Reviews

Tidak ada detektif, tidak ada kasus pembunuhan yang harus dipecahkan (ada sih, tapi minor banget dan bukan fokus cerita) dan lebih mengarah ke thriller suspense. Infonya sih novel ini terinspirasi sama Cold War, jadi wajar kalau isi ceritanya lebih ke arah espionage ketimbang whodunnit.

Ceritanya cukup seru diikuti tapi bukan yang terbaik. Gue kasih empat bintang karena sebagai fans berat cerita happy ending, gue suka sama ending yang Dame Agatha Christie berikan untuk tokoh utamanya, Hilary Craven. Dengan semua yang Hilary alami dalam hidupnya, mulai dari suami yang selingkuh dan anaknya meninggal sampai Hillary cari cara buat bunuh diri untuk lari dari kenyataan, terus malah ketemu Jessop buat nyamar jadi istrinya Thomas Betterton. Biar apa? Biar cara bunuh dirinya lain daripada yang lain. Agak unik emang premisnya. Tapi, kemalangan hidup yang Hilary alami ditambah dengan "pengorbanannya" untuk pura - pura jadi istri Thomas Betterton (sampai disekap segala), rasanya memuaskan membaca Hilary akhirnya menemukan kebahagiaan dan semangat untuk melanjutkan hidup lagi. I can't ask for more.

Oh ya, kalau gue baca wiki, nasib Hilary ini ga jauh beda sama nasib Agatha Christie yang diselingkuhin sama suami pertamanya. Bener - bener sangat membekas, sampai sering dipakai di bukunya ya :'). Gue ngerasa di buku ini Dame Christie emang kayak coba - coba bikin novel espionage ala Cold War tapi tetep dengan twist yang berlapis - lapis. Jadi selain happy endingnya Hilary, gue juga suka pas baca twist dimana terungkap alasan kenapa Thomas Betterton menghilang dan apa yang terjadi di tempat tujuan Tom yang baru. Di buku ini juga ada sedikit pandangan dari Dame Christie terkait paham fasisme, komunisme dll. Plus ada juga konsep tentang kehidupan bebas dan gimana kalau manusia mencoba bermain sebagai Tuhan. Jadi ya ceritanya rada filosofis. Plus, terjemahannya unik sih. Banyak tanda seru, kayak semua orang ngomongnya teriak - teriak XD.

Destination Unknown ini stand alone, kayak Death Comes as the End atau And Then There Were None. Seperti yang gue bilang, ceritanya biasa aja kalau mau dibandingkan sama And Then There Were None. Walau ya tetep seru dengan twist dan suspensenya yang bikin kita harap - harap cemas baca nasib Hilary yang lagi nyamar jadi istri orang.

Content Warnings

vriendelijkeheks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

lisas_library_factory's review against another edition

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3.0

This reading experience was definitely something different than you classical Christie murder mystery. It is much more a spy thriller with a twist. This made it quite hard for me to get through, asd I am not a big fan of reading spy novels. Some of the aspects of the novels seemed a bit over the top for me. However, strong female characters are one of Christie's strong suits and here, with Hilary Craven, Christie created another one of these interesting female main characters. It made the reading experience much more pleasant for me to be able to follow her around and see what will happen. The ending then saved a lot for me - it felt like your typical Christie again and it also turned out positive for Hilary.

mj5291's review against another edition

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informative mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

book_concierge's review against another edition

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2.0

Book on CD read by Emilia Fox

A brilliant young scientist has disappeared from Paris. The international community is concerned, as he is only one of several scientists who have recently dropped from sight. His wife, Olive Betterton, may know more than she is willing to say, but she lies in a Moroccan hospital bed, dying from injuries sustained in a plane crash. Meanwhile, Hilary Craven is in the grips of depression – her daughter has died, her husband has left her. She has nothing to live for … until British secret agent Jessop offers her a chance to help her country.

This is a cold-war spy thriller that is obviously dated. The characters and plot include the aforementioned brilliant scientists, double agents, an evil genius mastermind, an exotic locale, a secret laboratory, a beautiful heroine, and a strong handsome hero. Christie was a master at writing a suspenseful thriller, and all the hallmarks of her craft are here. But the plot is so dated and the spy / evil genius theme so over-the-top by today’s standards as to be laughable. I wound up thinking Get Smart rather than James Bond.

Emilia Fox does a pretty good job of the “normal” characters. She even has a great brassy American accent for one tourist Hilary encounters. But her evil genius character is just laughable. Makes me wonder if Christie intended this to be a campy take-off of the spy thriller genre.

isaarusilor's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.75

pinks_paperbacks's review against another edition

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3.0

So the excitement of the story started from chapter 9 onwards which is nearly halfway to the book. Even if details are required to form a base of the story it was drab and went on for quite some time. Barring few obvious outlooks there were poor attempts/no attempts made to take us through the main investigating officer's psychological outlook on the whole case. Lastly, the ending was not satisfactory. By that I don't mean that it was unexpected. Unexpected is good even if sometimes it's not happy. In this book though, the end was hurried and a certain remark was made and had no reason or assessment behind it.

I will say this though that you may give reading this book a try because it's always plausible that a different perspective on this book can bring out the best (or worst) of this book.

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