Unnatural Causes

Adam Dalgliesh #3: Unnatural Causes

  - P.D. James

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The third book in the series was a disappointment, specially because I liked the second one a lot, and expected much from the rest of the series.

This is again a closed circle murder mystery, with a limited number of possibilities and everyone under a shadow of suspicion. I think it started well, but became progressively sluggish and somewhat bizarre. I liked the author's patience in building up the atmosphere in previous books, but I began to feel like it was too much of a good thing - lengthy descriptions of surroundings or oblong thoughts of the characters are not holding up my interest any more. I am more interested in people - so I like to read about their back history and how it shapes their personality and motives, as well as the detective's talks and observations with them.

Once again, nearly all the characters were unlikable, and one of them was stereotypical shallow and insensitive. In fact, I couldn't develop a great liking for Dalgliesh's character either. Further, it is not his case; so his unofficial role in the investigation caused the plot to suffer, while his mutual dislike towards the official investigator was unnecessary and uninteresting. And sad to see that the quiet but intelligent Marin is missing.

I had guessed early who committed the murder and how it was carried out, and felt a satisfaction to find that I was at least partly correct. However, the main culprit's identity and the motive was quite unsatisfactory and far-fetched to me. But what is most disappointing (and definitely not a mark of of a good mystery/thriller IMHO) is the way the great reveal is handled. Dalgliesh "knows" the who and how, and explains it to the official police in charge some way from the end, but the readers are privy neither to the information, nor to the process of arriving at it. I positively loathe it when the reader as well as the other characters get the full picture from a confession. In this case it was in the form of a tape, but from a readers' perspective it was several pages too long, and very unrealistic in tone. I don't know if it would sound better on audio, but I definitely didn't enjoy reading it.

A Mind To Murder

Adam Dalgliesh #2: A Mind To Murder

  - P.D. James
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

After the first book, I was a little surprised to find that this is not reminiscent of Agatha Christie, but has a more modern setting, though still quite a ‘clean’ crime story - something which I sorely miss in contemporary works.

As in the first book, this is a closed room mystery, the victim is not particularly liked, and almost everyone has a motive. But I liked this one better. Firstly, it did not have the dated setting which felt little out of place in the previous book because of an apparent later time-frame it was set in. It was also easier to follow the characters and the story arc. I found the plot and pace tighter, and the motives more logical.

However, a large part of the solution was evident to me by 50% mark, even though it felt that the author later indulged in obscuring the plot with some red herrings, to pull the story. Once again, coincidences play a role, but it was interesting to find that the detective had not arrived at the complete and correct solution :) In a way, this fallibility humanizes him, making him more likeable.

We get to know a little more about Dalgliesh. His subordinate, Martin, is not shown prominently, but I liked whatever we get to see about him. I hoped to see more of him and his camaraderie with the detective, but sadly he doesn't feature in later books.

Cover Her Face

Adam Dalgliesh #1: Cover Her Face

  - P.D. James
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I came across a recommendation for this series (on my online reading group, I think) for people who love British crime novels by authors like Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle. By now, I have read four books in the series, so l have a more informed thought about the series itself, but I am going to try to limit this review to this book only.

What I liked about this book was the very Christie-like atmosphere it created - complete with a village setting where everyone knows everyone else, an elite family residing in their large home that the family has lived in for generations, their fortunes depleted over time yet their need to keep up appearances surviving, and a public event where critical events take place. Like Christie's novels, it is a closed-room kind of murder mystery with a limited set of suspects and nearly everyone having a motive.

The author takes her time to develop the characters, and you get a deeper insight into their personality gradually over the course of the story. The atmosphere is also developed well, with attention to detail to build up the background as well as a comprehensive picture of the events. I liked the prose, intelligent and infused with a dry wit.

However, I felt there also were several issues with the style as well as the plot. The beginning was very slow and confusing. For the first two days, I fell asleep after reading only a few pages - something that happens rarely to me while reading any book, let alone a murder mystery. In the initial chapters, I had a challenge keeping track of the characters. And later on, there were times when I had to go back and check whose thoughts or dialogue I was reading. Most of the major characters were unlikeable, one of them quite over the top and stereotyped.

