An enjoyable Christie- not her best, not her worst. They are some descriptions of Africans that are of the times, and definitely a Red Scare view of politics. More adventurous than a Poirot or Marple, which made it feel more exciting.

This is a very surprising hit for me! I had decided "i don't like christie's espionage stories! 😠" after i read The Big Four (lmaooo), followed with few similar failed stories (which i forgot the titles). Even when my most favorite christie book was The Secret Adcersary lol, another espionage story. So i guess it shouldn't be very surprising that i like this. 

When i started reading this i also let out a big sigh bc ughhh this seemed like something i won't like :( and also it was so slow! especially in the beginning. The pace actually started to pickup after 50%. But i kept reading because agatha christie just wrote so well. It's very readable, and despite the slowness and literally destination unknowness of the plot, the dialogues just kept me reading. And it rewarded me with satisfying twist and twist and twist and twist!

The plot actually didn't feel like christie at all. I mean, this was definitely not a murder mystery, i guess it's more apt to be called a spy mystery. I wouldn't say it's a thriller. Too slow to be that.

There are questionable things here that felt very of its time. A couple of times i was like "uh wait.... what did she say?" bc i'm not sure about christie's political standing here. But i think the political observation here was very digestible and sharp at the same time. And we can be sure that christie was not on the side of a billionaire here. There's another huge thing that was very of its time and made my jaw literally dropped. It was so ridiculous it's almost funny. I can't speak about it more than that.

Oh and this is one of christie's books where the romance i like. Overall i mostly enjoyed this! It was especially so good and everyone was so clever around 51-80%.

 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. 

This was a weird one! I was expecting a classic Agatha whodunnit, and it wasn’t that at all. That said, it was a really fun read. The plot was enticing if a bit outlandish. It’s a bit overtly anti-Communist in a very odd way as well. Also some classic Christie racism, as well as one instance of blackface.

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.

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.

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.