Customer Reviews
The perfect thriller for cold winter evenings - By: helen, 20 Nov 2008 
There couldn't be a more atmospheric read for when you're safely & warmly curled up on the sofa! The novel maybe full of gruesome murders, windy Dorset December nights, strange characters assembledin a private nursing home - but the reader can cherish all that gruesomeness with just a shiver of horror, safelyin the know that P.D. James will bring it to satisfying, psychologically credible end. I really enjoyed this latest novel by a great author, & am sure it will find a great many admirers. I think, it's definitely one of her best.
If this is her best.............. - By: Linda Ito, 19 Nov 2008 
This is the first P.D. James I have read. But if this is supposed to be her best, I dread her worst. I am ploughing through it, having reserved it for my convalescence post op. Very boring,reminiscent of Agatha Christie albeit beautifully written. Certainly my last book written by her, shame , I was looking forward to it.
Atmospheric mystery - By: Lynette Baines, 18 Nov 2008 
Investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn is booked into a private clinicin Dorset to have a scar removed from her face. The scar was inflicted over 30 years before, & when Mr Chandler-Powell, the plastic surgeon, asks Rhoda why she's having the scar removed now, she says "Because I no longer have need of it." This is the intriguing opening of the new mystery by P D James. We know on the first page that Rhoda is the murder victim, but why is she murdered? Is it because of who she is, or is it what she knows? James always uses wonderfully isolated locations for her books, & the Dorset clinic is just the kind of remote place with a small group of suspects which she enjoys. The staff of the clinic are the main suspects & most of them have something to hide. The book has an air of finality about it, as Commander Adam Dalgliesh contemplates marriage & a new job when his investigative team is disbanded. Recommended for lovers of the classic English detective story.
pretentious rubbish - By: Dominic Swayne, 14 Nov 2008 
Why aren't people braver & say what is more than obvious: the novel is unbelievably tiresome? As a tale of crime & detection, it fails on all counts & no amount of 'fine' writing can save it.
Dated and disappointing - By: S. R. Barrow, 14 Nov 2008 
Like MD Smart I found 'The Private Patient' disappointing. The characters felt stuffy & stuckin a time warp & I found myself wondering how old Dalgliesh must be by now. He first appearedin 1962! Don't policemen tend to retire at around 55?! Parts of the plot were quite contrived & the ending most unsatisfactory - the final scene focussing on the lesbian couple & the conclusion of that rather odd sub-plot, rather than Dalgliesh & Emma. I have so enjoyed PD James previous AD novels - perhaps as is suggested throughout the book, this should be the last.
