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Read A Certain Justice (2006)

A Certain Justice (2006)

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Rating
3.88 of 5 Votes: 5
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ISBN
0770429912 (ISBN13: 9780770429911)
Language
English
Publisher
seal books

A Certain Justice (2006) - Plot & Excerpts

Please, somebody tell me that this is the worst book written by P. D. James, because if it isn't then people are even more gullible than I think. A scene can be handled sparely, as here, "I drove to the store and got the evening paper," or it can be given in pages of detail, describing the need for the evening paper, why the protagonist chose that moment to get one, the weather conditions, the road conditions, a description of the car and the route, what the protagonist was wearing, and a whole lot more. Both are legitimate choices for a writer IF the long version is written in a lively style and adds necessary facts or scope and depth to the characters and the world of the story. James takes the latter route, so to speak, but most of the details seem superfluous to the characterizations and the world that she creates. You can skip pages and pages of this book and still know everything you need to know.Her style is certainly readable, or I would have not finished such a slow moving book. Her protagonist, Adam Dalgliesh, is a real prick to those who work for him and a self-righteous git generally. I fail to understand his popularity. While James hints that he is a very deep thinker, she does not make this concrete. The story is alright, though a bit creepy for my taste.I was prepared to give this book three stars for its readable style and expansiveness until I came to a couple of paragraphs near the end in which James informs the reader of a parallel between one of the police detectives and one of the murderers. This is slapped on in a irresponsible manner instead of being developed in parallel through the book. This is a cheap, unprofessional, and shoddy writing. A CERTAIN JUSTICE would have been a much better book had James developed this as a fine writer should. Then it would have meaning.

As we get older and forget more things one pleasure is re-reading a good book that one can't quite remember. Luckily, P.D. James is a detailed enough writer that there are specifics that surprise anew, and she is a good enough observer of human nature and stylist that a second reading is rewarded.A Certain Justice is one of her best. Like most British mysteries, the situation is so claustrophobic (is that because everyone is conscious of England being an island?) that you wonder why more of the ants in this particular literary bottle (in this case, a group of lawyers) aren't killing one another. We are immediately told who will die, but she doesn't die until a third of the book is gone, and our time with her makes us wonder why no one has killed her before this. She is brutally critical of everyone in her work and life. She is good at being a lawyer, but that good is spoiled by the reality that her expertise is put at the service of creeps.Like Jane Austen, what P.D. James is best at is the rational explanation of an individual character's various emotional states. During a conversation we may be treated to explorations of the inner workings behind both sides of the dialogue. We go into each character's mind, almost surgically, and paradoxically the effect is not without empathy. In this book, one of the last characters to receive this treatment is the murderer, who up until that point had been unsympathetically described by everyone in the book. When we are allowed into his head, however, while we don't feel sympathy, we at least get a sense of how the world looks to him.

What do You think about A Certain Justice (2006)?

Finally I've come to a conclusion. Plotting has never been P. D. James' strength. It isn't bad but I've read books with better plots, better riddles. No, her strength has always been the writing. The same is with this book.The pace is definitely more than a little off. Two-thirds into the book, the plot is put on hold in favour of a sub- or beta-plot that goes almost to the end of the story. Therefore when the perpetrator of the main crime is revealed - on the last few pages of the book - it comes a bit as if out of nowhere. This is particularly jarring because we aren't even given the thought process of the detective that led him to that conclusion. And the fact that [CENSORED DUE TO SPOILERS] makes it even more annoying.That faults aside... the writing is superb as always. The characters, their thoughts, feelings, dreams, fears, quirks and vices are presented and described in a truly wonderful way. The crime itself is also intriguing with a nice solution, just the problem is that there is not much focus on it, not enough of the things I love in whodunnits: gathering of clues, interrogations, subtle reasoning leading to the inevitable conclusion. This book is just different, more realistic, slower, maybe even a bit melancholic - but enjoyable nevertheless.
—Filip

My grandson, Graham, likes PD James so when I saw this hardcover book for only 25 cents, I purchased it. Last night I was reading from 3 - 4 in the morning. I was reading the novel as I went to sleep and woke later thinking of it, so read till I was done. I will happpily read more of her mysteries, partly because of the intrique, partly because of the English setting, and mostly because of the good story line. The language is formal, almost stilted at times, and that too becomes a plus as it makes the English "feel" even more pronounced.The author does a wonderful job in the book's beginning of giving reasons many of the characters have for the murder of Venetia Aldridge, and it is fun to follow the detectives as they vacillate from one possible suspect to another. The Garry Ashe character is a demon, a horror, and leaves the reader fearful whenever he is in charge. Several interesting questions are raised: Why do attorneys take pride in defending a suspect, when knowing that he is guilty? How far should the clergy's rights go in keeping vital information to themselves? How responsible is one's childhood experience in making him tha adult he becomes? Why do some prosper even though they have miserable childhoods and tohers do not?So many of the characters seem to have more weak points thab positive ones.A good nightitme read!!!!!
—Barner

Opens with a brilliant but chillingly aloof criminal defense lawyer getting a creepy young man acquitted for murdering his aunt. Not too long afterwards, the lawyer is found murdered in her office, her body garishly decorated. Adam Dalgliesh and his young team solve the case despite many dangers (I don't think I'm giving anything away by saying that). Have I said already how much I love P.D. James? This was one of the most satisfying ones yet. I really enjoyed reading this passage in particular, so will copy here: "But suddenly he was struck by an imperative need to glimpse the sea. Crossing the main road, he drove on towards Lulworth Cove. At the breast of a hill he stopped the car at a gate and climbed over into a field of shorn turf where a few sheep ambled clumsily away at his coming. There was an outcrop of rocks and he sat with one at his back and gazed out over the panorama of hills, green fields and small coppices to the wide blue stretch of the Channel. He had brought a picnic of French bread, cheese and pate. Unscrewing the thermos of coffee, he hardly regretted the lack of wine. Nothing was needed to enhance his mood of utter contentment. He felt along his veins a tingling happiness, almost frightening in its physicality, that soul-possessing joy which is so seldom felt once youth has passed. After the meal he sat for ten minutes in absolute silence, then got up to go. He had had what he needed and was grateful" (260).
—K

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