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crowyhead's review against another edition
4.0
Another excellent James mystery. I loved the setting for this one -- an Anglican seminary on the English coast. Dalgliesh returns to St. Anselm's, where he spent several happy summers as a boy, to investigate the death of a seminary student. The student was killed in the collapse of a sandy cliff, but it is not clear whether his death was accidental, suicide, or even murder. There's loads of intrigue, as three subsequent deaths expose the priests and students to scrutiny and their lives are laid bare.
dh981's review against another edition
4.0
Another excellent P.D. James mystery. Almost nothing she writes is bad.
girloflamancha's review against another edition
2.0
This started off pretty well, and at first I enjoyed the writing. But then I realized it was just boring. And the characters, for all the words spilled to describe them, were still flat and remained a bit of a mystery. I can’t really tell you what kind of man our main character is, except that he, and all the other characters we are supposed to like or sympathize with, are in fact extremely unlikeable. And then we get to the pedophilia. Look, I don’t know if the author is a pedophile or thinks pedophelia is no big deal (I can’t believe I am even writing this), and of course, her characters don’t necessarily reflect her own views, even when the reader is repeatedly hit over the head with how bad he should feel about this poor pedophile priest actually going to jail for his crimes, and how awful the guy who helped put him there is. In fact, it is heavily implied that, for being such a bully to the pedophile, he kinda deserved to be murdered. Again; does not mean that in real life P. D. James is super supportive of pedophiles. But she sure wrote a book where a MAJOR theme is that a priest fondling boys should be protected, the kids that testify against him must be lying, and the church must close rank and shelter their own from the law. Our hero - the freakin’ detective - is on the pedophile’s side. The pedophile is such a gentle man, why would anyone resent him fondling or raping boys? Did I mention? Nice guy, needs to be protected.
I don’t really know how I made it through once I realized this is agenda the novel was going to push. I guess I was hoping all of our main characters including the hero would eventually like... realize pedophelia is bad? Nah, that doesn’t happen. It’s literally a side plot invented to make us feel sympathy for the pedophile character because he did time and it was hard on him (?!). The victims are never considered. The hero and everyone else (except for the evil murder victim who dared help put this man behind bars) keep feeling bad for the pedophile and are so relieved he is placed in a community that would make him feel safe at the end.
I don’t really know how I made it through once I realized this is agenda the novel was going to push. I guess I was hoping all of our main characters including the hero would eventually like... realize pedophelia is bad? Nah, that doesn’t happen. It’s literally a side plot invented to make us feel sympathy for the pedophile character because he did time and it was hard on him (?!). The victims are never considered. The hero and everyone else (except for the evil murder victim who dared help put this man behind bars) keep feeling bad for the pedophile and are so relieved he is placed in a community that would make him feel safe at the end.
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
A little too procedural for my tastes but it's still a pretty decent mystery read. As a Christian minister (and former Seminarian), I was intrigued by the religious aspect of the story and PD James does not let me down in that regard. However, I wonder if I would have liked it as much if I did not have such a deep knowledge of the subject as it is a little dry. A good read nonetheless but I don't know if I'll be rushing out to get too many PD James novels in the near future.
pauldaly's review against another edition
2.0
So many smart people, smart readers, love PD James, but this left me cold.
michelleful's review against another edition
4.0
I mostly enjoyed this absorbing tale of solid police work in the atmospheric setting of a seminary set on a crumbling English coast. James writes terrifically well, with a great deal of psychological insight. The plot was tight and the characters skilfully drawn. My only issues were with
Spoiler
(1) the treatment of the paedophile character; at first I thought that the view excusing him was a minority one, but there was never any solid pushback against the idea; in fact the only person who clearly took a negative view was murdered! A similar thing happens with a white character's angry resistance to a report that says the British police operate with racial prejudice. No actual pushback. (2) In the end there isn't much intuition used to solve the mystery, so it feels a bit plodding. I was hoping for a bit more of a twist!smedette's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I’m a bit embarrassed to admit I only recently learned of PD James because her Adam Dalgliesh series has been adapted for television.
This mystery is full of atmosphere (tiny theological college near a desolate stretch of coastline) and plenty of suspicious characters (priests, students, property caretakers, and other laypeople). It kept me guessing until the end.
While Adam is investigating a suspected suicide of a student, more deaths occur on campus. They seem natural or accidental, but one wonders.
This is the 11th Dalgliesh book, but I didn’t feel lost about the character. A previous case was mentioned very briefly, however, it gave nothing away and was used to establish an existing relationship with colleagues.
If you enjoy slow-burning murder mysteries, I recommend giving this series a try.
One VERY IMPORTANT complaint: there is a priest who has been convicted of sexual abuse and is portrayed in sympathetic light which did not sit well with me.
zpanday's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
2.0
Unacceptable treatment of child abuse and pedophelia
strawberrymivvy's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The first Adam Dalgliesh I've actually read, though I've always enjoyed the TV adaptations.
Didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped I would, the dialogue feels clunky and old-fashioned, and the description, whilst rich and evocative, used so many unnecessarily intellectual words - as a well-educated reader it's rare that I have to look up meanings as much as I did here, and that detracted from the enjoyment for sure.
I'd probably try another one in the series, as this being set in a religious college likely didn't help, but not an outright winner for me
Didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped I would, the dialogue feels clunky and old-fashioned, and the description, whilst rich and evocative, used so many unnecessarily intellectual words - as a well-educated reader it's rare that I have to look up meanings as much as I did here, and that detracted from the enjoyment for sure.
I'd probably try another one in the series, as this being set in a religious college likely didn't help, but not an outright winner for me