Innocent Blood

Amazing. I have read James' Inspector Dalgliesh novels for years, and liked them. But this really steps out of the pack.

Philippa Palfrey was adopted by a prominent, well-off couple. Her adoptive father is a big name in politics and is used to having things go his way. He gets his wish when Philippa uses her intelligence to succeed in school and to be welcomed to Cambridge. But Philippa is obsessed with finding her real father (she has been told her mother is dead), about whom she knows nothing.

As soon as she is legally able, at age 18, to seek out her parents, she does so. And finds out that her mother is in prison for murder.

It's a shock but now Philippa needs to get to know her mother. She takes the unusual step of inviting her show more mother, when she is released. to stay with her for a couple of months, in an apartment in London.

Her mother agrees to the plan, although she is cautious, wants to make sure Philippa really wants to go through with it. The two get along well from the start, taking time to fix things up, to keep everything clean, to explore London together. The murder hangs over them but Philippa has almost forgotten it.

In this novel James explore the "nature vs nurture" argument, and I was afraid she would go down a simplistic road. But she doesn't. It's powerful and thought-provoking, and ultimately, in its way, hopeful. show less

This book rated two stars for me. In my rating system, that means that I didn't care for it, but others might. Obviously, reading other reviews, people do care for it. It's possible that I may have enjoyed it more when I was younger. I was more forgiving of darkness and character flaws then. Now when I read I want something with at least a glimmer of light. When I was about half way through, I skipped to the last three chapters to see if it was worth continuing and for me there were no surprises and the main character hadn't changed a bit, so that confirmed my suspicion that I need not waste any more time with it.

The main character is arrogant, high-handed, juvenile, ignorant and thoroughly unpleasant. I might have worked to finish this show more if the end proved that she could grow and change, but all the unpleasantness she discovered in life only confirmed her character.

I have enjoyed some of James' other writings, but this has put me off for a good long time. I suppose I can say this for her; she set the mood well, but it was such a foul mood I couldn't stay in it. show less

I've always had mixed feelings about P.D. James, and this book will certainly be the last of hers I read for some time. I find her novels well-crafted, engrossing, and memorable, but I'm not sure that I actually enjoy them.

Innocent Blood is populated by a cast of characters who exist in a miasma of dysfunctional amorality. James depicts their inner lives with detached, sociological precision, writing with subtle compassion, yet rarely permitting us to identify with them. The novel could as easily be titled "Original Sin" - there's a heavy-handed pessimism about human nature and the ability of individuals to be genuinely self-aware or altruistic.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that Innocent Blood reads like a morality play. Fair show more enough for a crime novel, but not my cup of tea. Here the worldview of the author looms so large, and the story feels so artificially bleak, that it's hard for me to assess whether James' story has anything genuine to say about the human experience. show less

Basically, what we have is a book that was way longer than it should have been that tried very hard to be what P D James's other books are, but without Adam Dalgliesh. Unfortunately, it falls very short of all those goals. What we have in a nutshell, is a story about an adopted child, Philippa, who has just turned 18 and learns the shocking truth of her real parents' identity. She is determined to find and reclaim her natural mother. First clue that nothing is going to turn out to be good in any way. In addition, we have a mild-mannered man who vows revenge on the woman who killed his only child. None of the characters are sympathetic or even remotely likeable. Not the grocer, not the neighbor where Philippa learned the first piece of show more the puzzle, nor the hapless murder victim herself. It's also a rather tired portrayal of the class system which includes the expected swipes at the Conservatives. To sum it up it's a bitter observation on society with a little intrigue thrown in. Personally, I found it rather depressing. show less

I see this as James' attempt to write "Literature." Her murder mysteries always have an intense bent towards the psychological analyses of her characters, which has always made for better writing than the average mystery novel, where the focus is on getting the clues revealed slowly enough that the reader can take a shot at figuring out the culprit.

In this novel, we don't step entirely away from the murder theme, but we're introduced quite soon in the book to the prospective murderer, so there's no mystery involved. We watch as he carefully makes his plan, mapping out each step, and we follow the victim as she goes about her day oblivious to her danger. But the emphasis is certainly on the relationships between the characters, and their show more ambiguous and complex motives for their actions. It's all very literary.

Probably why I didn't care for it much. Bring back Dalgliesh. show less

This is a long a detailed book, but I still read it in two days. James steps out of her police and detective series constraints here for a stand-alone story, not really a mystery, but more an elaborate journey toward a resolution for characters who started out unlikable, but grew on me as the story progressed. Crimes, legal and otherwise, direct this book, from bad marriages, betrayals, an adoption with odd motive into a dysfunctional family, to horrific historical crimes, acts of revenge and reunion. Phillipa Palfrey finds a mother, loses a family, begins to develop a feeling for other people as she attempts to find out who she really is. Excellent.

This is one of PD James's best books, although for some reason it is not held in the same high esteem as her other detective-led novels. It concerns the search by an adopted daughter for her mother, and her mother turns out to be a convicted murderer.

There's an intensity and urgency to the writing here that, however well stylised and characterised her other books, is sometimes lacking in her other work. I think this is to do with the fact that the device used to bring the protagonists together is less contrived, less artificial than in some of the Dalgliesh books. The tension and drama, the narrative drive emanates from the characters in a more realistic way. This could be called a 'straight' novel (along with her other, sometimes show more less-well-regarded, Children of Men), but it has all the hallmarks of James at her best - tight plotting, believable characters and a commentary on broader issues such as loss, pain and parent-child relationships. Make sure you read this.

© Koplowitz 2012 show less