The Secret Adversary - Literary Significance and Reception

Literary Significance and Reception

Upon publication of the first book edition it was reviewed by The Times Literary Supplement in its edition of January 26, 1922 which described it as "a whirl of thrilling adventures". It stated that the characters of Tommy and Tuppence as "refreshingly original" and praised the fact that the "identity of the arch-criminal, the elusive "Mr Brown", is cleverly concealed to the very end".

The New York Times Book Review of June 11, 1922 was also impressed, stating, "It is safe to assert that unless the reader peers into the last chapter or so of the tale, he will not know who this secret adversary is until the author chooses to reveal him." The review gave something of a backhanded compliment when it said that Christie "gives a sense of plausibility to the most preposterous situations and developments." Nevertheless they conceded that, "Miss Christie has a clever prattling style that shifts easily into amusing dialogue and so aids the pleasure of the reader as he tears along with Tommy and Tuppence on the trail of the mysterious Mr. Brown. Many of the situations are a bit moth-eaten from frequent usage by other writers, but at that Miss Christie manages to invest them with a new sense of individuality that renders them rather absorbing."

Robert Barnard: "The first and best (no extravagant compliment this) of the Tommy and Tuppence stories. It tells how the dauntless pair foils a plot to foment labour unrest and red revolution in Britain, masterminded by the man behind the Bolshevists. Good reactionary fun, if you're in that mood".

Some additional blurbs regarding the book, and used by The Bodley Head for advertising subsequent print runs, are as follows:

• "It's an excellent yarn and the reader will find it as impossible as we did to put it aside until the mystery has been fathomed." — Daily Chronicle

• "We promise our readers an exciting story of adventure, full of hairbreadth escapes, and many disappointments if they try to guess the riddle before the author is ready to give them the clue. — An excellent story." — Saturday Review.

• "I heartily recommend this very ingenious and exciting yarn … eminently readable." — Daily News.

• "Mrs. Christie gives her readers plenty of adventure. It is all very ingeniously contrived and exciting, and the secret of the adversary's identity is skilfully hidden." — Eastern Morning News.

• "The atmosphere of the book is admirable and the story will be read with avidity by all. Undoubtedly the book is a success." — East Anglian Daily Times.

• "A book of thrilling adventure. Sensational adventures which make thrilling and gripping reading. Mrs. Christie has certainly succeeded in writing a story not only entertaining, but ingenious and amazingly clever." — Irish Independent.

The one critic who was not so keen on the book was Christie's publisher, John Lane, who had wanted her to write another detective novel along the lines of The Mysterious Affair at Styles.