The Man in the Brown Suit

Generally I liked the plot and adventure of this one, as well as the dual-narration. The two narrators are both entertaining. The mystery itself is different than a detective novel, which I liked.

The trouble I had with this book were Anne's views on men and women, marriage, and attraction. It honestly made me very uncomfortable at multiple points. She falls in love with a violent guy after meeting him once and believing he is a murderer. Then she fantasizes about him hurting her and says that women are weak and men are strong, which is why women are attracted to them. Then the novel ends with her blaming the victim for being the kind of woman who deserves to die for leading a guy on and her forgiving the villain's murderous ways because she finds his personality charming (even though he tried to kill her multiple times!).

The excerpts:

“...I knew that the danger was real. Just as that moment he hated me. But I knew that I loved the danger, loved the feeling of his hands on my throat. That I would not have exchanged that moment for any other moment in my life.”

“I'd die for him. I'd work for him, slave for him, steal for him, even beg and borrow for him!”

“You think you admire moral qualities, but when you fall in love you revert to the primitively where the physical is all that counts.”

“My god! Anne, if you ever marry any one else but me, I'll wring his neck. And as for you–“
“Yes,” I said, pleasurably excited.
“I shall carry you away and beat you black and blue!”

“As for Nadina, she was the kind of woman who deserved to die. Men do all sorts of questionable things in order to get rich, but women shouldn't pretend to be in love when they aren't for ulterior motives. I can forgive sir Eustace easily enough, but I shall never forgive Nadina. Never, never, never.”

I want to say it is merely a reflection of the time, but I think it is also a reflection of Agatha Christie. Not to mention the unkind references to the native Africans...this book made me uncomfortable many times over.