by Maria K.

Created on: August 19, 2011   Last Updated: August 25, 2011

"Accident" is a clear example of a truly talented author wielding short form every bit as powerfully and skillfully as a novel. Dialogue, a couple of descriptions, very little action - yet one is completely drawn in.

This is not one of Agatha Christie's most complex puzzles. In fact, it is rather obvious and the culmination is not all that surprising. Rather, she prefers to walk readers through the interaction between a detective and a suspect, as the two circle each other - set on a collision course with potentially deadly consequences for both of them.

The fact that the detective and the culprit are of opposite genders only partly obscures the fact that they have much in common. They are both capable of remembering a face and the facts associated with it for many years. The sleuth realizes that one crime is never going to be the stopping point for the murderer. The criminal fully understands that someone who made the right connections and identified the guilty party once, is more than capable of doing it again. The difference - the crucial difference - between them is that one is occupied solely with self-preservation, while the other's primary concern is saving someone else's life. The two may have very little contact, yet they know and understand each other enough to plan two steps ahead - biding their time and waiting for the other to make a mistake.

Ultimately, one does not wonder who is going to commit the crime, but rather, who the victim is going to be. Or rather, one hopes against hope that the victim is going to be the person they would like to see punished, or at the very least the person they would expect to die were it an ordinary crime. But the author does not let up - using, as she does in many of her works, direct advice from a third party ("Do not butt into other people's lives.") and a touch of supernatural (danger and imminent death should the smallest mistake be made predicted by the fortune teller) to tell the reader how the story will end, well before the protagonist realizes it.

As the nod to the classic mystery literature tradition, Agatha Christie plays with the dissonance between one's looks and one's character , creating a culprit that is not merely attractive, but nearly saintly or angelic in appearance.

In the grand scheme of good versus evil "Accident" may not be the most likable story, but it certainly is captivating.

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