Curious mish-mash: lame romance overwhelms an intriguing mystery framing device.
I finished it, but it felt like a bit of a penance. Bennett's "humorous" approach to character relies on letting them talk, talk, talk, rabbiting on endlessly in a way that is, I guess, supposed to be "cute," but is actually just wearying.
I stuck with it, because I was curious about how the endless chatter about Hester and Harry, and Moira and Harry, and the extremely annoying teenager Prudence, and Mr Wade's poor business sense and dubious investments in Australian oil would contribute in any way to the solution of the mystery of who was and wasn't on the doomed flight to Dublin. The solution is clever, but hardly compensation for the pages of mind-numbing kitchen-sink drama we've had to endure to get there ...
There is ONE saving grace and, perhaps, I must confess, it's what kept me reading.
In the introduction, Series Editor Martin Edwards reveals that "The Man Who Didn't Fly" was adapted as a TV drama in 1958 ... starring one very youthful William Shatner.
As a long-time fan of Star Trek, I had to find out more, and yes, it is so. It was adapted for the Kraft Television Theater series of mini-dramas, aired in July 1958 and 27-year-old Shatner played Harry ... with an English accent. O.M.G. Here's the IMDb page, to save you searching ... https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0622573/... (The "Top Review" posted is right on the money for the book, as well as the dramatization, I think ...)
This bit of information adds extra delight to one line from the book, describing Harry:
"... his face was round and his mouth and chin soft. She liked a man to have a hard, lean, Hollywood look. Harry was nearly handsome, but he didn't look like a man who would be put in charge of a space-ship."
You couldn't make it up!!
I finished it, but it felt like a bit of a penance. Bennett's "humorous" approach to character relies on letting them talk, talk, talk, rabbiting on endlessly in a way that is, I guess, supposed to be "cute," but is actually just wearying.
I stuck with it, because I was curious about how the endless chatter about Hester and Harry, and Moira and Harry, and the extremely annoying teenager Prudence, and Mr Wade's poor business sense and dubious investments in Australian oil would contribute in any way to the solution of the mystery of who was and wasn't on the doomed flight to Dublin. The solution is clever, but hardly compensation for the pages of mind-numbing kitchen-sink drama we've had to endure to get there ...
There is ONE saving grace and, perhaps, I must confess, it's what kept me reading.
In the introduction, Series Editor Martin Edwards reveals that "The Man Who Didn't Fly" was adapted as a TV drama in 1958 ... starring one very youthful William Shatner.
As a long-time fan of Star Trek, I had to find out more, and yes, it is so. It was adapted for the Kraft Television Theater series of mini-dramas, aired in July 1958 and 27-year-old Shatner played Harry ... with an English accent. O.M.G. Here's the IMDb page, to save you searching ... https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0622573/... (The "Top Review" posted is right on the money for the book, as well as the dramatization, I think ...)
This bit of information adds extra delight to one line from the book, describing Harry:
"... his face was round and his mouth and chin soft. She liked a man to have a hard, lean, Hollywood look. Harry was nearly handsome, but he didn't look like a man who would be put in charge of a space-ship."
You couldn't make it up!!
