Book Review : The Secret Adversary

Kolkatans are enjoying their share of winter this year (while keeping their fingers crossed!). So just like others i planned to enjoy this winter holiday season . And after thinking for sometime, i decided nothing else can be as satisfying as reading a good book. Now i should be honest to you all, especially when i've been a good boy the whole year, and this is the only time when the good old Santa gives the reward to good boys (yes. . yes. . to girls too). Now i really pride myself of being a bookworm. But the thing is for the last 8-9 months, i've haven't read a single book (i mean storybooks, novels, etc. ) So though its true that i like reading books, i've a big list of books that i've yet to read.
Now i like novels bout detectives and criminals among other genres. And one of the most famous and best selling authors of the genre - Agatha Christie's works were pretty much untouched by me till now. Now the question was to decide which novel to read. Since i already had decided not to spent any money on the book this time, my options were quite limited. So i went to www.gutenberg.org and downloaded my first ebook - 'The Secret Adversary' by Agatha Christie.
Since it was my first experience with Agatha Christie's work, i was not expecting anything.
The story introduces two young adventurers - Tommy and Tuppence who were both childhood friends and desperatly looking for jobs in 1920s post war period London. Together they start a joint venture for doing adventures (i.e., going anywhere and doing anything however unreasonable for the correct price). A person overhears them and from there the mystery begins. Added some rogue 'comrades' from Russia, a secret document and an omnipresent mastermind crook who goes by the name of Mr. Brown whom no one has seen, & the plot thickens. However the presence of plenty of coincidences in the novel put me off a tad. On the other hand the main characters of the novel Tommy and Miss Tuppence were like a breeze of fresh youthful breeze. Undoubtedly they are cutest detective couple that i've ever read bout. The sheer energy of Miss Tuppence and her optimism while the slow but steady approach of Tommy makes them a deadly combo. Honesty i kept guessing about who could be the real crook till the end of the novel.
So in my opinion if you have not read this novel, you surely should. But don't expect anything more than a light young adult read with too many coincidences. The novel is a perfect read for winter noons or cold nights.
My rating for The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie is 2.5/5

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Smoking is Injurious to 'Wealth'

The picture of charred black lung on the cigarette pack is hardly a deterent when the smokers crave for some quick nicotine fix. But from now, the smokers will have to bear more than Rs. 10,000 a year excluding the cost of cigarettes! This is the amount added to Life Insurance Premium of smokers. Since it is a fact that nicotine addicts have higher chances of contracting pulmonary & heart diseases, it makes sense to charge more for the high risk. Now for instance a 40 year old smoker has to 'cough up' Rs. 25,670 (approx) a year for a Rs. 50 lakh cover under Kotak Preferred Term Plan while for non smokers it is just Rs. 15,000. So if health problems in future don't motivate smokers to give up smoking, definitely the 'cost' of smoking will help them kick the butt.

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