Elena Weaver was a surprise to anyone meeting her for the first time. In her clingy dresses and dangling earrings she exuded a sexuality at odds with the innocence projected by the unicorn posters on her walls. While her embittered mother fretted about her welfare from her home in London, in Cambridge—where Elena was a student at St. Stephen's College—her father and his second wife each had their own very different image of the girl. As for Elena, she lived a life of casual and intense physical and emotional relationships, with scores to settle and goals to achieve--until someone, lying in wait along the route she ran every morning, bludgeoned her to death.

Unwilling to turn the killing over to the local police, the university calls in New Scotland Yard. Thus, Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his partner, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, enter the rarefied world of Cambridge University, where academic gowns often hide murderous intentions.

For both officers, the true identity of Elena Weaver proves elusive. Each relationship the girl left behind casts new light both on Elena and on those people who appeared to know her best—from an unsavory Swedish-born Shakespearean professor to the brooding head of the Deaf Students Union.

What's more, Elena's father, a Cambridge professor under consideration for a prestigious post, is a man with his own dark secrets. While his past sins make him neurotically dedicated to Elena and blind to her blacker side, present demons drive him toward betrayal.

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The subthemes of the book are equally interesting. Much of the book has to do with well-meaning, loving people trying to meet the expectations of those they love. Elena, the victim, is deaf with parents who have spent twenty years trying to make her as "normal" as possible. But what is normal for a deaf person? Much (too much) of the book dwells on Havers internal battle over whether she should send her Alzheimer's inflicted mother to a small care facility.

I've withheld a fifth star because of my unresolved confusion about Lynley's relationship with Lady Helen. I really enjoy this series but sometimes the publication order and the actual timeline are confusing. In this book, all of a sudden and out of the blue (for me) Lynley is ardently persuing Lady Helen. There are references the "past nine months" but I felt like I'd missed something. Quite frankly, I'm not surprised by Helen's reluctance to get involved if the building blocks of the relationship of are as vague to her as they were for me.

Bottom-line: A strong and interesting mystery that should satsify old and new readers alike. New readers are encouraged to start at the beginning of the series to better understand the personal side of the players.

12 of 12 found the following review helpful:

Absorbing characters- One of her best!Oct 19, 2002

~ * ~ This is one of Elizabeth George's better novels. It's utterly absorbing, and the characters will evoke strong reactions- like or dislike, sometimes both! Fans of the winning combination of Inspector Thomas Lynley and Sergeant Barbara Havers will enjoy it, but you don't need to know the detectives to enjoy the story.

~ * ~ Elena, a young college girl at Cambridge, has just been killed. She was deaf. This was more than a "handicap"- it became a battleground for her, between the students who wanted her to become part of the "Deaf"- not trying to "fit in" by reading lips, etc; and her father, who tried to minimize her deafness- asking her to fit in with his life. ~

~ * ~, Elizabeth George is always strong in characterizations. She fills her story with complex characters, each of whom have weaknesses that we can sympathize with, and their own selfish and unpleasant motives. The conflicts between the characters are so well plotted; we are drawn into the story completely.
~ * ~ Unlike most of her mysteries, I started to see the conclusion. Elizabeth George usually blinds us to the obvious. She can weave a web so intricate and subtle, that despite all the clues we encounter, we don't ever "see" the solution until it is too late

. ~ * ~ My personal favorite of the Lynley/Havers series are" A Suitable Vengeance" which focuses on the early history of Lynley, Deborah and Simon; and "Deception on His Mind ", which focuses on Sergeant Barbara Havers, and an investigation which forces her to take a stand.
~ * ~

9 of 9 found the following review helpful:

My first Elizabeth George bookNov 27, 1999
By Susan
FOR THE SAKE OF ELENA is my introduction to Elizabeth George and her detectives Lynley and Havers. I enjoyed the twists in the plot; as soon as I had made up my mind that a certain character was guilty, a new piece of evidence would be discovered to deflect suspicion. All of the suspects were introduced early enough for the reader to ponder the guilt or innocence of each. I look forward to more of George's work.

5 of 5 found the following review helpful:

I didn't like it that muchFeb 18, 1998

I found it all too melancholic. Every single character was feeling so guilty for one reason or another they made the general atmosphere a bit too heavy / gloomy. Being a quite inexperienced book reviewer, my comments would then base on the instinctive `after taste' once I've turned over the last page. This was my first Elizabeth George book which didn't exactly make me want to rush out and find another one of hers. I didn't find the motive for the brutal murder strong enough to justify it. Finding out `who dunn it?' at the end didn't urge me to think "Oh I see., Of course it was him/her!, I could have guessed that, etc." (I'm trying hard not to give away and spoil it all for those who have not read it yet.) I think murder novel readers like it more when motives are really convincing / deserving.

5 of 5 found the following review helpful:

george is not sayers - but, oh, she tries!Feb 07, 1998

The only reason why I rated this book above average was due to George's attempt to update Sayer's masterpiece, Gaudy Night. Like "Gaudy," this book is set in an English university town, examines the rarefied academic atmosphere, and has the subplot of what marriage does to women. Unfortunately, Lady Helen is not Harriet, and Lynley is most definitely not Lord Peter. All the same, she should get credit for trying and, like all of her other books, this story is a fun way to spend a rainy day.

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