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bessadams's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Misogyny, and Death
Moderate: Gun violence, Confinement, and Violence
Minor: Incest, War, and Torture
outcolder's review
2.0
Full of silly Edgar Wallace type stunts. Right from the beginning you know the criminal mastermind secret adversary will prove to be an authority figure, like the man who was Thursday. Tommy and Tuppence have great chemistry but they’re separated for nearly the entire second act, leaving them to play off a grotesque characture of an American. It takes a while for the bad guys to do anything too dastardly and of course my sympathies are with Labour. The grand general strike that really did happen some few years after this book came out is the sort of thing we need now, so to have the good guys worried stiff about it was also a drag. Christie is just so fun though that I kept coming back to it for a few pages before the groans and eye rolls would lead me to exclaim, “dash it all!”
amyingomar's review
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
cerizeseries's review
3.0
This book is the first of Tommy Beresford and Tuppence Cowley’s adventures for their little job. The two are best friends since they were young and lost touch over the years. They met again in 1916 when Tommy got injured (it was during the war) and Tuppence is working as a nurse. They have no money and are both looking for work. Now, this job they thought of, is not exactly detective work – I’d say an espionage, maybe? But in the book, I felt like Agatha made it seem like they were doing some investigation or something but that’s just me.
Now, I absolutely adore the two young couple. They are absolutely cute together and their conversations are both very believable and really witty. Their endless banter is really ridiculous, you’d want to roll them both in a towel like a burrito and take them home so you could cuddle them together.
The beginning of this book was great, but then when they started with the job, I find that there was TOO MUCH coincidences. They are just too damn lucky. While my love for the characters are over the top, the story itself does not work for me. I was confused at some time during the who’s bluffing who and I had to reread several passages to get it. Definitely not Agatha’s best work but she can do no wrong, and even when she does, I still end up liking it.
Overall, would I recommend it? Only if you want to get some sheer fun of getting to know the author. Would I read the rest of the series of Tommy and Tuppence? Yes. I want to laugh while reading about their banters again. 😊
Now, I absolutely adore the two young couple. They are absolutely cute together and their conversations are both very believable and really witty. Their endless banter is really ridiculous, you’d want to roll them both in a towel like a burrito and take them home so you could cuddle them together.
The beginning of this book was great, but then when they started with the job, I find that there was TOO MUCH coincidences. They are just too damn lucky. While my love for the characters are over the top, the story itself does not work for me. I was confused at some time during the who’s bluffing who and I had to reread several passages to get it. Definitely not Agatha’s best work but she can do no wrong, and even when she does, I still end up liking it.
Overall, would I recommend it? Only if you want to get some sheer fun of getting to know the author. Would I read the rest of the series of Tommy and Tuppence? Yes. I want to laugh while reading about their banters again. 😊
kathydavie's review
4.0
First in the Tommy & Tuppence Mysteries series and revolving around a couple of people with nothing to lose in this post-war mystery.
My Take
I've loved the Tommy and Tuppence series for ever and hate to confess that I thought it was a John Creasey series. Oops.
I gotta say Tuppence is quite imaginative, and Tommy appears to balance her freer spirit. I did crack up when she entices Albert into helping her out with Rita, lol. As for her plans to snag a millionaire, well, who could blame her!?
Christie is such a tease, promoting various characters as the bad guy and making it all seem quite possible. There's even a villain speech at the end, not that it'll do much good. Well, except to elucidate the reader!
It is fun to read of this time period and the twists the characters must go through to communicate with each other.
It's both action- and character-driven with animated people and hand-rubbing evil, as the protagonists chase the antagonists . . . and vice versa! Going undercover, being taken prisoner, escaping, and running down clues. It's especially fun since these two amateurs do what the pros cannot!
Christie uses third person global subjective point-of-view, primarily from Tuppence's and Tommy's perspectives but we must include Julius as a secondary perspective.
While it is a fun, easy read, Christie leaves a few gaps and twists back on herself, leaving me wondering how I missed a few things.
