A Child In Time and Ian McEwan

I've been outdoors a great deal since I last posted, which has made me tired in the "before dinnertime" hour, too tired to compose an entry. I feel the same way this evening, but will try to do just a little catch-up.

I'm currently reading A Child in Time, a short novel by Ian McEwan. I did not watch the recent broadcast of the Masterpiece Theatre version of the novel. Although the novel's precipitating event is the kidnapping of the protagonist's very young daughter in a supermarket check-out line, the main thrust of the plot does not concern her at all, but rather her father's reactions to the crisis in the weeks and months following, which lead far from the critical event. Most importantly, there is the theme of time, of how time transforms individuals and relationships in Stephen's life, including the relationship with his parents and his memories back to earliest childhood, the tortured relationship with his estranged wife, and his relationships with other important figures in his life, and with his work as a best-selling children's book writer.
What I appreciate most about Ian McEwan's work, and I have read at least eight of his novels, is that in each book, he constructs the overarching theme, then the plot and the characters in such a way that the reader is forced to think deeply about what he, the author, is highlighting. I find his books to be very powerful. I do urge you, if you have tried only one of his novels and then ended up flinging it aside, to try another.
My personal favorites by Ian McEwan: Sweet Tooth, On Chesil Beach, The Children Act, Saturday.

Just a note to say that I finished Payment in Blood by Elizabeth George, the second novel in the Lynley and Havers series, published in 1989. I was knocked over and startled to discover who the murderer was at the end. Positively flummoxed. The only problem for me in the construction of the plot: the individual who turns out to be the murderer was described in the beginning of the book to be rather heavy-set, so therefore, I'm wondering how he managed to heave himself over fences and down and around alleys and over all sorts of obstacles and elude Lynley in the final chase scenes?  That was my only real problem in an otherwise five-star book. I totally forgive it as I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery.