The book club chose Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie as our next read.
The Plot
Evidence that clears the name of a boy sentenced for killing his adopted mother arrives too late to save his life – so who did kill her? According to the courts, Jacko Argyle bludgeoned his mother to death with a poker. The sentence was life imprisonment.
But when Dr Arthur Calgary turns up a year later with the proof that confirms Jacko’s innocence, he is too late – Jacko died behind bars from a bout of pneumonia.
Worse still, the doctor’s revelations re-open old wounds in the family, increasing the likelihood that the real murderer will strike again…
Review
I enjoyed reading this book and was looking forward to discussing it at book club. It was interesting how the morals of the time it was written played out.
Jacko Argyle was one of four adopted children, all from different parents and backgrounds. Much is made of the fact that you cannot trust the children based on their DNA. The debate about nature versus nurture was a big thing and hotly contested at the time.
It was striking to think that although the children were adopted siblings and were brought up together, they were still seen as separate from each other. The ending has hints of a relationship that would be considered incestuous but seems to have been accepted in the book, albeit as long as the parties involved move abroad!
That was not the only shock I found at the ending. The actual ending in the book reached a conclusion with the murderer being revealed. However, the book has been made into a film with a completely different ending and murderer!
As for the little tying up of loose ends, or (unnamed) epilogue, it had another surprising relationship blossom.
Suggest you read this for yourself and see what chords it strikes with you.
Ordeal by Innocence is available from