Agatha Christie: “So Many Steps to Death”

a.k.a. “Destination Unknown”

Genre: Adventure, mystery, espionage

Published: 1954

“Destination Unknown” is a fast-paced, espionage-themed story narrating the adventures of Hilary Craven, a heartbroken woman seeking “escape” from her old life by trying to commit suicide in her hotel room in Casablanca. Her life took a dramatic turn when a stranger known as Mr. Jessop broke into her room to stop her just in time, and made an unbelievable offer to Hilary; she is to impersonate a near-death woman to find her husband and help solve an international crisis. Leading scientists from all over the world have been disappearing, with the possibility of defection to Soviet Union. One of them was Thomas Betterton, a brilliant physicist and the husband of Olive Betterton, whom Hilary was supposed to impersonate. Having nothing to lose, Hilary agrees to undertake the mission. Thus we follow her adventure to all over the world. The question remains; will Hilary succeed in her mission and save all the scientists in time?

I think fans of Christie may find this title a little inferior compared to her other works. True, Christie is best known for her ingenious whodunits and very few of her works feature amateurish adventures such as this one. Judging from the other reviews I have seen, fans are certainly a little disappointed this time, labeling her work as a “James Bond-like espionage story” rather than a good old-fashioned murder thriller. I am inclined to agree with them up to a point; one of the reasons I have put off reading this title (even though it was easily available in my school library) is because I feel very few of Christie’s “adventure stories” have lived up to my expectations so far. I was immensely disappointed after reading “The Big Four” last time. However, “They Came to Baghdad” and “The Man in the Brown Suit” proved to be decent reads, thankfully.

“Destination Unknown” will be good for you if you do not mind the lack of cold-blooded murders and Poirot’s logical reasonings (which we always associate with Christie’s works), among other things. It is a light story, with a little suspense and moderate amount of romance. Highly recommendable if you are looking for a good read on a lazy weekend.

My rating: 3.5/5.0