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A review by catherine_t
Innocent Blood by P.D. James
2.0
Phillipa Palfrey learns that she is the daughter of convicted child murderer Mary Ducton, who is about to be released after 10 years' imprisonment. Deciding that she must learn who she really is, Phillipa leaves her adoptive parents and takes a flat with her mother once her mother is released from prison. Meanwhile, the father of the dead child is bent on revenge...
I think I read this book more out of a sense of completion and duty rather than out of any enjoyment. I've read pretty much all of PD James' other books, apart from The Maul and the Pear-Tree, and I'd heard that this was a good one. Perhaps it had more impact when it was first published, but 30 years on it simply seems dated.
A friend of mine once said that PD James wrote dialogue as if conversation was something she'd once heard of, and the more I read her, the more I agree. She's a fine writer, but she has no ear at all for dialogue. Her characters live in a world of monologues masquerading as conversation amongst Oxbridge dons, and after a while it can be wearing. If you can get past that, you'll probably enjoy this book.
I think I read this book more out of a sense of completion and duty rather than out of any enjoyment. I've read pretty much all of PD James' other books, apart from The Maul and the Pear-Tree, and I'd heard that this was a good one. Perhaps it had more impact when it was first published, but 30 years on it simply seems dated.
A friend of mine once said that PD James wrote dialogue as if conversation was something she'd once heard of, and the more I read her, the more I agree. She's a fine writer, but she has no ear at all for dialogue. Her characters live in a world of monologues masquerading as conversation amongst Oxbridge dons, and after a while it can be wearing. If you can get past that, you'll probably enjoy this book.