The Story
Post-war and there are no jobs as Tommy and Tuppence are discovering. It's a hardship until Tuppence, with her adventurous soul, decides she and Tommy will become the Young Adventurers, Ltd., no job too small.
Their luck is in, as their first job rapidly expands to so much more!
The Characters
Prudence "Tuppence" Cowley, a.k.a. Prudence Cooper, fifth daughter (out of seven children) of Archdeacon Cowley of Little Missendell, Suffolk, worked in an army hospital during the war.
Lieutenant Thomas "Tommy" Beresford had been childhood friends with Tuppence. He's not brilliant but he's good in a tight place. Sir William Beresford of Chalmers Park is the uncle who had wanted to adopt Tommy.
"A. Carter", who is with Intelligence, is borrowing 27 Carshalton Gardens. Sir James Peel Edgerton has a reputation as the most celebrated K.C. in England and his hobby is criminology — and might well become prime minister. Inspector Japp is with CID Scotland Yard.
Julius P Hersheimmer is an American millionaire searching for his cousin, Jane Finn. (Julius' father had cast off his sister, Jane's mother, when she married Amos Finn.) He likes to carry "Little Willie" everywhere. George is Julius' chauffeur.
Mr Edward Whittington is the head of the Esthonia Glassware Co. and wishes to install Tuppence at Madame Colombier's pensionnat in Paris. Boris Ivanovitch, Count Stepanov, is part of the conspiracy. Flossie always gets the voice right. Conrad is the doorkeeper and Annette is the maid at the house in Soho. Mr Potter. Mr Kramenin is representing Russia; Ivan Grieber is his secretary. Dr Roylance is caring for a Jane Finn. Dr Adams takes only a few private patients at Astley Priors.
Mr Brown, an insignificant, barely noticeable man, is a master criminal. Marguerite "Rita" Vandemeyer had also been a passenger. Albert is the lift-boy at Mrs Vandemeyer's building. Annie is about to be Mrs Vandemeyer's former house-parlourmaid. Janet Vandemeyer could be Rita's niece.
Politicians mentioned include Clymes and Westway. Dr Hall runs a private nursing home where Nurse Edith works. Felix is the headwaiter at the Ritz. Mrs Sweeny has the key for Moat House.
7 May 1915
The date on which the Lusitania was sunk by the Germans. Jane Finn and Danvers had been passengers along with Mrs Edgar "Eleanor Jane" Keith, Gladys Mary, Marjorie, Sadie, Miss Wheeler, and Marguerite Vandemeyer.
Sister Greenbank, aka Mother Greenbank, was a nurse back when Tommy and Tuppence were children. Lyons is a tea shop. Miss Dufferin lives at The Parsonage, Llanelly.
The Cover and Title
The top third of the cover is cream with the bottom two-thirds green. A pretty border of vines with a thin border of green on top and bottom crosses the top with the title, also in green, centered against the cream. The author's name is below center in white. At the very bottom is a fainter green-outlined box noting this is "a public domain book".
The title is all about The Secret Adversary who hides in plain sight.
My Take
I've loved the Tommy and Tuppence series for ever and hate to confess that I thought it was a John Creasey series. Oops.
I gotta say Tuppence is quite imaginative, and Tommy appears to balance her freer spirit. I did crack up when she entices Albert into helping her out with Rita, lol. As for her plans to snag a millionaire, well, who could blame her!?
Christie is such a tease, promoting various characters as the bad guy and making it all seem quite possible. There's even a villain speech at the end, not that it'll do much good. Well, except to elucidate the reader!
It is fun to read of this time period and the twists the characters must go through to communicate with each other.
It's both action- and character-driven with animated people and hand-rubbing evil, as the protagonists chase the antagonists . . . and vice versa! Going undercover, being taken prisoner, escaping, and running down clues. It's especially fun since these two amateurs do what the pros cannot!
