Devices and Desires
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Author | P.D. James |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Adam Dalgliesh stories #8 |
| Genre(s) | Crime, Mystery novel |
| Publisher | Faber & Faber |
| Released | 2 October 1989 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 454 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-571-14178-1 (first edition, hardback) |
| Preceded by | A Taste for Death |
| Followed by | Original Sin |
Devices and Desires is a 1989 detective novel in the Adam Dalgliesh series by P. D. James. It takes place on Larksoken, an isolated headland in Norfolk.
[edit] Plot summary
Commander Adam Dalgliesh, having published his second volume of poetry, retreats to the remote Larksoken headland where his recently deceased aunt, Jane Dalgliesh, left him a converted windmill. However, a psychopatic mass murderer, known as the Norfolk Whistler, is on the loose and seems to have arrived at Larksoken when Dalgliesh finds the body of the nearby nuclear power plant's Acting Administrative Officer during an evening stroll on the beach. We then watch the effect a following series of interlocking plots have on each other, and on the lives of the books protagonists.
 |
This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it. |
[edit] Major themes
The book deals at length with such issues as nuclear power and its dangers/benefits; the loss of a wife and the effect it has on a family; the bond of siblings; the use and manifestations of both psychosis and dutie; and, finally, the love among family members. The book is also notable in that Dagliesh himself does not actually solve the crime; the book rather lazily begins with different characters carrying on their lives with the bleak backdrop of a controversial power station and a prowling serial killer. Soon, however, after the copy-cat murder that propels the book along, we start to watch the characters bounce and chaff and strike out at one another, but very little actually detecting takes place. Still, the book's merit is in its ability to entwine multiple human beings who must try to live their lives amidst a chaotic backdrop. It should also be noted that the mystery actually has nothing at all do with the serial killer--his identity is revealed around page 250.
