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shonaberu's review against another edition
1.5
In the first third of the book I actually thought I was going to enjoy one of Christie's spy thrillers. I was wrong. The middle part dragged forever and the end just... The cartoonish villains, the ridiculous depiction of communists, the racism, the hero in blackface . I'm just glad it's over. Giving it half a point because I loved the premise of "I see you're thinking of commiting suicide, why not become a spy instead?".
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Suicidal thoughts
maisieb14's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
renpuspita's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
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.
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
Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death, Infidelity, Grief, and Murder
bloomingpear's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Child death and Infidelity
alexisgarcia's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
hmmm. this didn’t really feel like an agatha christie book (similar to passages to frankfurt). i did like this one better but it felt more like sci-fi and while the actual “reason” or ending was an interesting and unique twist, it just wasn’t my fave.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Gaslighting
bibliocat's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
This book was surprisingly interesting. Despite there being no Poirot or Miss Marple, nor the usual story beats that go with those characters, Destination Unknown was a pretty good spy story.
Our spy in this case is an unlikely one - Hilary Craven, a woman with trauma who wants to get away from it all. She leaves England to go on vacation to Morocco where she plans on committing suicide due to the loss of her child. Her plane crashes. On recovery, she is recruited by government agents to impersonate a woman who died on the same plane, whose husband, Tom Betterton, is one of various scientists that have gone missing. Although I would like to know how many times random civilians are recruited for such missions in real life....
Since she accepts that the danger risks are high, and doesn't care what happens to her because of the previous trauma, she agrees to find the husband. Her travels to get to that point and the characters she meets seem to be a natural progression.
There is one small interlude in a restaurant where Hilary is observing an extremely rich man dining there, and as he passes her table, he spills her drink. Even at that point I was highly suspicious that this very rich man was going to become very important to the plot later in the book. Oh, yes, he definitely shows up again.
What I found most compelling about this book is we learn more about some of the missing scientists and what was compelling them to go missing. This book was published in 1954, so nine years after the atomic bomb was set off in New Mexico. I wonder if this was Agatha Christie's reaction to the times. Unlike modern anti-intellectual times, the scientists and their collective brain power was considered IMPORTANT. Skills worth having. However, were those skills to be used for good, or evil??? We do find out where these missing scientists went, and Hilary was the contrasting character. She looked at what was going on there, and couldn't believe they'd want to be in that environment.
Also, because the book came out in the 1950's, AC of course wrote in period-appropriate racism and racial stereotypes, which pop out uncomfortably for 21rst century readers.
This wasn't the typical Agatha Christie mystery, but it gave me a lot to think about it. One last thought about it that amused me- while reading it, all that would have to happen to make it a science fiction story would be just shift it to a moon base or something, and it still would have been the same story.
Our spy in this case is an unlikely one - Hilary Craven, a woman with trauma who wants to get away from it all. She leaves England to go on vacation to Morocco where
Since she accepts that the danger risks are high, and doesn't care what happens to her because of the previous trauma, she agrees to find the husband. Her travels to get to that point and the characters she meets seem to be a natural progression.
There is one small interlude in a restaurant where Hilary is observing an extremely rich man dining there, and as he passes her table, he spills her drink. Even at that point I was highly suspicious that this very rich man was going to
What I found most compelling about this book is we learn more about some of the missing scientists and what was compelling them to go missing. This book was published in 1954, so nine years after the atomic bomb was set off in New Mexico. I wonder if this was Agatha Christie's reaction to the times. Unlike modern anti-intellectual times, the scientists and their collective brain power was considered IMPORTANT. Skills worth having. However, were those skills to be used for good, or evil??? We do find out where these missing scientists went, and Hilary was the contrasting character. She looked at what was going on there, and couldn't believe they'd want to be in that environment.
Also, because the book came out in the 1950's, AC of course wrote in period-appropriate racism and racial stereotypes, which pop out uncomfortably for 21rst century readers.
This wasn't the typical Agatha Christie mystery, but it gave me a lot to think about it. One last thought about it that amused me- while reading it, all that would have to happen to make it a science fiction story would be just shift it to a moon base or something, and it still would have been the same story.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, and Classism
kakapokhaos's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I’ve been reading Christie’s full set of novels blind to their premises beforehand, and I was deeply and pleasantly surprised by Destination Unknown. I went into this story expecting another murder mystery and even thought there is a tiny aspect of that, this book is more of a combination of Cold War espionage and a political cult.
There are faults - the main characters are little one-note, and the pacing is shaky at best, but I truly felt that the themes and concepts discussed here intrigued me to a great degree. All in all, a fascinating window into the hubris of science and intelligence without ethics or morality.
There are faults - the main characters are little one-note, and the pacing is shaky at best, but I truly felt that the themes and concepts discussed here intrigued me to a great degree. All in all, a fascinating window into the hubris of science and intelligence without ethics or morality.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Racism
questingnotcoasting's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
This is one of Christie's spy thrillers which are never my favourite but I definitely preferred this one to They Came To Baghdad, which I read a few months ago. I read it in two days but still wouldn't describe it as a particularly gripping. It discusses a vague new world order conspiracy like a few of her other thrillers and I didn't find that very intriguing. There are some good plot twists and interesting characters and her writing is as good as usual but it's not one I'll remember.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism
Minor: Child death
angela005's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
shazzea's review against another edition
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt