Devices and Desires

My copy of the novel runs to 500 pages, and I feel it could have benefited by some severe editing. The miniseries runs to about 5 hours, and that's a lot of exposition and some unnecessary characters: the second killing of a power plant employee is set up so elaborately you want to say Get on with it! There is some very effective acting, particularly from Gemma Jones as the sister of the plant director, and Nicola Cowper as a reluctant activist in the protest against environmental hazards. Lisa Ellis, who's had parts in many series, notably EastEnders, is very good as Blaney's daughter, but the tempo does drag at times.

For those who worry about Roy Marsden's quiet acting style, I'd like to remind them that Dalgleish is a poet who drives a sports car, thus he's at the antipodes of standard detective heroes (George Gently comes to mind). This is one of those stories in which the detectives, for all their competence, are peripheral to the action. The killers do their work, and are dealt with summarily by the author.

This is a very intense mini series set on the Norfolk coast of England involving a Nuclear facility and a serial murderer. The cast includes several outstanding players in addition to Marsden, most notably Susannah York and Gemma Jones. Kate Beckinsale appears in a short sequence in episode 2. Marsden plays his part softly and without bravado. It is an intense mystery involving a wide range of individuals including local residents and nuclear plant employees. Certainly one of the outstanding examples of P.D. James mystery writing.

Adam is in Norfolk, dealing with the estate of his late Aunt, whilst there, he gets caught up in the local events, where a Serial Killer known as The Whistler is preying on young women.

It's definitely an engaging story, it's quite different for PD James, I don't recall reading any of her books before where a Serial Killer is at large, The character of The Whistler is actually pretty terrifying.

The first few episodes are the best, they are chilling, they're sinister, and they really do grab your attention, we get horror, suicide, intrigue, and some real mystery. If I'm honest, I think it dips at around episode four, and some of the focus moved away from what made the first trio of episodes so exciting.

It's every well acted, Marsden as always is terrific, Gemma Jones and Susannah York also impress, look out for an interesting role from Robert Laing.

I preferred some of the earlier stories featuring Adam Dalgliesh, but Devices and Desires is another very strong offering. 7/10.

For me the story was too drawn out, often boring. Would have been better at 3 hours. But most annoying was the way the scenes cut, sometimes after less than a minute. I appreciate switching from one scene to the next for suspense, but this was often ridiculous.

I rate this story a 10, not because everything about it is perfect but because the combination of its own qualities and those of the series as a whole overcome any individual faults and I enjoyed it as a major part of re-watching the whole series.

I agree with the criticisms of other reviewers about the disappointingly limited role played by Dalgliesh in this story and about some of the less than plausible characterizations and some plot lines but there is a lot going on in the story with plenty of characters to make the murder mystery a challenge (unlike some of the stories where there are far too few suspects), high-quality acting, and delightful Norfolk/Suffolk coastal scenery to outweigh them.

It is some years since I read the book but I think the adaptation is fairly faithful to it (as are most of these dramatizations as far as I can remember the books but I won't stake my life on that ).

The one major failing in terms of rendition is that a fundamental theme of the book is a dark, sinister atmosphere that stems from and characterizes the relationship between the coast, the headland, the sea, and the power station. The headland is almost a country or a world on its own and its people, native or visitor, are all affected by these elements of it. The adaptation sadly fails to recreate this feeling so that some of their reactions and thoughts don't have as much dramatic impact as they do in the book. This might be an easy criticism to make since conjuring an atmosphere on TV isn't easy but filming in mid-summer was a colossal mistake in this respect. The north Norfolk coast is at its best in winter and the sea and light of February would have greatly helped the overall feel of the story.

That said, with the lovely Gemma Jones and Susannah York plus a largely competent supporting cast (this was, after all, the old days when TV still had some standards) I enjoyed re-watching this as much as any of the other entries in the series.