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A review by davidb71
N or M? by Agatha Christie
4.0
This is the seventh Agatha Christie novel I've read, and it's something completely different to the others - no murder to speak of, but rather a middle aged married couple investigating a possible German spy ring, set during the early stages of the second world war.
I enjoyed this - as I've enjoyed every Christie book I've read thus far. It was well constructed and it kept me guessing, and I found both the story and the characters engaging. What I found really interesting, though, was the writing about the war, Nazi propaganda - and the power it can have over certain people - and Nazi sympathisers within Britain. This book was published in 1941, and it is a contemporaneous account of the time. Although it's not the main focus of the book, I thought Christie wrote well about the dangers of fascism and the allure of Nazi ideology to certain people, while also writing in a humane and empathetic way about the affect of war on ordinary people - whatever their nationality. I found much of this as relevant today as it was then, and on some level that I can't quite articulate very well, I found it interesting that this was written before the full horrors of the holocaust were known - that was still an unimaginable future, yet an inevitable outcome of where that repellent, toxic ideology leads.
But maybe I'm making this sound heavier than it is - because it's really an enjoyable and well-constructed mystery. But I personally found its period and setting added additional layers of interest to the story, and some of the issues explored still, sadly, have relevance today.
I enjoyed this - as I've enjoyed every Christie book I've read thus far. It was well constructed and it kept me guessing, and I found both the story and the characters engaging. What I found really interesting, though, was the writing about the war, Nazi propaganda - and the power it can have over certain people - and Nazi sympathisers within Britain. This book was published in 1941, and it is a contemporaneous account of the time. Although it's not the main focus of the book, I thought Christie wrote well about the dangers of fascism and the allure of Nazi ideology to certain people, while also writing in a humane and empathetic way about the affect of war on ordinary people - whatever their nationality. I found much of this as relevant today as it was then, and on some level that I can't quite articulate very well, I found it interesting that this was written before the full horrors of the holocaust were known - that was still an unimaginable future, yet an inevitable outcome of where that repellent, toxic ideology leads.
But maybe I'm making this sound heavier than it is - because it's really an enjoyable and well-constructed mystery. But I personally found its period and setting added additional layers of interest to the story, and some of the issues explored still, sadly, have relevance today.