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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
This is a very surprising hit for me! I had decided "i don't like christie's espionage stories! 😠" after i read The Big Four (lmaooo), followed with few similar failed stories (which i forgot the titles). Even when my most favorite christie book was The Secret Adcersary lol, another espionage story. So i guess it shouldn't be very surprising that i like this.
When i started reading this i also let out a big sigh bc ughhh this seemed like something i won't like :( and also it was so slow! especially in the beginning. The pace actually started to pickup after 50%. But i kept reading because agatha christie just wrote so well. It's very readable, and despite the slowness and literally destination unknowness of the plot, the dialogues just kept me reading. And it rewarded me with satisfying twist and twist and twist and twist!
The plot actually didn't feel like christie at all. I mean, this was definitely not a murder mystery, i guess it's more apt to be called a spy mystery. I wouldn't say it's a thriller. Too slow to be that.
There are questionable things here that felt very of its time. A couple of times i was like "uh wait.... what did she say?" bc i'm not sure about christie's political standing here. But i think the political observation here was very digestible and sharp at the same time. And we can be sure that christie was not on the side of a billionaire here. There's another huge thing that was very of its time and made my jaw literally dropped. It was so ridiculous it's almost funny. I can't speak about it more than that.
Oh and this is one of christie's books where the romance i like. Overall i mostly enjoyed this! It was especially so good and everyone was so clever around 51-80%.
When i started reading this i also let out a big sigh bc ughhh this seemed like something i won't like :( and also it was so slow! especially in the beginning. The pace actually started to pickup after 50%. But i kept reading because agatha christie just wrote so well. It's very readable, and despite the slowness and literally destination unknowness of the plot, the dialogues just kept me reading. And it rewarded me with satisfying twist and twist and twist and twist!
The plot actually didn't feel like christie at all. I mean, this was definitely not a murder mystery, i guess it's more apt to be called a spy mystery. I wouldn't say it's a thriller. Too slow to be that.
There are questionable things here that felt very of its time. A couple of times i was like "uh wait.... what did she say?" bc i'm not sure about christie's political standing here. But i think the political observation here was very digestible and sharp at the same time. And we can be sure that christie was not on the side of a billionaire here. There's another huge thing that was very of its time and made my jaw literally dropped. It was so ridiculous it's almost funny. I can't speak about it more than that.
Oh and this is one of christie's books where the romance i like. Overall i mostly enjoyed this! It was especially so good and everyone was so clever around 51-80%.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Suicide attempt, Cultural appropriation
This is a very atypical Agatha Christie book. First of all, it is not a murder mystery at all. It is the story of government agencies in the UK tracking the disappearance of Mr. Betterton, a prominent scientist who has been involved in the design of some fission experiments. Her wife goes to Morocco on a holiday but the plane crashes and a lot of passengers are killed. Mrs. Hilary Craven is travelling to Paris, trying to get out of a depression she has gone into after her son died from meningitis and her husband left her. She buys some drugs and decides to kill herself, but is saved in time by Mr. Jessop, who is actually a government agent tracking the disappearance of Mr. Betterton and other prominent scientists. He offers Mrs. Craven an adventure. With her red hair, she looks like Mrs. Betterton. She would pretend that she is Mrs. Betterton and survived the plane crash. She would then possibly be contacted by those who are responsible for Mr. Betterton's disappearance and it would be possible to trace his whereabouts.
It looks like a suicidal plan, since the plot would be untangled when she would meet Mr. Betterton, but Hilary accepts the challenge, since she has nothing to lose.
It is an interesting book, probably because it is not a typical Murder mystery. It was published in 1954, the early periods of Cold War, just after the Rozenberg trials, thus the tone reflects that era. Not a masterpiece in the Cold War spy thrillers, but acceptable.
It looks like a suicidal plan, since the plot would be untangled when she would meet Mr. Betterton, but Hilary accepts the challenge, since she has nothing to lose.
It is an interesting book, probably because it is not a typical Murder mystery. It was published in 1954, the early periods of Cold War, just after the Rozenberg trials, thus the tone reflects that era. Not a masterpiece in the Cold War spy thrillers, but acceptable.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Hillary Craven has decided to commit suicide since her marriage has fallen apart and her child is dead, but then a government agent offers her an assignment which will almost surely mean death. She is intrigued enough to want to go through with it.
She steps into the life of a woman who has recently died on the same plane Hillary was traveling on. She is to pretend she is Olive Betterton, the wife of a scientist, so she can see whether all these distinguished scientists are choosing to hide behind the Iron Curtain or if they are being kidnapped.
She is taken to a science lab with all types of scientists which is hidden behind the facade of a leper colony.
Along the way, the reader gets to sample what life might have been like during this period and what some of the stereo types were for various countries.
Fun mystery.
She steps into the life of a woman who has recently died on the same plane Hillary was traveling on. She is to pretend she is Olive Betterton, the wife of a scientist, so she can see whether all these distinguished scientists are choosing to hide behind the Iron Curtain or if they are being kidnapped.
She is taken to a science lab with all types of scientists which is hidden behind the facade of a leper colony.
Along the way, the reader gets to sample what life might have been like during this period and what some of the stereo types were for various countries.
Fun mystery.
I really thought I had read this book before (in my late teens/early 20s), but I couldn't remember any of it, so maybe I hadn't. This book is definitely a story of its time – specifically about the Cold War (originally published in 1954). Generally, I like these one-off books of Christie's, because she tends to have a lot more fun with the story and its characters. Maybe not as action-packed or as much of a thriller as Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (aka The Boomerang Clue) and some other one-offs, but still quite enjoyable with elements of spy movies, survival dramas, etc.
fast-paced
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
International thriller and spies. This is an Agatha Christie non-murder mystery that is hard to put down. I enjoyed reading this while listening to Emelia Fox on the audio version.
This isn’t one of Christie’s traditional murder mysteries. It’s more typical of her international espionage/conspiracy thrillers. However unlike her other global plots I actually found this a rather enjoyable read. Had some predictable plot twists, but also, in very Christie fashion,’some unexpected and quite interesting plot twists.