Thursday, August 30, 2012

Paperback 554: The Secret Adversary / Agatha Christie (Avon 100)

Paperback 554: Avon 100 (1st ptg, 1946)

Title: The Secret Adversary
Author: Agatha Christie
Cover artist: Bower (I don't know how I know this, or who this is—I'm just reading the ID tag I made years ago)

Yours for: SOLD! (9/3/12)
Avon100.Adversary
Best things about this cover:
  • Mmm, the fine art gilded frame look is Classy.
  • The quote is kind of enigmatic, esp. if you stop before the ellipsis. But even after the ellipsis, it sounds like they're saying "if you absolutely must read a crappy, preposterous novel, read this one."
  • That man's fall bears no plausible relation to the blow he appears to have just taken. Maybe the guy in the hat just snatched his cane. Or maybe that thing on his face is a bat which has just flown into his nose.

Avon100bc.Adversary

Best things about this back cover:
  • We've seen this before. This is what back covers looked like when paperback publishers felt they still had to justify the whole format to their readership.

Page 123~
Tuppence caught herself nervously looking over her shoulder. The big wardrobe loomed up in a sinister fashion before her eyes. Plenty of room for a man to hide in that ...
Silly Tuppence. Relax. Everyone knows wardrobes lead only to Narnia. Go see Mr. Tumnus! Then you'll be Tuppence & Tumnus (sitcom-ready relationship).

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

3 comments:

A said...

This has to be one of the weirdest death falls ever. It looks like a trust-fall gone wrong.

Anonymous said...

It's been my experience that inanimate objects, say a wardrobe for instance, pretty much just stay put. Wardrobes, specifically, just stand there quietly in the corner.

If your wardrobe isn't just standing there in the corner, if it is actively "looming", and appearing to do so with sinister intent, then

a) You really got to stop taking psychotropic drugs,
b) You actually are in Hell, so what are you doing worrying about a damned wardrobe, you've got bigger problems, or
c) The writer isn't good enough to convey tension without ascribing evil intent to pieces of furniture.

In any of these cases, go home, sleep it off and don't do it again.

Doug Brunell said...

This cover is all kinds of weird. It doesn't bode well for the story, that's for sure.