A Spy Novel in Disguise...? Meeting Tommy and Tuppence for the First Time!
I'm tackling down Agatha Christie's bibliography chronologically and I just finished her second novel, The Secret Adversary, this past Sunday...at 3:50 AM. 🤣
This one is quite different from her first one, Mysterious Affair at Styles, where we were first introduced to Hercule Poirot. This one features Tommy and Tuppence, a couple of twenty-something young people trying to make a living in the post-WWI London. They overheard the mentioning of a name during their lunch, and this name got them into a dangerous affair beyond their wildest imagination. You can clearly see Agatha Christie is experimenting with different writing styles, genres, and characters, before she finally settling down for her famous whodunit+locked-room murder mystery.
!!!Spoiler alert!!!
This book reminds me strongly of The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan, where the discharged veteran protagonist was minding his own business and suddenly dragged into an international conspiracy. The difference is, in The Thirty-Nine Steps, the protagonist was given all the details and the peril he will be facing should he chose to get involved (and the story didn't get to conclude all the questions we have: maybe it was intended for the next book in the series, but I wasn't interested enough to read it); whereas in The Secret Adversary, bits and pieces of information was scattered throughout the book to finally piece the whole puzzle together for a complete picture. I personally find the latter is better for keeping me engaged, thanks to Christie's impeccable pacing for the plot. Every turn of the page had me second-guessing my previous guess on the identity of Mr. Brown until almost to the end. Who would've guessed that a one-in-two choice question could be so hard? Last time this happened was in The Princess Bride where Vinzzini had to choose between the two goblets of iocane-laced wine! (Inconceivable!)
From reading the description, Tuppence strongly reminded me of one of Maggie Cheung's outfit in All's Well, Ends Well. Her pixie-ish appearance and her unapologetic love towards money is actually quite adorable (although she loves money and stated outright that she wanted to marry a rich guy, she's not a gold-digger by any means - Tommy you lucky dog!). I find the parts with her perspective particularly enjoyable to read.
I imagine Miss Tuppence Cowley looks something like this but more British
It is a neatly written novel, but still it suffered flaws of an early spy novel. The crime syndicate in As I said in my previous book review, I find some of the information redundant and would not alter/undermine the plot if removed. Mr Brown's notebook revealing at end is definitely unnecessary. Mr Brown could have been the next Prof Moriaty but instead, the notebook rendered him a mere smart criminal who happens to crossed paths with the protagonists and got unlucky. Christie was trying really hard to answer all the questions, tie up all the loose ends, but the main plot still felt very rushed. An organized crime syndicate that can only function when the mysterious Mr Brown was in charge? Okay. Very few people in the syndicate know who he really is? Okay. So you mean to tell me without this mysterious figure, politicians around Europe cannot form their own opinion and make detrimental decisions for their country?? Sounds like real politicians Yeah sure.
Since this is a book written at the time when the British Empire is still the world-dominating presence, the portrayal of Julius Hersheimmer is...a bit stereotyped and caricatured. An American millionaire coming from new-money who thinks money is everything, has a gun that he's not afraid to use, and would cause dramatic scenes like in Hollywood...though technically most Americans in media in 1920s are flamboyant and tacky, it still is very dated and stereotypical from a century later's perspective. (If you replace American with Chinese, it will be really applicable today. And as much as I would like to criticize my country's new bourgeoises I would still feel offended and uncomfortable reading it)
I would give it a 3.5/5 because it was an enjoyable read despite its flaws, it is still an enjoyable page-turner that keeps you on the edge of your seat. A pleasant surprise is Inspector Japp of Scotland Yard was mentioned once, thus connecting the Christie universe together.🤣 The book ended with two engagements, that's more heartwarming than any other Christie's murder mysteries.
！！有剧透！！
第二本阿加莎·克里斯蒂小说熬着夜读完啦。《暗藏杀机》这本跟上一本很不一样。本质上来讲，我觉得这本应该算是谍战冒险小说而不是侦探小说。考虑到这是上世纪20年代的小说，也就比《三十九级台阶》晚了没多久。阿婆一个新手当时应该是在尝试各种体裁和题材的小说，能看得出她的文笔还比较青涩，但能看得出她的伏笔铺垫和剧情构造已经很厉害了。
情节简单说，就是第一次世界大战后的两个年轻人为了赚钱而被卷入一起可能会动摇大英帝国根基的阴谋里。为了挣钱，以及拯救自己的国家，他俩在美国百万富翁（拿到现在那可是亿万级富翁啊，通货膨胀太厉害了）的帮助下携手捣毁犯罪组织立了大功。结局也很大团圆，跟阿婆其他谋杀案【一家人支离破碎虽然还能好好相处但再也回不到从前】的结局相比，这些狗粮吃着真是非常暖心了。
Tommy and Tuppence这两位年轻人互补的性格和有趣的对话读着非常舒服。Friendly bantering说得就是他们俩了吧。我觉得Tuppence的性格更讨喜一点，她不否认自己爱财，也喜欢花钱，但她并不会因为百万富翁的求婚而动摇（虽然有一点点吧但我觉得那是阿婆为了推动她对Tommy的爱而设的剧情）。
但剧情......啊剧情构造虽然很厉害，但一红鲱鱼比较少二还是因为这是早期谍战小说整体来讲不会太复杂，导致我在书读到50%左右就已经能猜出最后幕后主使是谁了（但这本里的红鲱鱼都是在后半本书里扔出来的，导致我到最后关键时刻才完全确定就是我想的那位）。而且虽然阿婆很努力地去解释所有能解释的疑问，但逻辑上来讲我还是很难接受“树倒猢狲散”这种模式的跨国犯罪组织，这些全是身居高位的组织成员没有独立思考能力，只能听一个完全没人知道长相的头领的派遣吗？
还有我不太喜欢的一点是对外国人物的刻板刻画。阿婆大概是想把美国人Julius当作comic relief来写的，但是刻板地去写他的大大咧咧、挥金如土、牛仔做派让我觉得是一种来自于落魄贵族对于暴发户的嘲讽。不过这是时代问题，当年这样做并没有什么问题但现在再这样写就是政治不正确了。
总体来说这本书读起来还是很享受的，3.5/5。
