With No One As Witness

The police never suspected a serial killer was at large until they found the fourth murdered boy -- the first white victim -- his body draped over a tomb in a London graveyard. Suddenly a series of crimes and a potential public relations disaster have Scotland Yard on the defensive, scrambling to

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apprehend a maniac while avoiding accusations of racism.

Detective Superintendent Thomas Lynley, distracted by concerns for his pregnant wife, has been assigned to the investigation, along with his disgraced partner, Barbara Havers, who's fighting for her professional future. Winston Nkata -- deservedly, if hastily, promoted to detective sergeant -- is the black face who will speak to the media. But none of them can imagine the tenacity and ingenuity of the killer they seek . . . and no one is prepared for the savage, shocking instant when everything will change forever.

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Couldn't put it down-even though I knew the ending was coming!

Excellent work as always. Unfortunately for me I was given an uninvited sneak at the plot while looking for another book and knew most of the ending up front :(

“The game’s afoot.” Thus Acting Detective Superintendent Thomas Lynley enlists Constable Barbara Haver’s aid in another of Elizabeth George’s mystery series involving Lynley and Havers.

A serial killer is striking down young boys in London, but the fact goes unnoticed until a white boy is

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one of the victims. Only then is the Met is notified, and the crime becomes political. AC Hillier seeks to placate the media in ways that put him directly at odds with Acting DS Lynley: black DS Nkata is given a starring role in press conferences; a serial killer profiler - Dr. Robson - is added to the team; and a journalist is allowed to follow the team’s actions for the newspapers. All the young victims have been ritually murdered, and all but one seem to have been associated with Colossus, an outreach facility for troubled youth. In the midst of trying to beat the clock against further murders, Lynley shares his wife Helen’s pregnancy concerns, Nkata tries to make headway with single mom Yasmin Edwards, and Barbara deepens her relationship with her neighbors: single dad Taymullah Azhar and his daughter Hadiyyah.

Protagonists:

Acting Detective Superintendent Thomas Lynley
Detective Sergeant Winston Nkata
Detective Inspector John Stewart
Forensic Specialist Simon Allcourt-S. James
Assistant Commissioner Sir David Hillier
Detective Constable Barbara Havers
Forensic Psychologist Hamish Robson
Mitchell Corsico – journalist “embedded” in the Met investigation
Ulrike Ellis – head of Colossus
Griffin Strong – worker at Colossus
Robbie Kilfoyle – volunteer at Colossus

Verdict:

Fast-paced, suspenseful, full of credible suspects, and a knockout ending.

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This is a thoroughly gripping whodunnit. One of my most favorite characters was killed, though. Say it isn't so!

Elizabeth George has been blowing me away with her literate mysteries for years, and this time the twist left me totally stunned.

Found this book really laborious and long winded. It was recommended to me by a friend but I was itching to read another book I'd got so I don't think that helped.

Her best suspense that I’ve read so far. This follows a serial murderer and I like finding out that we’ve met the murderer very early one. That always makes me want to go back and see if hints/clues were left so I could figure out the murder myself. However, the end is horrific because of who

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dies and the senselessness of it. Well, it isn’t senseless but when you come to love characters like the one who dies, it’s personally heartbreaking. I’m skipping the next book for now, What Came Before He Shot Her, because I’ve read that it’s rather different and doesn’t involve Lynley or Havers. Not that I don’t like different! But that’s where my interests lay at the moment.

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Totally flabbergasted by the climax which really came some way before the end of the book. I enjoy the interplay of the characters and their backgrounds - don't read them just for the crime solving but for the ongoing character development. Unfortunately one character is finished and another

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profoundly changed.

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I did not like this book. I WILL NOT recommend it to anyone. That being said, I did listen to the whole story instead of quitting half way through.

I want to be truthful that there were things that I did like about the story. One, it kept my attention. Mainly because I'm one of those readers who is

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always trying to solve the crime before the characters do. There were enough potential suspects and persons of interest to make my guessing game difficult, but not so many that the story was cluttered. Two, there were surprises. There were crimes committed throughout that didn't seem to make any sense, until the entire picture came together at the end. One of those surprises being a death of someone that was not a high profile character, but the circumstances around that death were not at all what was assumed.

