Ms. George created a very successful English detective series around one Inspector Lynley. One of the pivotal moments in that series is when his wife is shot. This book, is not a detective novel, rather it traces the life of the young man accused of her murder. As such it is much more social commentary about life in very VERY bleak parts of London. I wavered between sympathy and enmity for the characters. So much was wrong in their lives, it was very difficult to be empathetic, all decisions seemed based in some sort of horrible Hobbesian dilemma, there was no place to go, no one to talk to , no one to work anything out. Only at the end are the familiar characters from the series brought in. The lives of the characters in the book were so depressing it is hard to say I liked the book, I am glad I read it, and it did make me think about how I view life in an apocalyptic world.