I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve read this, the moment I need a little wallowing into memories I whip out an old book and this one is often recalled in service. I’ll be sharing my other treasured oldies by and by..
Plot wise you’d see this is not Agatha Christie at her best (I am a bit apologetic saying this Agatha...but bear with me), the international espionage yarn is poorly woven. The sabotage theory in this case is very flimsy and could have been developed more but the plot is so racy you’d easily overlook the flaws. In fact I usually now just skip those pages about Dakin meeting Crosbie, Carmichael’s exploits, agents pursuing Anna Scheele etc. and go directly to where the cream is…..over to Victoria Jones, the little London cockney and her adventures in Baghdad. But since I am telling you this story and you may or may not have read the book, I’ll make a proper report..
Here the narrative is split into two parts, one is the espionage story where Mr. Dakin who is heading the British side of security/spy services is worried about their operations which seem to be infiltrated by enemy. There is an international conspiracy, an undercover group of people is amassing large amounts of money to fund a change of order, a power struggle in the world, by fueling the strife between communist countries vs rest of the world they are spreading their network, they are young and intelligent but ruthless, remorseless people who need to be stopped by the good forces (U.S., U.K. & Allies).
There is one British spy who risks his life to collect proof against this undercover group. There is one American woman who has the brains to assimilate all data, all proofs against them. There is a world traveler who is also an ally. They all are coming to Baghdad to put all proofs together and unmask the enemy. And there is Victoria Jones, a London typist- stenographer recently out of job who meets a dashing young man in a park who in turn is leaving the very next day for Baghdad and is very keen to meet Victoria again…
If you want to read the book yourself don’t read further.
Victoria Jones is a resourceful, irrepressible and quick thinking London bred cockney. When she learns Edward is going to Baghdad she decides to follow him there inspite of her financial constraints. Fortunately she is offered a one way passage to Baghdad as a companion to an invalid Mrs. Clipp, an American. Adventure follows her in Baghdad when a stranger dies in her hotel room in her very bed. She tracks down Edward and gets a job too but is soon kidnapped by unknown foes. She escapes her kidnappers and finds refuge with an archeological expedition with a man whose niece she pretended to be and his assistant who is suspicious of her. When she comes back to Baghdad she accidentally unearths a very very ugly secret. Now I am not going to tell you more, go read the book.
But yes, there’s one thing I’d like to point out..this “unknown enemy” reminds me of another book. See here’s an excerpt:
“In the past two years, twenty-eight promising young scientists of various nationalities have quietly faded out of their background. The same thing has happened with constructional engineers, with aviators, with electricians and many other skilled trades. These disappearances have this in common: those concerned are all young, all ambitious and all without close ties”.
And here’s another one:
“Then Mr. Dakin took up the tale. In a gentle tired voice he told the saga of Henry Carmichael, of his belief in certain rumours and wild tales of vast installations and underground laboratories functioning in a remote valley beyond the bounds of civilization.”
Tell me where else did you read that…..
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