Destination Unknown

I read this book almost every year. I get in a state of mind where reading a realistic book about a suicidal, grieving woman who’s at the end of her rope would be too on-the-nose and depressing. But reading one that is a light thriller with adventure and mystery is perfect! The incredible unrealism of this book and its British stiff upper lip mentality cloak an inner core of life truth. No one will ever know why Agatha Christie’s stories about mortality and the dark sides of our character are so cozy and satisfying. She just puts all the secret ingredients together in a way no one else can. The reason I am writing this review is that I have a major beef with the repackaging of this book as Mr. Jessop series 1. First of all, this is show more the only book that has Mr. Jessop in it. You will never see him again. How can it be a series? Second of all, Jessop is in maybe 1/8 or 1/16 of this book. The hero of the book is Hilary Craven. If you must imagine all books as a series, this should be Hilary Craven Book 1. What the hell, William Morrow? show less

Hilary Craven has lost everything that is dear to her and cannot contemplate life any longer. As she sets out to act on her despair, she is approached with a proposition...

I said it before and I say it again: Dame Agatha did not write good spy thrillers. This another proof of it. Although, Destination Unknown was not as outrageously bad as Passenger to Frankfurt - I mean really, not many books are as bad as that - this one was quite boring.

Maybe it was because the story was too slow paced, or maybe it was because the idea of merging Christie's signature twee style with a supposedly hard-boiled Cold War thriller just didn't work. Whatever the reason, I was so bored.

Top scientists are disappearing from Western nations, among them Thomas Betterton. His young bride insists she knows nothing about it, but British intelligence suspects otherwise. When Mrs. Betterton dies in an accident in Morocco, as fate would have it, a suicidal young Englishwoman with similar features is persuaded to assume Mrs. Betterton’s identity. As Hilary Craven is drawn deeper into danger, she finds a renewed will to live.

This stand-alone Christie is more spy novel than murder mystery. Some readers will likely find the cold war plot dated, yet with a few minor changes it could resemble contemporary conspiracy theories.

Agatha Christie ventures out of her usual Poirot or Marple mystery to reveal kidnapped scientists working in an unknown destination. The story reads like a spy novel with clandestine meetings and locations. Hilary Craven has lost her daughter and her husband and now contemplates suicide. But a British secret agent stops Hilary and urges her to join his group. Hilary Craven becomes Olive Betterton, the wife of one of the missing scientists. The scientists have converged at a location possibly in Africa to discover medical secrets for an extremely rich man. All comforts follow these scientists, except freedom. Thomas Betterton, one of the scientists, cannot function under this controlled atmosphere. His productivity falls. What will show more happen to him? A very intriguing idea! Agatha Christie presents a very dramatic story. show less

This is only the second spy thriller that I have read (the other one being "The 39 Steps") and I neither have much experience with this genre, nor am I particularly interested in it. I only read this because it was written by Agatha Christie. And well, I really enjoyed it!

Hilary Craven has nothing to live for as her daughter has died and her husband has left her, when she is recruited by the secret service and agrees to impersonate the wife of a brilliant scientist who has vanished, as have several other scientists recently. The book was written in 1954 and it is firmly set in its time against the backdrop of the Cold War. Soon Hilary is off to Morocco and the adventure unfolds.

Of course most of the story is rather improbable, but show more reading it was gripping and fun and I read it almost in one sitting. show less

This is one of those books that I shouldn't even like, but happen to adore. And not just because it's a Christie book. It is very much a child of its time - it is diffuse with the paranoia of the 1950's Cold War, putting conspiracy theory in a fast car and running away with it. Every twist and turn manages to outdo the next, becoming more and more incredible and nonsensical as the story progresses. There is no way a plot as convoluted and over-wrought as this could ever happen in real life. The plot holes are more gaping than the Grand Canyon.

And yet... This is a book that I could read over and over and thoroughly enjoy it. Taken with just the right pinch of salt, a gung-ho attitude and a healthy suspension of disbelief, this is a show more rewarding romp of a book that makes no serious demands of its reader, nor does it take itself too seriously. Its characters are a pastiche of various noir B-movie types; its plot is eerily reminiscent of The Big Four, but with a tighter, more engaging plot. It does not pretend to be anything more than it is - a light, entertaining, if slightly fantastical read. show less

I read half of 'Destination Unknown' before I set it aside in recognition of my waning interest in the plot and the people. In my head, it had become 'Destination Unbelievable', which isn't a title that could carry me to the end of the book.

The start of the book hooked me. I loved Christie's original take on the concept of a suicide mission - finding someone ready to commit suicide and offering them a more useful way to die. The idea of a suicidal heroine must have been seens as quite daring in 1954. Suicide was a criminal offence in England until 1961.

I liked Hilary Craven and, for a while, I thought I was in for a reprise of 'They Came To Bagdhad' which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, by the time I was a third of the way through, I show more could see that 'Destination Unknown' lacked the momentum of the earlier book. I enjoyed seeing how air travel worked in 1954 and feeling the impact of Britain's post-war currency restrictions and getting a feel for Morocco and Fez but that didn't make up for the plodding pace of the plot.

When, at the halfway mark (many pages too late it seemed to me), Hilary Craven is finally about to be ushered in to the Chrisitie equivalent of a James Bond Villain's secret base, I should have been excited. I wasn't. The simplistic politics and the mad-scientist, evil fascist and dewey-eyed communist stereotypes where annoying me. The overall global conspiracy idea felt to comic book for me. I neither believed in it or cared about it. Even my curiosity about whether / how Hilary Craven would find her way back to a life worth living wasn't enough to keep me reading, so I set the book aside. show less