Rating: 
Summary: Improbable Plot, Incredible Situations, But Entertaining
Review: Agatha Christie appears to be harkening back to her earlier "young girl as adventuress" theme in this novel which centers around Victoria Jones, a protagonist who specializes in mimicry and lies. The combination gets her in endless trouble.The story begins when she meets an attractive young man named Edward in FitzJames Gardens one afternoon. They have an immediate bonding, but Edward is scheduled to leave very soon for Baghdad in connection with his job with a cultural arts group called The Olive Branch. Not one to be easily discouraged, Victoria sets about finding a position that will allow her to follow Edward to Baghdad. Her search for him in this colorful city involves her with many suspicious characters, a badly wounded man who dies in her hotel room, and a great look at an archaeological dig, a particular specialty of Mrs. Christie's. It is all wildly incredible, definitely improbable, but still an entertaining work with many likeable and well-drawn characters.
Rating:
Summary: Improbable Plot, Incredible Situations, But Entertaining
Review: Agatha Christie appears to be harkening back to her earlier "young girl as adventuress" theme in this novel which centers around Victoria Jones, a protagonist who specializes in mimicry and lies. The combination gets her in endless trouble. The story begins when she meets an attractive young man named Edward in FitzJames Gardens one afternoon. They have an immediate bonding, but Edward is scheduled to leave very soon for Baghdad in connection with his job with a cultural arts group called The Olive Branch. Not one to be easily discouraged, Victoria sets about finding a position that will allow her to follow Edward to Baghdad. Her search for him in this colorful city involves her with many suspicious characters, a badly wounded man who dies in her hotel room, and a great look at an archaeological dig, a particular specialty of Mrs. Christie's. It is all wildly incredible, definitely improbable, but still an entertaining work with many likeable and well-drawn characters.
Rating:
Summary: Hmm
Review: For me, this book was somewhat of a disappointment, perhaps because, right before it, I had read And Then There Were None, which I thought was much better. However, that is not to say that this book was bad. It has plenty of humor(something that's hard to find in books where people get killed), and an amazing heroine. It is, though, farflung and a bit confusing.
Rating:
Summary: Fun surprise!
Review: I thought I'd read all Agatha Christie's books before I was twenty. I was delighted to find this book, one I'd missed, and even more delighted to read it. I am a seasoned veteran of mystery novels, and this one made me exclaim out loud, more than once, at the end.
Maybe not her best work (but then again...) -- definitely not one to be missed.
Rating: 
Summary: A spy thriller genre set in the style of a children?s book
Review: In a theme similar to some of her other works, namely the Big Four, the Secret Adversary, Destination Unknown and Seven Dials Mystery, Agatha Christie moved away from familiar settings of a murder/crime investigation within a confined setting to the global stage for an international conspiracy that sought to manipulate the 2 world powers in 1950. Such conspiracies were the favourite of writers like Robert Ludlum, fleshed out with all the dirt, cynicism and playing hardball, gratuouis sex and violence and profanity liberally sprinkled. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Christie's descriptions tend to be milder, child-like (or childish if you prefer) even. Bringing out a theme which she used a few times in other similar novels, the writer sought to try her hand into the realm of grand-scale conspiracy, extensive penetration of government officers by spies, huge amount of money movement camouflaged in indescripherable financial transaction, and missing scientists brought to a secret remote base far from civilisation. The readers were treated to a prologue scene where a couple of British agents were worried about a conference among the Great Powers to be conducted in Baghdad soon. Their man who had on a rumour gone off in pursuit of evidence of the conspiracy was on the way back but the path is hindered by people who sought to silence him and the evidence at all costs. The scene officially opened with Victoria Jones, orphaned, typical working girl in a London office whose only escape from her dreary existence was inventing juicy tales, the type of juiciness that could only come from the subject being related to familiar characters, such as her boss. Thus when her boss returned early unexpectedly, Victoria Jones found herself shortly munching her lunch in FitzJames Garden, considering her externally imposed career revision. Not the type of girl to let such things depress her, Victoria Jones found herself attracted to a man sitting nearby. Boldly introducing herself to him, Edward charmed her by the simplistic way he reflected on life, universe and everything, probably very much like what Wodehouse's Bertram Wooster would say in candid guiless moments. After Edward took a snapshot of her before rushing off back to his boss, letting out that he was bound for Baghdad the following day, it took Victoria Jones all of a minute or so before deciding she too would go to Baghdad, with her exchequer being of a respectable sum of five pounds, or so. With the kind of serendipitous encounters that could only happen in the movies & PG Wodehouse, Victoria Jones made her way Baghdad, a comfortable trip, legal and all without stowing away like rats on a ship, and with just a bit of the madcap hare-brained (yet undeniably successful) schemes that PG Wodehouse put his poor heroines through. Victoria had to through becoming several different people before arriving in the Middle East and finding Edward. The encounters she had in her journey would serve to provide her with the information later she would need when she found herself involved in the BIG conspiracy. For a change, her first involvement was not due to any of her doing. A man simply got into her room, begged for sanctuary like the room was the Church of Notre Dame in Paris, then most inconsiderately, died. A nearby British agent quickly assisted her through the crisis, and Victoria Jones found herself off in search for clues at the Olive Branch, a literary society where Edward was employed. The mystery deepened when Victoria Jones was kidnapped at the arrangement of a colleague who was just as besotted with Edward. Though she was just an amateur blundering in the dark, Victoria showed herself no less resourceful by escaping, taking on more identities before returning to the Baghdad. Readers can't help but admire her quick-thinking and acting skills when she finally discovered that the truth was ... For its merits, readers would have to consider this book as being about Victoria Jones and how she handled herself through sticky situations, instead of viewing this as a mystery or a thriller.
