A Place of Hiding
by Elizabeth George
Hodder & Stoughton, £18.99, pp. 576, ISBN 034076709X
Blacklist
by Sara Paretsky
Hamish Hamilton, £12.99, pp. 432, ISBN 0241141885
I have in front of me three novels, all of which are over 400 pages long. Their average length, in fact, is 482 pages and their average weight is 783g. A Place of Hiding is Elizabeth George’s 12th novel. Blacklist is Sara Paretsky’s 12th novel. And Blow Fly is the 12th Scarpetta novel (although Patricia Cornwell has written a total of 18 books). So from three authors we have a total of 42 books which, if you bought the lot, might easily cost approximately £800, weigh in at a total of around 20kg, and number 16,000 pages at a conservative estimate. That’s just three authors.
These books are long, heavy and expensive, but on the plus side they are described as ‘absorbing’, ‘irresistibly compelling’, ‘shocking’ and ‘frightening’.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in