The Private Patient (Adam Dalgliesh Mystery)

In many ways, The Private Patient has the structure of a novel from the golden age of crime fiction, and James is well aware of the very best writing from that era (including Cyril Hare, who James succeeded as premier crime writer for her publisher, Faber). Needless to say, she freights in a very modern level of psychological investigation, more penetrating than that of her great predecessors. If the novel seems less initially engaging than other recent work by the author, there is perhaps a subtle agenda here: James is avoiding the more obvious reader-grabbing tactics to present a low-key investigation of character than she has chosen to deal with in recent books. If a little more patience is required than usual, the result of this understated approach pays dividends. And admirers of James (and her doughty detective Dalgliesh) will be prepared to be flexible for the pleasures of the cogently handled narrative here. --Barry Forshaw

Reader Reviews:

ordinary (0/0 people found this helpful)

Sadly I think this was a bit manufactured - I was not really gripped by any of the characters or compelled to turn the pages by the ned to find out 'what happened next?'... I completed it out of dedication and respect for this authors reputation - but whilst it is very well written, I do not think this is one of her best.

Doesn't do anything new... but what it does, it does very well (0/0 people found this helpful)

I loved the early PD James but haven't read the last 3-4 books as it seemed to me that she had lost her way slightly. The Private Patient in lots of ways is a return to the classic detective story: the closed atmosphere of the private clinic, the delving into the personalities and back-stories of the suspects, and the final twisting denouement.

I won't repeat the plot as other reviewers have already done that, but this treads a fine line between the predictable and the enticing. Perhaps precisely because I've had a long break from James, I enjoyed this immensely. Dalgleish seems much softer and more nuanced than in some of the earlier books and his team is an interesting one.

There are some moments that don't quite work (why is Dalgleish's team called in? This doesn't seem to be a politically sensitive case?) and some threads are started and then not followed up. The final solution also seemed to me to be a tad unsatisfactory in personality terms, and some of the characters are very cliched. James' own social background was more prominent here than I've noticed before: so many people appear to be academics with a Classics background and more people are at home with Latin tags than I suspect is the case in 'real' life.

However, all that doesn't detract at all from a compelling story, well told. So overall this doesn't stretch the detective fiction genre in any way at all - and why should it? - but what it does, it does very well indeed.

Another enjoyable mystery from PD James (0/0 people found this helpful)

A critic once said of PD James's books that they should be "savoured like a vintage wine". It's a very apt description. Her books are not for those in a hurry - the action does not unfold at the breakneck pace of many of today's younger detective writers. That is not to say that PDJ's books are dull - at least not for the intelligent reader. She takes the time to set mood, location and character, and if you take your own time over reading her books, you will have a totally involving experience.

The Private Patient is your typical country house whodunit. Following the initial murder, everyone there is a suspect, allowing of course for the possibility of a mysterious outsider. It's a standard tale but told with such conviction and skill that it's as if you are reading this type of story for the first time. Characters are well-drawn; I found (as is often the case) the non-police characters to be by far the most interesting. Maybe this is because they are suspects and I wanted to know their background and therefore possible motivation for murder, or maybe it's because I've come across so many detectives in fiction that they all have become a bit samey. Either way, the rich surgeon and his assorted staff are fascinating and likeable characters.

I'll admit I am not sure if I fully understood the ending - certainly the business with the will wasn't very clear and I would have liked more explanation of this.

I will also admit to a loud groan when Dalgliesh's first appearance is in the context of his engagement to the annoying and irrelevant Emma Lavenham. Judging from other reviews here, I am not alone in having no interest in this facet of Dalgliesh's character. My view is that in detective stories, we only need to know about the love interest if it relates directly to the story. Fortunately, Emma is kept out of the way for most of the book, so fair play.

One of PDJ's rare failings is that in the pursuit of excellence in writing, she has even the most ignorant, uneducated characters speaking like Stephen Fry. In this novel most of the characters are well-educated so they would be expected to speak well - although how often does anyone use the word "propitious" in conversation? - and those who aren't (Sharon Bateman, for example) speak more realistically than in some of her previous novels.

A final point: several reviewers have mentioned PDJ's tendency to air her conservative views during the course of this (and other) novels. As it happens, I am in almost total agreement with her views, but even so I will complain when politicising holds up the flow of the story. This happened in the last two of Ruth Rendell's books - her constant jibes at political correctness annoyed me, even though I despise PC. In this novel I see nothing to complain about as these views are expressed from the point of view of the characters, and it seems reasonable that people who live in a country manor would think this way. Personally, I found it a refreshing change to read something other than the right-on, left-wing views which so many authors express through their books.

In summary then: a thoroughly enjoyable, classic whodunit which I recommend strongly.

Prime Detective JAMES (1/1 people found this helpful)

Just good and slow as usual. The plot is densely knitted. Granny James knows her needles. Dalgliesh sports a new collector's cardigan. And the language is so British, bordering at times on the outdated but never archaic. Characters are finely delineated and that language is clinically up to it. Very enjoyable.

Another Ho-Hum Dalgliesh Whodunnit (1/2 people found this helpful)

The two commonest types of crime writer write either "gritty urban life" style whodunnits (like Dennis Lehane and Ian Rankin) or "country house" murders (like Agatha Christie). P.D. James (and this book) falls very much into the second catagory.

Like many of James's recent books the characters could be out of central casting at the "Stiff Upper Lip Character Agency." They focus on form, position and show and act in the way they're expected to act throughout the book.

I'm getting to the point where reading a book in which the characters "do what one is expected to do" grates horribly, and there's a lot of that in this book. Consequently I won't be reading any more of James's books for a while.

I you can put of with a boat load of "Stiff Upper Lip," you might like this book (which is about a woman who dies at a private clinic after some plastic surgery). If get your head round "Stiff Upper Lip" attitudes, with "terribly correct upstairs types" and "cor blimey wait staff," you might like this book. Otherwise I wouldn't bother reading it.

The Private Patient (Adam Dalgliesh Mystery)

P.D. James

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