The Private Patient

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:

Full of holes. (1/1 people found this helpful)

I was really dissapointed with this book especially as I have enjoyed PD James on the whole. It makes me cross when there are errors. It shall not be giving anything away when I explain that the patient was killed during the night following her operation but was not discovered until the morning. Every post-operative patient would be checked at the very least four hourly and so not to discover the patient until the morning is ridiculous. There was another character who worked in this clinic where the murder took place who had, to say the least, a murkey past and had previoulsy worked in a nursing home. Her identity has been protected so no one at the clinic or the nursing home knew of her past. Anyone working in such environments would have to have a CRB check and given the history of the character would never have been employed in such environments. I also felt that there were too many loose ends but maybe that was because by the time I got to the end I had lost the will to try and tie them all up.

Builds tension and then demolishes it (0/0 people found this helpful)

I don't really know where to start with this review because so much of this book was so good, and so much of it was infuriating. Also, although the first part of the book did rack up a certain amount of tension, the denouement was a complete let-down. Nothing was 'solved' or resolved, there were some frankly unbelievable coincidences (the elderly lady in shock after the July 2005 London bombings is a prime case) I'm not entirely sure that the person who confessed to the murders was the murderer, or what the fake will was about, and most annoyingly of all, we don't know the answer to the central mystery of the whole book.

What's good about this book is the descriptive writing. James is superb at describing places and atmosphere, and I actually find the obsession with making sure everyone eats and has regular cups of tea to keep them going very entertaining - you can actually tell if a person is of good, or bad character, by the mealtimes they keep and the cleanliness of their kitchens. This aside, she has to be one of the most elegant writers in the English language today.

But.... she is writing from the viewpoint of somebody who's going to be quite a lot older than most of her readers, so the book does feel as if it's set in the past. James doesn't seem assured writing about mobile phones and computers and while she clearly tries not to be right-wing and old-fashioned in the opinions and viewpoints of her characters, some of the class and race issues raised made me, at least, feel uncomfortable.

I understand this is to be the last book featuring Commander Adam Dalgliesh, and so I'm glad I read it, and I'm glad that he, at least had a happy ending and for that I forgive the pondering and philosophising that takes place in this book. Underlying the story was a kind of sadness, and if this was James' farewell to a central character who's been loved by millions of people, then it's completely understandable.

Missing the Barnaby Factor! (2/2 people found this helpful)

As I live out in Borneo, tuning in to old episodes of 'Midsomer Murders' gives me the opportunity to revisit England once a week and to indulge in a bit of nostalgia. It's formulaic of course and farcical at times, but the jousting between Barnaby and Jones and the lively pace of developments keep me hooked. If only the same could be said of 'The Private Patient". The novel rarely gets out of first-gear (until the last whiplash-inducing 50 pages), the characters - despite the lengthy introductions designed to induce empathy - are flat, unknowable and unlovable and as for Commander Dalgliesh, don't get me started. Never have I read a crime novel where the principal detective is such an irrelevance. His presence is hardly felt, his observations are unremarkable and his crime-solving skills remain unproven (the murderer confesses to her crimes in a suicide note and the missing pieces are willingly supplied by the murderer's family solicitor). Perhaps P.D. James thinks that Dalgliesh's credentials are known to all readers and no longer need to be established: presumptuous to say the least. James also does the unforgivable and signposts the murderer's identity halfway through the book, so that the revelation of her guilt at the end comes as a complete anti-climax! Poor characterisation, poor plot and no 'Barnaby Factor'! What's left? The novel's only value lies in its polished prose style and its challenge to would-be crime writers who think they can do better.

Oh God, who cares. Save me from the tedium... (4/4 people found this helpful)

P D James was one of the first authors I started reading when I moved on from children's books, and so I have long held her in great esteem and affection.

I did find the last couple of her books a little wearing - essentially the same device is used; someone killed then the unexpected witness killed, and I did wonder if we were just going for another circle on that merry-go-round...

Well, if we did, I don't know - afraid I bailed out before the woman even got bumped off. The number of books I have not finished out of thousands read can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and this is the latest. I couldn't get a handle on any of the characters; I didn't care about any of them; and after all these years Adam Dalgliesh is STILL contemplating his navel at every opportunity. His constant perusing on the state of his own happiness is now coming across as utterly self indulgent - just get on with life and enjoy the good bits, for god's sake.

However, all this could merely be a matter of taste. What isn't though, and is incredibly sad, is how ponderous the writing has become. EVERYTHING has at lease one adjective or adverb qualifying it, and the longer those words the better. A seething soup of superflous sesquipedalians. This is such a shame, as PD James can write beautifully, but there is an enormous difference between a slow-moving book in which suspense is gradually built up, and this snailish ponderosity (is that a word, or is the influence rubbing off on me?)

So, don't know whodunnit, wottheydun or whytheydunnit. Don't care either.

The Private Patient (0/0 people found this helpful)

I have just finished reading this book. It was a Christmas present and therefore I felt obliged to read it. I have never read a P D James novel before but obviously knew of her, and the acclaim that her previous work has attracted, but I cannot compare it to earlier work.I found the book utterly confusing and rambling. A reason to prersevere and finish this book was to find out why the scar was removed. I was left thinking that I had somehow managed to dose off and miss a chapter when I got to the end and there was still no explanation... Even as I read through the last 80 or so pages, which at times I thought was a preview of her next installment,I assured myself that somewhere in the muddle I would find the answer to the question that had prevented me from reading other more enticing Chritmas presents. But, again no answer! Unfortuatly I will have to take the word of others as to how good P D's earlier work is, as i can not afford to loose any more of the life I have left to make a conclusion for myself.

The Private Patient

P D James

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