Great Addition to the Series

This installment has fewer ambiguous characters and more humor than many of her books. Lynley grows past some of his aristocratic assumptions, as does his girlfriend. The villainy is spread over several people, and those story lines are compelling. I really like the interaction of recurring characters, including some that were barely mentioned in previous novels.
The best part is Elizabeth George's writing style. She respects the reader with detailed descriptions and a decent vocabulary. I pick up some of the accent and patterns of my audiobooks. I like the way I think when Elizabeth is my influence. Of course, I go straight to southern redneck when listening to Diana Rowland's White Trash series.
Some reviews criticize John Lee, but I think he's great. Davina Porter also narrates some of the series, and she's also outstanding. While listening I thought how wonderful it is that two narrators can do justice to these books.
My hope is that Audible will bring more unabridged books to their inventory. Many of George's books aren't available in their entirety. Who knows the author's talent based on a pared-down version? Maybe some of the readers auditioning for Audible will make unabridged books their project.

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24 people found this helpful

Not one of her best

I have enjoyed Lynley and Havers for years and admire George’s innovations to keep the series going. This book’s strengths are in the structure of the crime itself and in the realistic depiction of the characters, but the realism is also the story’s downfall.

There are hundreds of pages of exposition before we even arrive at a crime and have any action from Lynley or Havers. This fails to engage because the reader has no emotional investment in these people and they appear to be either fairly nasty or complicit in not removing themselves from their untenable situations. It feels like bad editing. Furthermore, the tone of the harridan is so awful and the abuse so explicit, there were times I had to turn it off to take a break. Part of the tone problem may be in the acting choices of John Lee, (there’s only so much shrillness one can stand in the name of pleasure reading) but there is certainly evidence in the text to support those choices. While the descriptions of abuse are realistic and the abuse that seems tenuously connected to the main action is undoubtedly consistent with what police investigations uncover, it is not compelling in terms of the plot and is deeply upsetting, thus feels gratuitous.

Similarly, Havers, who has historically demonstrated so much intelligence and her brusqueness has been linked to her pursuit of the truth, handles several witnesses so roughly and insensitively without recognizing subtext that instead of being misperceived as a bull in a china shop, she actually becomes one, which I felt was inconsistent with her as a character. Crass and rude rather than clever and lacking self awareness.

In the context of this tone, Isabel’s personal vendetta against Havers feels stale and she veers on the side of the often characatured senior justice official who cares nothing for justice only wants appearances upheld. Given her and Lynley’s past, there seemed so much more those segments could contribute to both the book and those characters’ development.

Finally the comic relief of D making over Havers would have been much more successful if not the counterpoint to a plot where the machinations and manipulations of others cause so much deep damage. It doesn’t quite strike the light tone at which George aims.

Still looking forward to seeing where this series goes, but I would recommend skipping this one, or if you can’t bear to let a piece of the series go unread, read the written version and take breaks when needed.

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2 people found this helpful

Lovely meandering story

I enjoyed the relaxed pace and quirks of Elizabeth Gordon's writing. But while I usually enjoy John Lees's narration, I don't think he was quite right for this book. His depiction of the female characters and the various accents lacked authenticity. I wonder if it would have been more effective if the narrator was female. Again, I am usually a fan of John Lee but apart from Alistair I found his voices and accents bordering on ridiculous and, at times, inconsistent, to the point I found myself focussing on this rather than the story.

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1 person found this helpful

Disappointment

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I found this story just OK. I have loved reading about Lynley and Havers through the years but it was as if someone else wrote this book.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

It meandered too much...should have been tighter.

What aspect of John Lee’s performance would you have changed?

He read with a condescending air. Very irritating

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Too long

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Not her best

But ELizabeth George not at her best is still better than others at their best….

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What Happened???

What did you like best about A Banquet of Consequences? What did you like least?

We liked nothing best about both the story and the reader. Never finished it! The reader was a just not good period!

Would you recommend A Banquet of Consequences to your friends? Why or why not?

I've read all every book be Elizabeth George and the are great, but listening to this book took away from all the past joy.. No recommendation on this one, not this one

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Again it was very poorly done, so much so both my wife and myself just stopped listening.

Do you think A Banquet of Consequences needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

???

Any additional comments?

The two main characters in this series are enjoyable in the interplay, as each is 180 degree out of faze with the other, which make for fun reading.

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Narrated by Brit Shatner

Lee can do voices but he has the cadence of someone mocking William Shatner which add humor to prose that are not humorous. I powered through listening to his ridiculousness again because the story was good. I had to know what the fallout for Barb would be. He is NOT suited for reading these books. Maybe Hitchihikers Guide the Galaxy. That would be a good listen.

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Better narration needed

Maybe it’s just me, but I’m so disappointed in this narration. John Lee is so over the top, I cringe all the way through. The book is outstanding, as are all the Lynley novels!

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the Story vs the Telling

Any additional comments?

I am a fan of the Lynley stories and looked forward to this latest installment. Tommy, Barbara & Winston did not disappoint; the distraction was the reading. For some reason, John Lee felt the need to put all the dialogue through an annoying British angst filter. Most of the characters spoke with a most annoying tone of melodrama. The straight narrative was fine but the dialogue was distracting. I like a book read to me, not performed as a "radio drama"

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The narrator is terrible

He mumbles and speaks in such a low voice at the end of almost every sentence, the words are impossible to understand. I think I will skip anything he narrates in the future as not being able to hear what he is saying really destroys continuity in the story.

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