On to the things that I didn't like about this book. I am aware that this is a fiction book, not based on any actual event, and I'm not naive enough to think that a crime spree like this couldn't happen. I just don't happen to enjoy reading material in this genre to include children.

The primary story line is the quest for a serial killer who is murdering teenage boys. The crime scenes are gruesome detailing acts committed against these boys' bodies after they had been killed. Many of them had their navels removed. A couple had large incisions in their chest. One of the boys was sodomized. This information leads the detectives to question a man who later admits that he is a part of a group known as MABIL. An acronym for Men And Boys In Love. It is an organized group of adolescent boys who are brought together with other boys and made to feel like they are part of a group. Once the boys learn to trust the leaders, they are paired up with a man for their "first time." As if all of that isn't bad enough, there is a 12 year old boy who murders a pregnant woman for no apparent reason!

I also did not think that this book flowed well. I listened to this start to finish and didn't skip even one second of the book. Yet, there were things that would happen or pop up in the investigation that seemed like they came out of thin air. I remember thinking a couple of times that there really needed to be some sort of lead-in to an event, but it just wasn't there. Then, at the end of the story, the author threw in this "need for human contact" for one of the characters, and tried to end the story with a little romance. It just didn't fit or work for me. I'm sure that with such a horrific plot to begin with, she wanted to end on a more positive note, but with a plot this sinister, it would take much more than what was there.

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All George's books are well written page turners.

Wow. I have forgotten the plot and the bad guy, but the last chapter -- I'll never forget that.

This book drew my attention for one thing: It's hefty and as I can ream through a book faster in less time than it takes to eat a pint of Ben & Jerry's. The author impressed me with her command of British language -- sometimes too much so -- especially as she's American. The story stayed pretty

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interesting and shifty until the end when everything became known. While this is part of story arc of suspense, the denoument lasted just a bit too long. This is definitely a suspense novel, but it touches on the politics of race and crime -- a bit more than touches, actually. An appreciated point is that it's not wholly the cops' fault if minority crimes are ignored. The media, in general, has just as much access to the information and it's hypocritical for the news industry to point a finger. George also touches on the issue of latent affirmative action: What do you do if you're promoted, obviously, for reasons that have nothing to do with skills or talents? My brain has stopped for now. I hope this interests you. Regardless, I plan on reading more of her works.

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I've struggled with the last few Lynley/Havers stories, but somehow Elizabeth George is right back on track with this one.  The characters are actually working together, the mystery actually starts right at the beginning, and I actually never had to force myself to keep on reading.  It's not the

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very traditional mystery structure of most of her other novels, as in this case Lynley is put in charge of a big Scotland Yard effort to stop a serial killer at work in London.  But it works despite that; indeed, the parts of the novel that work least well are the most traditional, as Havers talks to person after person in a youth outreach program.  It takes a better writer than most to make the internal politics of a youth outreach program interesting.  But the rest-- the methodical, slow hunt for evidence, often grasping at straws, as the killer operates with impunity-- makes for good reading.  It's horrifying at times, but that's George at her best for you.  Havers gets a chance to shine here, more than she has in any of these novels for what feel like a long time.

I still wonder why she hates Havers so much.  I mean, Lynley has his faults, but they're the kind of faults that aren't really faults: he's too forthright, he cares too much, he's too responsible.  Oh, how dreadful for him.  On the other hand, Havers's inability to dress herself reaches new heights of absurdity in this installment.  Cut the poor woman a break and let her wear a nice pair of pants without a ketchup stain on them, okay?

There's a big "shock" at the end, or rather there would be if I cared about any of the characters who weren't Lynley, Havers, Taymullah, Hadiyyah, and Nkata.  Okay, that's more than I thought, but why is the rest of the supporting cast so... insipid?

