Ordeal by Innocence
Author: Agatha Christie
This novel was first published in serialized form in a UK magazine in the fall of 1958, but the story was abridged. The book published in the UK in November 1958. The story ran in the Chicago Tribune in 36 parts in 1959 as "The Innocent" with the US book publication following later that same year.
Before I started reading my way through all of Agatha Christie's writing, I really didn't want to read the "one-off" novels - ones that don't include one of her classic characters. But, I have found that these stories can sometimes be some of her strongest. Maybe she was a little more free to develop more complex plots when she didn't have to build the story around an established character like Poirot? While this book is not one of my favorite Christie novels, it is definitely hard-hitting and complex.
Having said that.....I did not enjoy this book. I found some of the odd family dynamics decidedly uncomfortable and ideas regarding adoption, charity, and nature vs nurture pulled me completely out of the story. Is it a complex, engaging mystery with a lot of suspects? Yes. Is it well-written. Yes. But.....some of the nuances just hit wrong for me. By the end, I no longer cared who did it....I was trying to wrap my head around the background concepts involving the psychology of wealthy women who can't have children adopting kids from very different social backgrounds, the implications of those receiving charity resenting their benefactors, abuse or controlling behaviors towards foster or adopted children.....I just found the whole concept....disturbing. Christie's ending / killer reveal was just as bizarre and disconcerting. I was like.....what? Ewww. And a female character's choice at the end to enter a relationship with someone she barely knew on a whim.....again, I was like....what? Am I the only one who feels like Agatha Christie, at times, has her female characters make incredibly odd, off the cuff, life altering choices?
My final opinion after reading every word -- this book is complex and deals with a really tough subject that I am sure was a big topic of conversation following World War II. Many children were removed from cities during the war and placed with other families in the countryside. Many children were left without parents because of bombings and war fatalities. Charities to help families and children who lost everything were numerous. I'm sure there were many instances where these placements and adoptions of children didn't go well. And, I'm sure the government agencies responsible for these placements made mistakes and were overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases they had to deal with during and after the war. Problems with the foster and adoption system are still a huge issue today. I work in the social services field, so I think that's why the nuances of this story made it a rough read for me. The discussion of psychology based on 1950s concepts of adoption and nature vs nurture just overwhelmed the mystery for me. I found this story disturbing, rather than intriguing or entertaining.
This was my first time reading this book. I've had an old paperback on my bookshelves for years that I bought used. [Pocket books, 1985, 254 pages] The book is an odd silver color, with a huge red dot on the front advertising the 1985 movie starring Donald Sutherland and Christopher Plummer. I really really hate advertisements on the front cover of books. At least it wasn't the dreaded unremovable sticker plonked down in the middle of the cover art, but somehow being added as part of the cover art is just as bad. Yuck. This story was totally new to me. I'm sure I avoided it because no Poirot or Marple.
I read my old paperback while listening to an audio book version [HarperCollins, 2012, 7 hours, narrated by Hugh Fraser].
The basics: Jacko Argyle died in prison. He was convicted of murdering his adoptive mother. After his death, a man comes forward to give Jacko an alibi. But........if he was innocent, who is the killer?
Adaptations:
1985 movie: The movie has some pretty big stars in it, including Donald Sutherland, Christopher Plummer, Faye Dunaway and Ian McShane, but the script was pretty weak. Too many odd changes
Graphic Novel: A graphic novel was published in 2006 as Temoin Indesirable in France and later republished in English by Harper Collins in 2008.
Stage Play: A stage play was performed in New York in 2007 by the New York State Theatre Institute. It ran for 14 performances.
Television: For some reason, in 2007, the television show Agatha Christie's Marple adapted this story, adding Miss Marple (played by Geraldine McEwan) into the mix. While I love McEwan as Miss Marple, why did they adapt this story to add in Miss Marple? They didn't make episodes for all of the stories that did include the senior sleuth -- why rework ones that didn't? They also made other odd changes to the plot. I liked the episode, but just not sure why they chose to create an episode based on this story.
Television: French TV adapted this story for an episode of Les Petits d'Meurtres d'Agatha Christie in 2009. This show makes lots of changes to the stories, but is still fun to watch. If your local library offers Kanopy, you can stream these episodes subtitled in English. The changes are enough to warrant calling this an episode "loosely based on" Christie's story, but the show is entertaining.
Audio drama: BBC Radio 4 broadcast an adaptation of this book in 2014.
Television: A 3-part mini-series based on the book was broadcast by the BBC in 2018. Again, lots of changes were made, but it was very well done. I actually enjoyed watching the mini series more than I did reading/listening to the book.
This one was a rough read for me. Very masterful writing.....just not really a story for me.
On to the next!!
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