Title: Devices And Desires
Author: P.D. JamesGenre: Detective/Thriller/Crime
This post was published on my blog:
P.D James' bestseller, Devices and Desires'is unlike any
detective/thriller I have read. It is a completely atypical crime story that
breaks away from tried and tested detective story conventions. Yet James manages
to create an equally thrilling and compelling read.
- Taken from filmizer.com
At the core of the story is a creepy serial woman killer who goes by the
name of Whistler. The killings have rocked the fictional Norfolk coast and have
scared the women from venturing alone at night. Then the killer strikes at
Larkosen- a picturesque town of Norfolk-with one of the female workers at the
Larkosen Nuclear Power Station murdered. Adam Dalgliesh of the New Scotland Yard
was on a holiday at Larkosen to settle all the affairs of his aunt's
death-including blowing her ashes and taking care of the the fortune and the
windmill she bequeathed him. He invariably gets enmeshed in the murders despite
Norfolk not being his patch. When a 2nd murder hits Larkosen, the mystery
deepens and fresh troubles surface for Terry Rickards, the Chief Inspector of
Norfolk in charge of solving the case, who is desperate to find the elusive
killer at all costs.
The plot of Devices and Desires sounds like the countless detective
stories that come packaged in cheap paperbacks. Yet it is vastly different.
Firstly, the pace is much gradual. James takes her own sweet time to build the
story, to create tension and take it to a thrilling climax. She is as
interested in the characters and setting as the plot itself which is why the
reader peruses pages devoted to establishing the desolate, wild yet beautiful
atmosphere of the Norfolk coast in general and Larkosen in particular and to
fleshing out characters who are not merely stock characters but individuals with
their own unique viewpoint and thoughtful insights.For ex. Dalgliesh is often
depicted as pondering over his melancholic and contradictory thoughts about his
aunt. The novel is thus very descriptive which burdens it and thus tends to slow
down the story's pace. This may not be appealing to all kinds of readers
especially those who are used to their weekly doses of fast paced thrillers.
Nonetheless, the novel is still worth the shot because James makes sure that the
reader is both aesthetically as well as sensationally pleased with her
descriptions and intricate plot.The depth in characterization and the landscape
gives this genre fiction novel a literary touch (which is heightened by several
references to works of literature such as 'Dover Beach', a poem by Matthew
Arnold.
James also creates skillful contrasting moods. One moment the reader is
plunged into an anxiety ridden chapter of the Whistler's to-be-victims' thoughts
and in the next the reader dives into the cool, organized thoughts of Dalgliesh
or the thoughts of the other numerous inhabitants of Larkosen. James skillfully
depicts the gruesome and horrifying aspects of murder and violence as well as
manifests the vicious desires and passions of ordinary humans. She has a deft
writing touch that marvelously depicts both with a talented ease.
What is jarring is the sudden burst of fast paced and unexpected thrill
close to the end that awakens the reader from the stupor brought on by the
book's lulled pace itself. Here James style of alternating moods begins to fail.
Its as if she has realised that she needs to quickly finish the story and reveal
the murderer and not go on rambling about Larkosen's beauty or its inhabitants'
idiosyncrasies. The continuation of the same smooth and lulling pace as the
whole story would have been more appropriate rather than thrusting the reader
into action and more murders that seem blatantly out of place. They seem to be
there only to shock the reader or to create the conventional twists in the
story.
Yet, apart from these few unexpected jolts, the actual unraveling does
happen in a controlled, casual way almost as if a picnic was being discussed and
not a murderer's confession. 'Devices and Desires' is still a good, the
narrative powerful and stimulating enough to hook all detective fiction lovers
and fans.
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