybe the next one will be better. Sigh!