This Agatha Christie book is a standalone thriller where a suicidal woman is offered a new and more exciting way out. The heroine, Hilary, has lost her husband to another woman and her baby to sickness. She is settled in a luxurious hotel populated by stereotypes; the rich magnate with a younger, spoilt wife; the impoverished, sour English spinster; the ebullient American widow; the elderly yet charming tycoon. None of these stereotypical tourists are what they seem, and when she begins her suicide attempt she is offered a different route. Hilary is persuaded to take the place of a plane crash victim in order to investigate a suspected Communist cell in ...  Read the complete review

Almost from its commencement "Destination Unknown" pitches the reader into a shocking world of intrigue and horror far beyond the more comon ordered narratives of many of Christie's other novels. A piece of literature which needs to be assigned the term "thriller", rather than, say, a murder mystery, this is one of Christie's rare works to feature no detectives, at least not in the conventional sense. Dealing with extremist viewpoints at a time when the Second World War was still prevalent in many people's consciousness as well as the contemplation of suicide and bereavement, it is evident that the novel is intended to be a powerful one. Whether it ...  Read the complete review