Rating: 
Summary: Christie's Atmospheric Masterpiece
Review: In this 1951 novel, more relevant today than in its own time, Christie shows her remarkable talent for spinning a web of characters that, ultimately, entangles and engulfs the reader like none other of her 80 odd titles. Flawless plot and intriguing characters are only side dishes to the staggering atmosphere the reader takes from this book's pages. By the story's end you smell, see, feel, and hear every molecule the characters experience - and it's more than you wish! The story is deep and the characters numerous, but the outcome is intoxicating. A must read for mention into the Middle-Eastern havoc of the early 22nd century our society is now attentive to. The vast aroma of the Middle East never seemed so invigorating as when you are on the loose with one of the many fast paced members of this elite plot. Breathtaking description, enough to guide but little enough to let the reader invent, sets you down running into a maze of panic and frenzy. (so far, my all-time fav. work of fiction)
Rating:
Summary: A Disappointment From Agatha Christie
Review: The plot of this book is the most outrageous and prepsoterious thing Chrisite ever thought of. It is meant to be a thriller of some sort rather than a straight forward mystery. The characters' actions are not justified and the plot is very vague. The reader just dosen't get captivated or intrested in the story and you could care less what happens to Victoria Jones, the airhead lead character. A few events that are a bit intriguing dosen't help much and by the end, the book is just a big mess. Skip this one, Pick Up "And Then There Were None" If you want a suspence/thriller book by Agatha Christie.
Rating:
Summary: A Disappointment From Agatha Christie
Review: The plot of this book is the most outrageous and prepsoterious thing Chrisite ever thought of. It is meant to be a thriller of some sort rather than a straight forward mystery. The characters' actions are not justified and the plot is very vague. The reader just dosen't get captivated or intrested in the story and you could care less what happens to Victoria Jones, the airhead lead character. A few events that are a bit intriguing dosen't help much and by the end, the book is just a big mess. Skip this one, Pick Up "And Then There Were None" If you want a suspence/thriller book by Agatha Christie.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful Middle Eastern adventure
Review: Victoria Jones is a recently fired shorthand typist with an elastic approach to telling the truth and a hankering for adventure. "To Victoria an agreeable world would be one where tigers lurked in the Strand and dangerous bandits infested Tooting". She gets her chance at adventure when she meets Edward, a handsome young man on his way to Baghdad to work at an organisation called the Olive Branch, the purpose of which is to foster understanding between nations by getting young people of all countries together to read Shakespeare and Milton in translation. Victoria wishes she could go to Baghdad too, and by an amazing conicidence (or is it?) she is offered a job the very next day, to accompany a lady with a broken arm on the journey out. Victoria enterprisingly fakes herself some references, and claims to be the niece of Dr Pauncefoot Jones an archaeologist excavating at Basra. Victoria is enchanted by Baghdad, but before she has a chance to find Edward, a wounded man stumbles into her hotel room and dies there. Who is he? And who is the mysterious Mr Dakin? And what are the people at the Olive Branch really up to? And who on earth is Anna Scheele? Thi is an amusing and exciting story. Victoria is a delightful heroine, adventurous and imaginative and quite outrageously untruthful. There is an exciting plot and plenty of vivivd descriptions of Baghdad and other places, and lots of humour. Tremendous fun.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful Middle Eastern adventure
Review: Victoria Jones is a recently fired shorthand typist with an elastic approach to telling the truth and a hankering for adventure. "To Victoria an agreeable world would be one where tigers lurked in the Strand and dangerous bandits infested Tooting". She gets her chance at adventure when she meets Edward, a handsome young man on his way to Baghdad to work at an organisation called the Olive Branch, the purpose of which is to foster understanding between nations by getting young people of all countries together to read Shakespeare and Milton in translation. Victoria wishes she could go to Baghdad too, and by an amazing conicidence (or is it?) she is offered a job the very next day, to accompany a lady with a broken arm on the journey out. Victoria enterprisingly fakes herself some references, and claims to be the niece of Dr Pauncefoot Jones an archaeologist excavating at Basra. Victoria is enchanted by Baghdad, but before she has a chance to find Edward, a wounded man stumbles into her hotel room and dies there. Who is he? And who is the mysterious Mr Dakin? And what are the people at the Olive Branch really up to? And who on earth is Anna Scheele? Thi is an amusing and exciting story. Victoria is a delightful heroine, adventurous and imaginative and quite outrageously untruthful. There is an exciting plot and plenty of vivivd descriptions of Baghdad and other places, and lots of humour. Tremendous fun.
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