The Black Tower

I have been reading this series in order and at this point I am ready to give up. James seems to have run out of ideas and takes her readers' patience for granted.

This one, like the previous two, takes place at a medical institution and has the same undercurrents of misanthropy as her others, especially toward the sick and disabled. Only this time, detective Adam Dalgliesh has checked out—he declares that, based on the evidence, he doubts a murder has taken place, and even if one has, he just doesn't care enough to solve it.

He decides this, I should mention, around page two hundred. That's right, two hundred pages in, the protagonist tells us he doesn't care about the potential murder one way or the other, and you have no choice, after slogging through two hundred pages of characters you can't remember doing nothing much, but to agree with him.

Then, if you do keep reading, you're treated to a similar ending as one of the previous books in the series. It may have been mildly satisfying, had you not been dragged through the rest of the book, desperate for it to be over. But instead you're just happy for it to be done.

I have no idea how James thought apathy would be engaging for readers. To me, it seems obvious. You have to make your readers care about your main character, and therefore you have to make your main character care—about something, about anything! James comes off as someone who believes herself to be a good writer, and her outside interviews support that. But after a few books she comes off as arrogant, and even a bit cruel, and frankly as someone who I would never want working for the NHS. (According to her bio she worked there for many years and I assume that's why so many of her books take place at medical institutions.) This one left me frustrated and disappointed.