Reviews

N or M? by Agatha Christie

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hmclint's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I love the Tommy and Tuppence novels and this one was no different. It was very interesting to see Christie’s interpretation of the war at the same time the book takes place (lots of propaganda). It did unfortunately have the classic “it couldn’t possibly be _____“ line and then it’s exactly that person so I guessed it pretty early on, but even with that, I still thought it was a great novel and breezed through it.

vincederr's review against another edition

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3.0

It’s World War II and Tommy and Tuppence it appears have aged out of the really exciting wartime jobs. That is until Tommy is enlisted to stay at Sans Souci and ferret out the spies know as N and M. Tuppence ever resourceful sniff out her husband’s secret mission and surprises him on location with her own fake alias. The story is short and fun. Tommy and Tuppence’s dynamic is always fun. This story is full of sleuthing and clever dialogue. The story was written by Agatha during the war as her contribution to the effort. This book has some national pride soaked in it, propaganda might be too strong of a word. Her intention was to boost public morale and mine was as I listened.

ginaparrish's review against another edition

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5.0

I have been working my way through Christie’s mysteries chronologically and have been looking forward to the next Tommy and Tuppence for a long time. If you haven’t read The Secret Adversary and Partners in Crime (short stories) I would suggest reading them first because you will already be fond of the characters. It’s fun to see where they are 20 years later and see them still up to the same adventures.

This one is more of a spy novel and takes place when it was written—in 1941 in the midst of WWII. It is interesting and impressive looking at it in retrospect because Christie had no idea what would happen in the years to come. There are mentions of infiltrating spies, concentration camps, Dunkirk...all things we know far more about now than she did then.

The plot follows Tommy and Tuppence as they try to uncover the identity of one of two of Germany’s most dangerous spies—either N or M. They are staying undercover in a boardinghouse in a strategic location in England where they think the spy is hiding out. This plot is a lot more active than many of her books, which is refreshing after Poirot asking different people questions for several novels.

I think she showed her hand a bit too soon, since I figured it out (without question) about half way through the book. But besides being angry at how obtuse the characters are, I still loved how the ending plays out. It’s action packed and full of surprises.

mtnmama19's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

lea_xiii's review

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

thaurisil's review against another edition

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4.0

While I read through Agatha Christie's novels with the Appointments with Agatha group, I'm putting a templated synopsis of each novel in my review. It has spoilers!

Book: 30 of Christie's novels, 3 of Tommy & Tuppence novels
Setting: Sans Souci, a hotel in Leahampton, during WWII
Detective and Companions: Tommy and Tuppence
Crime: Tommy, accompanied by Tuppence, is sent to Sans Souci to search for a suspected Fifth Columnist, a British spy working for Germany
Suspects:
- Mrs Perenna, the hotel owner
- Sheila Perenna, Mrs Perenna’s daughter who is in love with Carl
- Carl von Deinim, a German refugee with a supposedly anti-Nazi attitude
- Mrs O’Rourke, a hearty, brash woman
- Mr Cayden, a needy hypochondriac
- Mrs Cayden, Mr Cayden’s wife who is devoted to his needs
- Mrs Sprot, a mother with a 2-year-old daughter Betty
- Major Bletchley, an ex-army general
- Captain Haydock, a golf-loving man living in Leahampton
- An unknown foreign woman loitering in Leahampton

Twists and Turns:
- Because there are spies on both sides and everyone is suspicious of everyone else, it’s difficult to know who is who they say they are and who is just a good actor. Carl von Deinim, for instance, appears to be a convincing German refugee who even gets arrested on the suspicion that he is a German spy, but he turns out to be a British intelligence officer spying on the Germans. Tommy catches him prying in Tuppence’s room, but it’s actually because he was suspicious of Tuppence.
- Captain Haydock claims to have discovered a German spy, denounced him to the police and bought the house. But it was an elaborate plot enabling Haydock to inherit a house containing gadgets without being under suspicion, so that he could mastermind the Germans’ efforts in Britain.
- Mrs Sprot is the least likely suspect as she has a child. When her child Betty is kidnapped by the foreign woman, there are some inconsistencies that make it appear that the kidnapping could have been staged. But eventually, it turns out that Mrs Sprot is indeed the Fifth Column, and she had taken Betty from her mother the foreign woman, who was a Polish refugee.

After writing two Poirot novels of evil and darkness, Agatha Christie finally embraces WWII in her writing, creating a setting firmly based in the war. Despite the grim setting, it is a novel with wit and humour, largely due to Christie’s decision to bring back Tommy and Tuppence. They are now middle-aged, no longer young, but they retain the same adventurous spirit, now combined with maturity. The book has both elements of mystery and espionage, moving a little away from the string of purely mystery novels that Christie produced prior to this.