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Even after the murder is revealed, I expected a better twist than some irrelevant love child with a character never mentioned before. chapters, I was flipping back to the earlier chapters going, "Now who is that again." P.D. James builds up the entire book for a twist that never comes. This is the first P.D. Very disappointed. I thought she introduced too many characters (Frensham, Corsette, Flavia) that never really developed. James novel I have ever read and am glad to see from reading the other reviews that this is not her finest. Even in the last few (pointless.).
But then Rhoda is murdered and her death drives away all the high paying private patients that made Chandler-Powell wealthy and successful. Some are deeply attached, some wish to be, and some want to escape but all the characters are formed to greater and lesser degree by the atmosphere engendered by their individual responses to their surroundings. that she no longer "has need of it." She doesn't explain and she decides to have the surgery at Cheverell Manor, the private clinic he owns in Dorset. Each character is described in detail although most of the words create for the reader an aura, rather than a physical identity. THE PRIVATE PATIENT, the newest Adam Dalgliesh novel, is the usual mix of characters, motives, secrets, and atmosphere that make P D James books a reliably good reading experience.
James also provides a sense of place. Marcus Westhall is another surgeon who works at the clinic; he and his sister share a cottage on the estate. Descriptions of houses, gardens, paintings, furnishings creates a stage on which the characters act. Adam Dalgliesh is a master of words to convey emotions in his poems; P D James is a master of words as well, creating for the reader a Cheverell Manor that is real, and a cast of characters who are tied to the private patient in ways they could never have imagined. Dalgliesh and his team are pulled into the investigation by politically important people who have benefited by Chandler-Powell's expertise. James does not write stories that are full of action.
Rhoda Gladwyn is the private patient who chooses to have a facial scar, received in childhood by her drunken father, removed after 34 years. Candace Westhall had left her teaching position at a university to care for their dying father and after his death she stays on to help with running the domestic side of the clinic. It seems important to remember that Adam Dalgliesh is more than the highest ranking officer at Scotland Yard; he is a highly regarded published poet and James couches Dalgliesh's public life in the evocative words a poet would use. She tells the celebrated surgeon, George Chandler-Powell. The team are not pleased but soon realize that there are complicated stories in the lives of the people who live at Cheverell Manor that need to be played out because of the death of the private patient. But George refuses, believing that Rhoda can do no harm to the reputation of the clinic.
Chandler-Powell is surprised at her decision since her ties are to London but he promises that she will have all the privacy she desires, including ensuring that she has no visitors as she recuperates. Candace is adamant that George Chandler-Powell is making a terrible mistake in allowing Rhoda Gradwyn to come to the clinic because Rhoda is an investigative journalist with a reputation for writing about the worst sides of her subjects.
This book was A-okay. I like her style of writing. I have read J.D.James' books many times before. This book is as exciting and full of suspense as are her other books.
It is here that we meet the cast of characters that will serve as our list of suspects.As we go along we learn about all the characters, their secrets, motives, and important details about Rhoda's journalistic career. The book had the right mood, but the characters and their dialogue felt like they were out of time and place. We are briefly taken back in time, as we find out how Rhoda got that scar and about her dysfunctional family life.
I think she can be quite profound.On the negative side, I found myself getting bored halfway into this tale - which is not a good thing for me when I am looking for a page-turner in a mystery. I also thought the story got too bogged down with the back-stories of the various detectives, and we were continually pulled out of the excitement of the plot with certain details that I felt decreased the sense of tension and menace.I like P.D. Frankly, I thought the book felt too old-fashioned and out-dated.
Summary and review, no spoilers.We know from the very beginning journalist Rhoda Gladwyn is going to have plastic surgery to repair a bad scar on her face, and that she will be murdered soon after that surgery. I love the meditations on aging and death, and how James can describe life in a way that has us nodding our heads in recognition. James, but if you've never read her before, I'd recommend starting with one of her earlier books.
Two weeks before her surgery Rhoda goes to visit the place where the surgery will occur, which is an old Tutor style mansion that has been partially transformed into a surgical suite and aftercare facility. On the positive side, this is a moody old-fashioned cozy, and the writing is beautiful.
Here's hoping for at least one more. PD James once again has succeeded in providing a mystery that leaves little clues like breadcrumbs all along the trail to the end. Lionel Twain of "Murder by Death" would be pleased, particularly in the great detective who doesn't always solve the case as he would like and is himself left dissatisfied with the result, as happens frequently with Dalgliesh mysteries.
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