Book Review: The Black Tower

The Black Tower

In yet another closed-door whodunit, authoress P. D. James spins a thrilling psychological mystery in the idyllic Toynton Grange off Dorset coast. Recovering from a life-threatening illness and disenchanted with his job at the force, Commander Adam Dalgliesh's life is at a crossroads. In such a situation, he receives an unexpected call for advice from an elderly friend of his, a Father Baddeley, who works as a chaplain in the Grange, a private convalescent home for the disabled.

Unfortunately he arrives at the place a good few weeks later only to discover that his host has already died due to a heart attack. Shaken by a guilt of having not taken enough pains to catch up with his friend, Dalgliesh decides to spend some time at the Grange, trying to find out why the Father would have summoned him in the first place. He soon senses a sinister undercurrent permeating the isolated community and fears the latter's passing away could be more than what it meets the eye, but fails to find any evidence to support his theory. His suspicions are however justified when more deaths follow suit, and Dalgliesh realizes the home is not an abode of care and love, but a staging post for death.

P. D. James has always had a flair for atmospheric novels, and The Black Tower, set in 1974, is no different. The mood is enigmatically eerie, the characters have their own grey shades, and the mystery is well-handled for the most part. And Adam Dalgliesh, at his introspective best, tries as much to dissociate himself from the strange happenings, yet gets inexplicably drawn into it more and more. All said and done, The Black Tower is extremely vivid, mighty engrossing and grabs your attention from the word go.