A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George Review ⭐⭐⭐☆☆ — I Loved the Detectives More Than the Solution 🔪📚
A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George (Inspector Lynley #1)
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆ (3/5 stars)
Finding out that A Great Deliverance was the first book in a long-running series made me ridiculously happy. 🥳 I love discovering a new detective series, especially when the investigators themselves are as interesting as the mystery.
And that was easily the highlight for me.
I absolutely loved the pairing of Inspector Thomas Lynley and Sergeant Barbara Havers. ❤️ One is an aristocrat with wealth and privilege, while the other comes from a working-class background and has had to fight for everything she's earned. Their personalities clash constantly, but watching them slowly learn to respect one another was one of my favorite parts of the book.
As for the mystery itself? Well… I was hooked for most of it.
Unfortunately, the ending left me scratching my head. 😅
🚨 Spoiler Warning 🚨
⚠️ This review contains FULL SPOILERS, including the identity of the killer and the ending.
Proceed at your own risk! 🕵️♀️🔪
⚠️ Trigger Warnings
Child sexual abuse
Sexual assault
Pedophilia
Child death
Emotional abuse
Animal death
Murder
Religious manipulation
Mental illness
Domestic abuse
Grief and trauma
This is definitely one of the darker mysteries I've read.
📖 Plot Summary (With Full Ending Explained)
When Yorkshire farmer William Teys is found decapitated in his barn, his nineteen-year-old daughter Roberta is discovered nearby in a dazed state, calmly confessing to the murder.
Case closed?
Not quite.
Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, newly partnered and still adjusting to each other's very different personalities, are sent from London to investigate. Their relationship is rocky from the start. Havers resents Lynley's aristocratic upbringing and wealth, while Lynley struggles to understand Havers's hostility.
As they begin digging into the lives of the villagers in Keldale, they uncover plenty of secrets. William's wife, Tessa, abandoned the family years earlier and now lives under another name. His older daughter, Gillian, disappeared as a teenager and has never returned. William's nephew Richard Gibson stands to inherit the farm, and several eccentric villagers provide plenty of gossip and possible motives.
One clue seems to clear Roberta. The family dog was drugged and killed before William's murder, and everyone believes Roberta could never have done such a thing because she loved the dog dearly.
Meanwhile, Havers discovers that Gillian has secretly been keeping in touch with Roberta through coded newspaper advertisements. Living under the name Nell Graham, Gillian has spent the last eleven years building a new life and helping troubled teenagers.
Back in Keldale, another family becomes increasingly important to the case. Olivia Odell, a local woman, has a young daughter named Bridie, an innocent little girl who has become fond of William Teys and often spends time around the farm. At first, nobody thinks much of their relationship.
But when Gillian finally returns, the horrifying truth about the Teys family comes to light.
William had sexually abused Gillian for years. After she escaped, he turned his attention to Roberta. Roberta eventually became pregnant, and William secretly abandoned the baby in the ruins of an old abbey, where the infant died.
Even worse, Roberta realizes that William has started grooming little Bridie, intending to continue the same cycle of abuse with another child.
Determined to stop him before Bridie becomes his next victim, Roberta finally reveals what happened.
She drugged and killed the family dog, murdered her father, and decapitated him.
Father Hart, the local priest, also admits that he knew about the abuse and helped conceal it for years.
Although Roberta is expected to stand trial, doctors believe she will be found mentally competent, and everyone assumes that once the full story is known, no jury will convict her. The novel ends with Gillian reuniting with her mother and Lynley and Havers emerging from the investigation with a deeper understanding and respect for one another.
❤️ Why I Loved Lynley and Havers
Can we please talk about these two? 🥰
I adored them.
Barbara Havers has something to prove and carries a huge chip on her shoulder. Lynley, meanwhile, is dealing with his own emotional baggage and unrequited feelings for his best friend's wife.
Their partnership starts out awkward and occasionally hostile, but by the end I genuinely enjoyed their dynamic and wanted to spend more time with them.
Honestly, they are the reason I'm continuing the series.
🤨 My Biggest Problems With the Ending
This is where the book lost me.
The entire investigation repeatedly tells us that Roberta couldn't possibly be the killer because she adored the family dog.
Apparently, no child would ever kill a beloved pet.
Except…
That's exactly what happened. 😐
The book spends hundreds of pages using the dog's death as proof of Roberta's innocence, only to turn around and say, "Actually, never mind."
That reveal felt a little cheap to me.
And then there's the decapitation.
Yes, Roberta is nineteen. Yes, she suffered horrific abuse. And yes, she was desperately trying to save another child.
But I still struggled to believe that someone I personally view as still very young would not only kill her father, but also kill her beloved dog and then decapitate him.
The emotional motivation made sense.
The actual act itself?
I'm not entirely convinced.
💭 Final Thoughts
Despite my issues with the ending, I really enjoyed much of this book.
✅ A shocking opening
✅ A wonderfully atmospheric setting
✅ Plenty of secrets and twists
✅ A detective duo I absolutely loved
✅ Enough to make me excited for the rest of the series
But while the journey was great, the final destination didn't completely work for me.
Still, I'm invested in Lynley and Havers, and that's reason enough for me to continue.
After all, if these two are investigating, I'll happily sign up for more murders and emotional damage. 😂📚
⭐ Final Rating
⭐⭐⭐☆☆
An excellent detective partnership and an intriguing mystery…
…but an ending that left me with more questions than satisfaction.
📚 Recommended Books
If you enjoyed A Great Deliverance, you might also like:
🔹 Still Life by Louise Penny
🔹 In the Woods by Tana French
🔹 The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths
🔹 The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves
🔹 The Blackhouse by Peter May
🔹 The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
🔹 The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King
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