Innocent Blood
by P. D. James
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Book Summary Information
Author: P. D. JamesBrand: PBS
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-07-31
ISBN: 0743219635
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Touchstone
Book Reviews of Innocent Blood
Book Review: The Tie That Binds
Summary: 4 Stars
P.D. James is best known for her detective Adam Dalgliesh and the mysteries that he has masterly solved in a dozen novels. "Innocent Blood", while a departure from her usual fare, still exhibits some of James' trademarks and is overall an intriguing and slightly disturbing crime novel. The thought with which the plotlines and characters twine together showcases the author's ability to craft ingenious crimes and plumb the psychological depths of her characters.
"Innocent Blood" is the tale of Philippa Palfrey, who has just turned eighteen and is eager to find out who her birth parents were so that she can in turn discover who she is. Adopted when she was eight, Philippa can remember hardly anything of her previous life, and has filled in the gaps with wild romantic fantasies that are brought to a crashing halt when she learns the truth about her background. For she is the daughter of a rapist and a murderer - her biological father died in prison, while her mother is soon due to be released. Philippa denies the advice of her adopted family and searches out her birth mother, blindly putting aside the fact that her mother murdered a twelve-year-old girl, and the two wind up sharing a flat in London for a few weeks in the summer. But Philippa's plans of reconciling with her mother are thrown into jeopardy by someone unknown to her; for the father of the murdered girl has spent the past ten years planning how to enact his vigilante vengeance and stalks the mother and daughter so he can carry out his plan. Yet when Philippa learns a truth even more disconcerting about her mother and her adoption, everyone's plans for the future are threatened.
"Innocent Blood" is not as easy a read as others of James' works. It begins slowly, and the main characters are far from likeable. Philippa has spent the past ten years living in the lap of luxury, but feels nothing more than grudging sense of entitlement toward her adoptive parents. Maurice, her adoptive father, is a sociology professor, who seems to view his relationship with Philippa as an experiment, until the reader learns the true motive behind his actions. The reader will perhaps be surprised to feel some empathy for Philippa's birth mother, despite the fact that she is a child murderer. But the strongest character in the novel is Norman Scase, the vengeance seeking father, a gentle man who made a promise to his late wife to seek out the murderer of their child and who struggles under the enormity of that promise. As the plotlines of these various characters interconnect, the novel picks up pace and draws to an interesting close, but one that is slightly disturbing and perhaps less fulfilling than other crimes P.D. James has offered in other works.
Summary of Innocent Blood
Adopted as a child into a privileged family, Philippa Palfrey fantasizes that she is the daughter of an aristocrat and a parlor maid. The terrifying truth about her parents and a long-ago murder is only the first in a series of shocking betrayals. Philippa quickly learns that those who delve into the secrets of the past must be on guard when long-buried horrors begin to stir."As a crime novel," wrote the London Times, Innocent Blood is "the peak of the art." "Flawlessly crafted...profoundly, masterfully moving," Cosmopolitan concurred.
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