This book has an interesting premise. The main character, adopted and raised by a well-to-do family, discovers that her origins are not as she has fantasised, but much, much bleaker.  Her natural father and mother raped and killed a child. What would happen if such a person, still only 17, decided to track down her mother? And what would then happen if the murdered child's father had the same idea at the same point?  

This is a page-turner. One of P.D. James' earlier novels from 1978, it is not so much in the mystery genre, more a psychological drama. And as such it is not as violent and explicit as some of her later works. The setting is mostly urban, the characters nicely depicted and contrasted, and the story unfolds in a satisfying way. A few hallmark James twists ensure that the reader will not guess the ending.

This is totally not what I’ve expected. And unfortunately, mostly in a bad way.

I expected a thriller, a crime story. Maybe some investigation. And this is at best a psychological thriller. With a emphasize on psychological. It’s not what I was looking for. And these kind of books are rather on the edge of my comfort zone, and not in a good way. I rarely feel a pleasure of reading with them.

Let’s start with something good. The writing is excellent, I can’t deny it. The characters are unique and complicated. The whole idea is fascinating and distinctive. I definitely enjoyed the opportunity this kind of plot gives. There are some parts of the book that I really liked.

But then, there are all those pages I find completely boring. The descriptions are so detailed that skipping is nearly a must. And there is no really good reason for that, I could live without the detailed report on every building, every street and every meaningless action of the character. The books drags through pages. First half is quite boring.

I needed this book for a very specific challenge, the author is generally familiar to me, I have read one of her books years ago, but I’m a bit disappointed with the experience. This is just not my thing. However, I can totally imagine other readers truly enjoying this complicated psychologically story.

I normally love PD James but I pretty much hated this book.

Philippa Palfrey, the brilliant, Cambridge-bound adopted daughter of a cool, intellectual sociologist and his second wife, determines to discover, now that she is 18, her real father and mother. In the first two hair-rising chapters, she learns that they were respectively a child rapist and a murderer. The rapist father has died in prison, but the murderess mother is about to be released on parole.
Even though her adoptive parents raise objections to her seeking out the past ("None of us can bear too much reality," quotes Maurice, the sage sociologist), Philippa goes her own way, as befits a determined prodigy, and sets up housekeeping with mum. Into the picture creeps another character -- by far the most exciting -- Norman Scase. He is the obsessed father of the murdered child. As he stalks his child's killer, now living with the innocent Philippa, we encounter the best of Mrs. James's writing. Norman is a retired civil servant, a little chap, about whom Mrs. James writes sympathetically and persuasively, no doubt because of her own long professional association with the white-collar workers of the British bureaucracy.

Okay I...definitely had my memory of this confused with some other book

P.D. James is known for deeply-explored motivations and deft characterization. This gives her mystery novels a special plus. Still, I'm not a great fan. The endings are supposed to be thrilling, but are more often mindless, such as: otherwise intelligent girl having heard noises must go down unarmed into dark cellar and be rescued from ultimate horror by savvy police detective. Said detective is usually this poet-cop, Dalgleish, whose angsty ruminations and above-it-all manner I find intrusive and irritating.

But Innocent Blood is not like that. First of all, no Dalgleish--yea! The heroine, Philippa Palfrey, an adoptee who is searching for her real parents, is young and rather savvy, despite a sheltered upbringing. Yes, she's also a bit naive: as the goodreads synopsis tells us, she imagines she owes her existence to a romance between a peer and a parlor maid, but she grows out of this fantasy--very quickly, I can tell you--and moves forward to make citrus martinis out of the lemons she finds in her adoption file.

The best part is that there are two fascinating stories here: hers and that of a man who years before lost his only daughter to rape and murder and is driven by a promise to his dying wife to exact revenge. His and Philippa's lives are inextricably entwined, and we follow them, step by harrowing step, to the ultimate confrontation.

The ending was not at all what I expected, a real Agatha-Christie-type twist,satisfying and believable.

Reread. Psychological mystery about a young woman, adopted, who traces her parents and finds that they murdered a child. Her mother is about to released from prison and she suggests they rent an apartment together for the months before she goes to Cambridge. There is more going on that she doesn’t know.

This is a great, suspenseful thriller but I have to say that the emotions of many of the characters are really weird and don't make a lot of sense. The ending, emotion-wise, was a mess that strained credulity, and I'm not talking about the sex. I didn't notice this the first time I read it. Because of this I gave it 3 stars, down from 5 midway through.

Oh yeah there is a carefully knitted, meaningfully given sweater that is destroyed in a fit of anger which bothered me more than the child murder.

Incredibly slow and boring. The most difficult book to finish in that I couldn’t connect with any of the characters and the plot was just too easy and yet a slog to get through. I generally enjoy P.D. James but I recommend giving this one a complete pass

This was my first P.D. James and I'll definitely be reading more.

Innocent Blood tells the story of Philippa Palfrey, an 18 year old who was adopted at age 8. She has decided to exercise her right to find out who her birth parents were in an attempt to discover who she really is. It doesn't all go to plan though, when she finds out the truth about her real parents - and it's not the same as the romantic fantasies she's made up in her head.

I loved this book from start to finish. It kept me engrossed throughout and I really didn't want to put it down. This isn't your typical crime/thriller novel, it goes much deeper than that. It's a psychological story of human nature, revenge and relationships. The characters are well built, although not entirely likeable, and the plot is slow-moving, but in a good way. The plot develops well and builds stedily to the climax, which was a great twist. I found the pace moved along nicely and although it was slow, it didn't feel boring at any time. The writing is also brilliant, James is clearly more literary than other authors in this genre. Her command of the English language is excellent and she uses it to perfection in this book.

This is one I would definitely recommend to anyone who likes a good plot and engaging characters.

Καλογραμμένο ψυχολογικό θρίλερ - αν και με στιγμές εκνευριστικά περίτεχνων και λεπτοδουλεμένων περιγραφών - με ενδιαφέρον και ιντριγκαδόρικο θέμα και θαυμάσια, αναπάντεχη κορύφωση

2.5

A "slow burning" psychological thriller I had a bit of difficulty getting into first - all these passages of flashbacks and descriptions made it not the easiest to follow at times. But they were obviously a part of the story, and there are enough action packed novels out there by other writers if this is your sort of thing. This is a novel about Philippa Palfrey's search for her birth parents, and about the betrayals yet to come, once she has found her mother and moved in with her. It is understandable that a lot of adopted children are curious about their actual identity and heritage (including yours truely, being an adopted child myself, with still a few questions I will probably never get answered), but sometimes it may be a good idea to let the sleeping dogs lie and not to pry too deep into the past. Also, there rises the question of possible motives driving one's adoptive parents. Was it just their genuine wish to have a child to love and to provide with a good home? Or, could there have been some other, more calculating motive involved? It is rather the latter with Philippa's adoptive parents. The Palfreys are respected members of their community, well off financially, and Philippa isn't ill treated, but still their home seems to lack actual warmth and love. None of the characters seemed entirely likable or lovable, and it looked as if almost none of them really loved each other, including their own children or spouses. Oddly enough (or perhaps not so oddly), the most likable one out of them appears to be Mary Ducton, the murderess who served ten years for killing a child. At any rate, I recommend this novel, at least give it a try.