A review by sarahmatthews
Endless Night by Agatha Christie

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Endless Night by Agatha Christie

Read on audio

Narrator: Hugh Fraser

Harpercollins 

Pub. 1967, 245pp

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Agatha Christie does it again! This dark and eerie novel starts slowly, setting the scene beautifully which lulls you into a false sense of security. You know there’s a murder coming but here I kept having to remind myself that something nasty was on the way.

This is a standalone Christie told from the perspective of Michael, a likeable young man drifting from job to job . Recently he’s been working as a driver, chauffeuring rich customers to expensive destinations across Europe and their easy way with money and carefree lifestyle has him feeling envious. One customer is the famous architect Rudolf Santonix, who is casually dropped into the story but becomes a big part of it in due course.

Michael is drawn to a derelict house that he spots for sale in a remote and picturesque part of the countryside with accompanying land which is known by locals as “gypsy’s Acre”, and is said to be cursed. There’s a gothic atmosphere reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier, including a local gypsy warning him off the land with stories of death coming to those that live there, which he brushes off as silly superstition.

Michael meets a young woman at Gypsy’s Acre who he’s intrigued by; they’re both drawn to the house and enjoy discussing what a wonderful place it could be. They arrange to meet again in London and a romance blossoms. Ellie turns out to be a wealthy American with a complicated network of family looking out for her and she tells Michael they must keep their relationship secret as they wouldn’t approve, their expectation being that she’ll marry a suitably wealthy man chosen for her. Ellie’s life up to now has been very protected and controlled so In order to maintain their privacy Ellie asks her loyal companion, Greta, to cover for her. I enjoyed this ‘calm before the storm’ start to this book but some readers might find it a bit slow.

This was a Christie in which I thought I knew where it was vaguely going, had spotted some connections between characters and possible motives and method for murder. And then there was a twist that struck seemingly out of nowhere and I was kicking myself for not having guessed it! Just brilliant.

The audiobook was a delight to listen to with Hugh Frazer doing a fabulous job with all the accents, very slick and professional.

I read this book in preparation for attending the live recording of an episode of Backlisted podcast at Foyles Bookshop in London next week and I think it’ll be a lively discussion!