When the move from Adult to YA goes horribly wrong

I have been saving the latest Elizabeth 

George tome, Just One Evil Act, and with the holidays upon us, I'm a couple of chapters away from finishing. Once again, no disappointment here - although I did get a little bogged down by the Italian, but at least I've learnt some new words!

Something I was disappointed with, however, was Elizabeth George's first YA novel. I was so excited when I heard she was writing a YA mystery - I'm a huge fan of mystery and detective novels, and I'm always encouragin young readers to try out this genre because it can become a lifelong love. I've found reluctant readers especially taken with this genre and their first few steps towards a love of reading have often been because of mystery novels that have held their attention long enough to let them enjoy the flow of a good book.

So it was with huge enthusiasm that I  purchased several copies of The Edge of Nowhere, and I added them to our Grade 10 reading programme. I promoted the book to out students while I was still reading it, so it was too late to take it off the programme when I discovered that it was simply not very good. I quickly went to see what others thought, and found that my trusted reviewers out there had come up with the same conclusion.

Elizabeth George - certainly in her Inspector Lynley series - is a brilliant writer. What I had hoped for was a YA Elizabeth George: the same writing and the same clever plotting with a YA main character driving the story. What I got was dumbed-down writing and a mediocre plot... the only thing they got right was the YA character. I'm not sure what happened. Young Adults don't need dumbed down. They need authenticity. The majority of my Grade 10s would have been challenged by a YA written in the style of Elizabeth George - but it's just what they need. They don't need to be talked down to.

YA is hot right now, and everyone seems to be jumping on the bandwagon, including some big names such as James Patterson and John Grisham. But YA readers are not stupid; if these authors dumb down to them, they're going to know about it.
 
A few of my Grade 12s have tackled an original Elizabeth George and have loved it. I was so hoping that her YA series would be a stepping stone to her adult novels as our students mature. But judging from the reviews my students gave her YA book, I'm going to have some convincing to do.

Nevertheless, I'm going to purchase the next in the series, which certainly has taken a while to come out.  (To be fair, Just One Evil Act is over 700 glorious pages long!) I'm hoping that reviews have been read and points have been taken, and that perhaps we'll see an improvement in the next one.

In the meantime, I'll wallow gloriously in the final chapters of my Inspector Lynley mystery...

Questions: Are you an Elizabeth George fan? What did you think of The Edge of Nowhere? Do you think adult authors are dumbing down for the YA audience?

Other articles you might like:

From Kirkus: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/elizabeth-george-edge-nowhere/

From Forever Young Adult: http://foreveryoungadult.com/2012/09/17/have-you-been-half-asleep-and-have-you-heard-voices/

From Books-n-Kisses: http://www.books-n-kisses.com/2013/01/jennifers-review-of-the-edge-of-nowhere-by-elizabeth-george/