I have tended to avoid most of Christie's post-World War II novels. Partly because as she grew older her skills began to fade. Several of her last books are really pretty perfunctory. Mainly, though, I think Christie belongs to the pre-1945 world when the Empire was still intact and high tax rates and changed social attitudes had not yet taken their toll on the British upper classes, who are the focus of most of her books. So, I picked up a copy of this book, first published in 1951, without great expectations ... and was in for a terrific surprise. While I would rank this book below her true masterpieces, such as "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" or "The A.B.C. Murders," I found it to be one of her most entertaining books.
Christie spent some time in the Middle East with her archeologist husband and mined the setting for several earlier books, mostly featuring Hercule Poirot. This book is unusual both in not featuring one of her series detectives and in being a spy thriller rather than a murder mystery. It takes the form of a "North by Northwest" style thriller with an innocent person being swept up in a tale of international intrigue. The setting of Iraq must have seemed exotic and unfamiliar to readers in the U.S. and U.K. in 1951. Unfortunately, events of the last decade have made Baghdad, Basra, Kirkuk, and some of the other cities mentioned all too familiar. It's rather ironic to have the Iraq of those days described as well-policed and perfectly safe for a young Englishwoman to travel through alone.
Although I very much enjoyed the book, it has a few weaknesses. Both the British intelligence service and its opponents seem fantastically well-organized and effective. Much more so than any real world spy service -- although this is a failing the book shares with most spy thrillers. in addition, key plot developments are telegraphed in a way that even I was able to pick up and I tend to be pretty weak in solving mysteries.
In summary, while this book is far from the typical Christie, I think most of her fans, as well as fans of period spy thrillers, will find it very entertaining.
One last point: I like these new Harper reprints. Although paperbacks, they can be read easily without breaking the binding and they should hold up to rereading. A word of warning, though, the blurb on the back cover gives away a plot point that doesn't occur until more than half way through the book!
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Paul S