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Too many POVs in this mystery novel, which made the story very piecemeal, like a quilt with messy seams. The characters are very human and realistic, but I didn't really like any of them particularly. Maybe if you love crime novels this one will intrigue you, but I'll be okay if I don't read

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anymore from this series.

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What a phenomenal book! Powerful with in-depth characters and a great plot. Not your everyday murder mystery. WELL worth the read.

As always, a good story, enjoyable ongoing characters. Her books are not "a piece of fluff". They take some concentration!

I love Elizabeth George's books. Everyone I have read has left me wanting more. This one is no exception. I want to look for more of her work.

What a phenomenal book! Powerful with in-depth characters and a great plot. Not your everyday murder mystery. WELL worth the read.

good — Lynley, St. Jam, Deb + Helen — 3 killers — good plot — surprise twist.
Barb Havers — into her own

The police never suspected a serial killer was at large until they found the third murdered boy, the first white victim, his body draped over a tomb in a London graveyard. Suddenly a

Show More

series of crimes and a potential public relations disaster have Scotland Yard on the defensive, scrambling to apprehend a maniac while avoiding accusations of racism.

Detective Superintendent Thomas Lynley, distracted by concerns for his pregnant wife, has been assigned to the investigation, along with his disgraced partner, Barbara Havers, who's fighting for her professional future. Winston Nkata, deservedly, if hastily, promoted to detective sergeant, is the black face who will speak to the media. But none of them can imagine the tenacity and ingenuity of the killer they seek . . . and no one is prepared for the savage, shocking instant when everything will change forever.

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Oh my, I had forgotten how compelling Elizabeth George's books can be. Although this book is long (627 pages) I plowed through it, often reading far into the night. George's main characters, DI Thomas Lynley, DC Barbara Havers and DS Winston Nkata, felt real to me. I agonized with them through

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their problems and exulted when they had some success.

In this book, Lynley is heading up a serial killer investigation. Adolescent boys are being killed but it isn't until the fourth boy that the police twig to the fact there is a serial killer at work. That's when New Scotland Yard is called in and Lynley and his team start to do their thing. It is Barb Havers (recently demoted to the rank of Detective Constable) who discovers the connection between the boys and an organization called Colossus. This organization is devoted to turning boys and girls from a life of crime but it appears that someone is determined to kill them instead. Even while the situation at Colossus is being investigated two more boys are killed. Assistant Commissioner Hillier is feeling the pressure from the press and he agrees to have a journalist imbedded in the investigation. Lynley and Hillier, already at odds, argue about this but Hillier is adamant and the journalist wants to start with an article about Lynley. The Inspector agrees to this in order to keep the journalist from hindering the investigation but when the killer calls him after the article is printed and mentions his wife Helen, Lynley wonders if that was a wise strategy. As Havers and Nkata continue to investigate and the head of Colossus is doing her part to determine if the killer is someone inside the organization, Lynley has his hands full with the journalist and the profiler Hillier insisted upon. Slowly, slowly the pieces start to come together but Lynley has a personal tragedy to deal with and can't help. The ending is worthy of a movie but not an American thriller with Bruce Willis, more of an English movie with Sean Connery.

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A series of grisly serial murders with lots of suspects, some development of Barbara and her neighbor, and a personal development for Lord Peter. This is a good one.

Probably the best in the series, to date, IMHO. Lynley and wife Helen are expecting their first child, and a serial killer is on the loose. Havers is in the dog house at work, and with her neighbor. At the end of the story, Havers has her friendship and her rank back, most deservedly so. The climax

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is shocking and truly ingenious. (And there were fewer obscure words to look up than usual, an added bonus.)

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One of the most intense of the Inspector Lynley novels, you'll have a hard time putting this one down. The pair are on a mission to catch a serial killer, one who likes young boys and sacrificial rites. The killer is caught in the end, but not before there is a lot of tension at Scotland Yard. I

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wanted to strangle Hillier! He's just impossible! There is a huge unexpected twist near the end of the novel that leads into the next novel. The ending is unexpected, and I don't mean the identity of the killer.

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