A review by delphic
The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont

2.5

This book had been an anticipated release so i had high hopes, unfortunately it did not deliver. The POV character was the mistress of Agatha Christie's husband, a real person, however she was essentially a fictional character in this story. Her name had been changed as had her backstory, adding an unnecessarily tragic backstory that was, however, crucial to the plot as it had been written. The book follows the 10 days Agatha Christie spent missing, a time she never spoke of. I knew the events would be fictional as no one knew the story, I was not expecting the story to centre so closely around so many other fictional events and characters making me wonder why this had been centred around Christie in the first place. Had this been an entirely fictional Historical Fiction book i would not have minded it as much. 
The only real issue i had that isn't connected to the problems caused by using real people was the faux omniscient and thus unreliable narrator of the POV character. It was interesting if annoying, would have preferred a simple POV change rather than acting like the POV character somehow knew all of this was happening and what everyone was thinking. I also felt that this book never truly explored the various trauma's held within to the extent it shoudl, merely using them as set dressing, character motivations and pieces. in the mystery. 
Overall, not a story i would recommend.
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