Until recently, I had not realised that Christie not only wrote mysteries but also thrillers, of which this is one.

It is an enjoyable enough short page turner, though with a preposterous plot and denouement.

Secret plotters abound, double crossing at 20 paces, but the outcome is beyond the pale.

Put my assessment down to my not picking the answer!

Big Ship

8 April 2024 ( )

I read this years ago, and bits of it came back to me, but bits of it emphatically didn't. I enjoyed Bundle and her hilarious father, but the plot itself was very unlikely and quite convoluted. Why did the members of the Seven Dials Club wear masks at their meetings in a private room when they knew very well who all the others were? I found the ending surprising, but the explanation felt like the solution to a technical exercise. ( )

3.5 stars

It was bonkers, but a fun bonkers, so I'm forgiving some of the crazy plot points. ( )

Un grupo de jóvenes, que pasan el fin de semana en Chimneys, deciden gastar una broma al dormilón de Gerry Wade, colocando cada uno un despertador en su habitación. Sin embargo, Gerry no despertará, pues ha muerto por una excesiva dosis de somníferos. Algo misterioso encierra esta muerte, más aún cuando se le añade otra inmediatamente.

This was by equal measure delightful and dull. It’s a spy thriller rather than the kind of whodunnit one associates with Christie (although it has a definite mystery element) and is apparently a pastiche of the kind of espionage novel that was popular after the First World War, and my lack of experience of that particular sub genre probably muted my enjoyment of it all somewhat. There’s a lot of running around and suspicion and derring do and I’m afraid I got lost a bit in the plot.
What I did enjoy enormously was the heroine, Bundle. She’s a marvellously feisty, adventurous young woman who puts the loud, buffoonish male characters to shame with her common sense, bravery and tenacity.
A bit of a mixed bag for me then, but not without its charms. ( )