Devices and Desires
by P.D. James
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 404)
Read in March, 2008
I really need to stop reading P.D. James. My understanding is that plenty of people love her, but this is the third book I've read and finished only out of a sense of duty. In a twist, her hero Adam Dalgleish (or however you spell that) is on the outside of a case looking in. I'm not sure whether this was just to do something new, or to give us fascinating insights on what it's like to be involved in a murder case when you're not the police, but I wasn't impressed. For a sensitive poet such ...more
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Read in August, 2006
This was a good mystery, but it just doesn't hang together as well as the other James mysteries I've read recently. My main problem was a red herring that appeared rather late in the book with very little warning, which struck me as being somewhat unbelievable and needlessly dramatic. Overall the novel felt overly long and overly confusing, without the same kind of tight plotting that I've come to expect from James.
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Read in July, 2008
My second James novel to read. She's so unlike other mystery novelists I've read... even her minor characters are given full lives of their own, and everyone -- even, or especially -- the 'good guys' operate out of mixed motives and conflicting ambitions. Again and again I was struck by what a keen observer of human nature James is; at multiple points, I felt 'found out' by her observations.
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Read in May, 2008
The institutional setting here is a nuclear power plant. The murder occurs halfway through, and I was inappropriately pleased at who it was (the character was very satisfyingly hateful). Solid for the most part, except there is a pretty ridiculous plot development that James could have left out pretty handily.
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Read in April, 2008
I'm sometimes in the mood for a good mystery, but truthfully, I'm halfway through and a little bored.
update: it didn't get better. I think I've liked a couple of her books in the past, but this one just felt so slow with a few unfounded plot twists that didn't seem to amount to much.
update: it didn't get better. I think I've liked a couple of her books in the past, but this one just felt so slow with a few unfounded plot twists that didn't seem to amount to much.
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Read in November, 2006
recommends it for:
mystery lovers, philosophers
Great character development, lots of side-plots, philosophical discussions, wonderful descriptions on the land & geography. thoroughly engrossing as well as a fantastic mystery!
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P.D. James is my "guilty" pleasure. As always, I race through her rather gluttonously (although I deserved it this time, after finishing Moby Dick).
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The book is not the reason I can't finish it. I can't read anything right now (manic phase), so I'll just have to pick it up later.
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Read in January, 1997
My favorite British mystery writer. Any of her books (except "Children of Men") is worth a try.
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Read in June, 2008
Densely plotted book with many red herrings. P.D. James writes literate detective novels.
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AN interesting echo of Agatha Christie with a tad more angst. Even a little politics.
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P.D. James is my favorite British mystery writer. This is a terrific thriller!
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Read in February, 2008
for a book club - this is the first PD James I've tackled
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So very much not her best Dalgliesh mystery.
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