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Thumbs Down to With No One as Witness The epitaph for this book ("Look into the abyss and it will look into you") sets the tone for this sprawling, nihilistic and deeply disappointing novel. Readers loyal to George for her precisely plotted tales of ordinary people caught in situations where murder is the only option will be disappointed by her foray into the world of serial killing. The killer - comically named Fu - doesn't ring true as a psychopath. And while George nicely captures the terrible stress that Lynley and crew are under while trying to catch him, her portrayal of Lynley's nasty boss Hillier is unconvincing. And this, from the writer who used to be one of the very best portrayers of psychological depth in her characters. In books such as Missing Joseph, for example, we come to really understand why Juliet Spence becomes a murderer. That's what gave the richness and staying power to George's earlier works. In With No One as Witness, we just don't get why people are acting the way they do. And we don't even care. I'm a reader who adored George for the ongoing story of her quintet of core characters - Tommy, Helen, Barabara, Simon, and Deborah. In Witness, George turns on them with a destructive frenzy that will surely stand as one of the most ill-considered plot evolutions of modern fiction. She kills off a character essential to the balance of her series in the most pointless, tear-jerking, and bleak manner imaginable. At the end of the book I could only throw my hands into the air and wonder what on earth George was thinking of. I only hope that in the whole body of George's work, Witness turns out to be an unfortunate detour. I hope that she's now exorcised whatever demons drove her to write this utterly bleak novel, and that she will find her center again in the Lynley novels-with all her essential characters alive and growing. The only thing that makes me happy about this book is that it was passed on to me by a disgusted seat mate on a long-distance flight. I'm glad I didn't have to buy it and risk her publisher misinterpreting my purchase as a sign of approval.