What is the author's style in A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George?

The entirety of the novel, A Great Deliverance, is written from the point of view of an omniscient narrator. This phenomenon is relatively standard in the novels of Elizabeth George. The use of an omniscient and objective narrator enables the author to set forth the story without the burden of editorial embellishment. In other words, the narrator does not interpret the information being given; the narrator simply lays out the plot, allowing the reader to come to his or her own conclusions as to what is happening. Also using an omniscient narrator means that none of the characters become more important than the story itself. Employing the voice of an omniscient narrator insures that plot lines are unencumbered by tangential information concerning the characters. Nor does the objective narrator voice privilege one character over another. Although it is true that Inspector Lynley and Sergeant Havers are the main protagonists in the majority of Elizabeth George's novels, the reader nonetheless engages the characters only as a result of their work as law enforcement officers. That is to say, the information given as to character internal landscape, emotions, and motivations, are revealed only because Lynley and Havers happen to be investigating a murder.

Finally, the voice of an omniscient narrator serves the mystery genre well in this case. Had George chosen Inspector Lynley or Sergeant Havers to be the narrator, the plot itself would become diluted and distorted, according to the interpretive filter of either of the main characters.