In terms of treatment of the mystery, I was disconcerted to find the detective relying often on his intuition rather than logic or facts, particularly to determine whether or not a person was telling the truth. When he presents the final solution of the mystery, he gathers everyone (again like Christie’s Poirot). But unlike Christie, James does not describe the detective’s process of arriving at the solution, but only his conclusion. The root of the puzzle lies in a coincidence, but then even the grand dame has been known to rely on extraordinary circumstances, so one can't really fault the author on this.

Overall it was an enjoyable read and interested me enough to look out for further novels in the series.

BlueEyedBoy

Blueeyedboy

  - Joanne Harris

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I have loved almost all the Joanne Harris novels I read (until recently, that is), and "Gentlemen and Players" is among my most favorite novels. Therefore, I felt terrible about hating this one.

While 'Different Class' was written in the form of diary entries, the narration of Blueeyedboy constitutes a series of blog posts. The posts, by the virtue of anonymity provided by the internet, make the distinction between fact and fiction completely fuzzy. But either way, the primary narrator comes across as a psychopath. It is a dark and disturbing tale of anger, fear, abuse, and hate, though there does not seem to be much of a plot for it to revolve around. The timelines were confusing, and it was difficult to make out what was going on. It also has an excess of philosophical musings and psycho-analysis, and I ended up skipping several of these paragraphs.

I find it annoying when an author purposefully misdirects the reader. In "Different Class" Harris misled the reader about the identity of the narrator, revealing it only at about the 60% mark. In 'Blueeyedboy' she deliberately misleads us about the identity of both the narrators, and in an even more underhanded manner. Another device she has employed more than once is to indicate a tragic event and its untold repercussions from the very beginning and continue to build upon it throughout, but reveal the actual event only towards the end. This was used to a worse effect than earlier, and I didn't just stop caring about it, I positively loathed it.

The end is not simply open-ended - we don't get to know who did what, or even if someone did anything. I also expected to find the answers to some of the questions left open in "Different Class" but they were not resolved, at least for me [What had happened to Mousy? And what eventually became of Spikely? What was Harrington's actual motive?]

Mini Reviews - XVI

The Man Who Died Twice

  - Richard Osman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I seem to be the minority here, but I did not like this very much. Murder mysteries in fiction usually require one to suspend the belief, but this is somewhat too facetious.

On the positive side, the murder mystery was tighter, and the resolution more rational than the previous book. I loved the insights into human behavior, especially his own, that Ibrahim brings in. The lead characters remain endearing, though unbelievable.

On the downside, this did not have the style reminiscent of Agatha Christie, that I found charming in the first book. It was rather sinister and gory, and somehow I can't imaging senior citizens in their 70s and 80s going about actively sleuthing such cases. They sound more like 50-something, with repeated references to frequent trip to the restroom to give an impression of an older age. I am okay with Donna, but I find the character of Chris just too ridiculous to be the chief of police.

 

The Child Finder

  - Rene Denfeld

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very well written thriller, where past and secrets are revealed layer by layer, the atmosphere is gradually built up so you can feel the beauty and menace of dense forests of upper reaches in Oregon. The background of the story is child abuse, and it gives one a sense of horrific abuse, without being gory or graphic, which I felt was a great skill on the author's part.

Skulduggery Pleasant

- Derek Landy

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I had put this in my TBR, as it was showing up with high recommendations in middle-grade/YA fantasy lists, and perhaps on my virtual reading group also. I have enjoyed several books in this genre, most notably Harry Potter and The Hobbit.

The story was just about okay, but I found the writing really childish in most places. The dialogues typically go like this: A said "lets do this", so B said "its a good plan". I have read and enjoyed a lot of children's fiction in last few years so I can say that it has less to do with target audience, and more to do with the style. It could have been fun had it been better written. I finished the first book, but though I had two more on kindle, I didn't want to continue with it.