Christie uses third person global subjective point-of-view, primarily from Tuppence's and Tommy's perspectives but we must include Julius as a secondary perspective.
While it is a fun, easy read, Christie leaves a few gaps and twists back on herself, leaving me wondering how I missed a few things.
The Story
Post-war and there are no jobs as Tommy and Tuppence are discovering. It's a hardship until Tuppence, with her adventurous soul, decides she and Tommy will become the Young Adventurers, Ltd., no job too small.
Their luck is in, as their first job rapidly expands to so much more!
The Characters
Prudence "Tuppence" Cowley, a.k.a. Prudence Cooper, fifth daughter (out of seven children) of Archdeacon Cowley of Little Missendell, Suffolk, worked in an army hospital during the war.
Lieutenant Thomas "Tommy" Beresford had been childhood friends with Tuppence. He's not brilliant but he's good in a tight place. Sir William Beresford of Chalmers Park is the uncle who had wanted to adopt Tommy.
"A. Carter", who is with Intelligence, is borrowing 27 Carshalton Gardens. Sir James Peel Edgerton has a reputation as the most celebrated K.C. in England and his hobby is criminology — and might well become prime minister. Inspector Japp is with CID Scotland Yard.
Julius P Hersheimmer is an American millionaire searching for his cousin, Jane Finn. (Julius' father had cast off his sister, Jane's mother, when she married Amos Finn.) He likes to carry "Little Willie" everywhere. George is Julius' chauffeur.
Mr Edward Whittington is the head of the Esthonia Glassware Co. and wishes to install Tuppence at Madame Colombier's pensionnat in Paris. Boris Ivanovitch, Count Stepanov, is part of the conspiracy. Flossie always gets the voice right. Conrad is the doorkeeper and Annette is the maid at the house in Soho. Mr Potter. Mr Kramenin is representing Russia; Ivan Grieber is his secretary. Dr Roylance is caring for a Jane Finn. Dr Adams takes only a few private patients at Astley Priors.
Mr Brown, an insignificant, barely noticeable man, is a master criminal. Marguerite "Rita" Vandemeyer had also been a passenger. Albert is the lift-boy at Mrs Vandemeyer's building. Annie is about to be Mrs Vandemeyer's former house-parlourmaid. Janet Vandemeyer could be Rita's niece.
Politicians mentioned include Clymes and Westway. Dr Hall runs a private nursing home where Nurse Edith works. Felix is the headwaiter at the Ritz. Mrs Sweeny has the key for Moat House.
7 May 1915
The date on which the Lusitania was sunk by the Germans. Jane Finn and Danvers had been passengers along with Mrs Edgar "Eleanor Jane" Keith, Gladys Mary, Marjorie, Sadie, Miss Wheeler, and Marguerite Vandemeyer.
Sister Greenbank, aka Mother Greenbank, was a nurse back when Tommy and Tuppence were children. Lyons is a tea shop. Miss Dufferin lives at The Parsonage, Llanelly.
The Cover and Title
The top third of the cover is cream with the bottom two-thirds green. A pretty border of vines with a thin border of green on top and bottom crosses the top with the title, also in green, centered against the cream. The author's name is below center in white. At the very bottom is a fainter green-outlined box noting this is "a public domain book".
The title is all about The Secret Adversary who hides in plain sight.
kstephensreads's review
Fast-moving and fun. Made a great road trip listen! AC doing her masterful slight-of-hand; she fooled me again the second time through- couldn’t remember how it all was resolved!
ivaorlic's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
phoenix2's review
2.0
The Secret Adversary reads more as a spy novel rather than a mystery, as the case here wasn't as exiting as the adventure that Tommy and Tuppence were into.
Overall, it was well written, but there were some moments that were too boring. Also, the villain was too flat and too obvious.
Overall, it was well written, but there were some moments that were too boring. Also, the villain was too flat and too obvious.
whimsicalmeerkat's review
3.0
Just a little, light fun. Bit different from a lot of hers, but somehow reading it was refreshing.
starligh_314's review
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0