February 5, 2010

I just Finished Reading

The Private Patient by P.D James.

When the notorious investigative journalist, Rhoda Gradwyn, books into Mr. Chandler-Powell's private clinic in Dorset for the removal of a disfiguring, long-standing facial scar, she has every prospect of a successful operation by a distinguished surgeon, a week's peaceful convalescence in one of Dorset's most beautiful manor houses and the beginning of a new life. She will never leave Cheverell Manor alive. When Adam Dalgliesh and his team are called in to investigate the murder - and a second death occurs - even more complicated problems than the question of innocence or guilt arise.

This book was decent, but I can't say it was the best book I have ever read.

I'm pretty much a sucker for detective fiction. I like the action, anticipation and excitement that I normally get when reading them, but I can't say I got much of this from P.D James novel. I found that there were way too many characters and perspectives making it difficult to follow, or to identify with any one single person. I also felt like it read like a murder mystery show or an early Sherlock Holmes novel. It was one of those situations where someone in a house gets murdered while everyone is asleep and the only possible suspects are the small number of people who were under the roof at the particular time. I found that this left little to the imagination, and instead left the reader with the only option of giving us long flourishing passages of heavy descriptions that had little or nothing to do with the actual story line.

This is the first P.D James novel that I have read, and although I was not overly impressed, I'm not writing her off completely and look forward to reading another one of her novels before I make a definite decision.

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