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The Breaking Point
Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876-1958) was an American author of hundreds of short stories, poems, travelogues and special articles. Many of her books and plays, such as The Bat (1920) were adapted for movies. While many of her books were best-sellers, critics were most appreciative of her murder mysteries. She also coined the famous phrase "The butler did it."
292 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1922
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408 people want to read
About the author
Mary Roberts Rinehart
505Ìýbooks408ÌýfollowersMysteries of the well-known American writer Mary Roberts Rinehart include
The Circular Staircase
(1908) and
The Door
(1930).
People often called this prolific author the American version of Agatha Christie. She is considered the source of the phrase "The butler did it," though the exact phrase doesn't appear in her works, and she invented the "Had-I-But-Known" school of mystery writing.
Rinehart wrote hundreds of short stories, poems, travelogues, and special articles. Many of her books and plays were adapted for movies, such as The Bat (1926), The Bat Whispers (1930), and The Bat (1959). Critics most appreciated her murder mysteries.
People often called this prolific author the American version of Agatha Christie. She is considered the source of the phrase "The butler did it," though the exact phrase doesn't appear in her works, and she invented the "Had-I-But-Known" school of mystery writing.
Rinehart wrote hundreds of short stories, poems, travelogues, and special articles. Many of her books and plays were adapted for movies, such as The Bat (1926), The Bat Whispers (1930), and The Bat (1959). Critics most appreciated her murder mysteries.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
May 25, 2011
Wow, utterly amazing! I know fans of her other mysteries or traditional mysteries in general may baulk and think this too melodramatic but for me this type of unconventional mystery is precisely the right kind of story. Yes, there was a murder but it happened ten years ago and in fact at the start of the story we even told who committed it but he is thought to have died in a snow storm. To say anything more would be revealing too much, better to emerge yourself in the story. Of the many aspects that enthralled me the one that most strikes me is the decency of some of the main characters. Sure, some other characters are not quite so nice but they are portrayed as human and you can easily understand and relate to their motives. But the decency of the best characters gives your heart joy and a wish to find such people still existing today. This is without a doubt one of my all time favorite novels and I look forward to reading it again someday.
December 26, 2015
Nope. Don't like the characters, don't like the set-up, don't like the feel of the prose. Just boring & blah. But I'll give it the standard DNF 2-stars regardless; it's not poorly written in the grammatical sense, so perhaps it's me not jiving with the author's style. Or maybe it's not one of her better books...? *shrug* I'll try MRH again someday & find out.
January 5, 2021
3.5 stars
The one thing that struck me while reading reviews of this book earlier was how many people said it was too melodramatic. Huh. I guess I just read a lot from this time period and I'm used to it because I didn't find it melodramatic at all.
What DID irk me, however was the goodreads cover for this book. There is literally NO KNIFE in this story at all. Read the book people. An illustrator shouldn't illustrate a story they haven't read. Rant over.
Dick Livingstone was enjoying a happy, simple life in general practice as a partner to his uncle. He even found a girl to love and became engaged to her. But there was one thing that bothered him. He could only remember the last ten years of his life. The rest was blank.
Then one day a man on the street recognizes him and calls him by a different name. The word spreads. And before you know it, Dick is on his way to Wyoming to open a Pandora's box that would have been better left shut.
Wealth, alcohol, an actress, murder.... And flight.
Will Dick have a future when his past is known?
The one thing that struck me while reading reviews of this book earlier was how many people said it was too melodramatic. Huh. I guess I just read a lot from this time period and I'm used to it because I didn't find it melodramatic at all.
What DID irk me, however was the goodreads cover for this book. There is literally NO KNIFE in this story at all. Read the book people. An illustrator shouldn't illustrate a story they haven't read. Rant over.
Dick Livingstone was enjoying a happy, simple life in general practice as a partner to his uncle. He even found a girl to love and became engaged to her. But there was one thing that bothered him. He could only remember the last ten years of his life. The rest was blank.
Then one day a man on the street recognizes him and calls him by a different name. The word spreads. And before you know it, Dick is on his way to Wyoming to open a Pandora's box that would have been better left shut.
Wealth, alcohol, an actress, murder.... And flight.
Will Dick have a future when his past is known?
October 27, 2019
Absorbing mystery/romance. Certainly it is dated in outlook, but kept me listening to a tale of repressed memory that nearly ruins an excellent man. The Librivox narrator kept up a good pace, and I found it enjoyable.
January 30, 2013
My last Mary Roberts Rinehart book of the year, and while it may not be what many would consider a true mystery, I couldn't be happier with ending the year on such a high note. Much like The Street of Seven Stars, The Breaking Point is more of a Gothic like romance, with a tinge more mystery than would normally be suspected. Once again, and I should have know better by now, I wasn't expecting the focus to be on the personal relationships so much, but I didn't care. Mary Roberts Rinehart is so brilliant at creating characters and relationships between them, that I would be willing to read just about anything by her. At this point in time, if I come across a straight out, full blown romance book that she wrote, I would jump right in, no doubts clouding my mind.
As usual, the synopsis from the back cover is a little misleading, both in tone and in point of view. Instead of focusing on Elizabeth, the book mainly focuses on Dick, a young reporter trying to garner the truth, and various other characters as they come in and out of the story. We do hear Elizabeth's voice from time to time, but most of the story is taken over by Dick as he tries to restore his past. It's a past he doesn't remember, but one he feels he needs to know about in order to move on with his life, a life he wants with Elizabeth.
Now I don't want you to get the impression that there isn't a mystery here, because there is. Dick Livingstone doesn't remember anything about his past. Other than for the last ten or so years, in which he went to war, medical school, and now practicing medicine with his uncle and aunt in a small town, he knows nothing about his life. He's been told a few things by David, the aforementioned uncle, but he doesn't really remember them. It's that lack of knowledge that keeps him from moving on with his life, especially once he realizes Elizabeth feels the same way about him.
What he doesn't know is that he is about to open up a whole can of worms. He doesn't know that his past includes a torrid affair with an up and coming actress, a vast inheritance which he drank and partied up, a murder, and a drunken escape into snow covered mountains. From that moment on, every trace of who Dick Livingstone was before vanished, most thought he was dead. It's only when he goes back to uncover the truth, that the horror of his past finally catches up with him.
Now it's up to Dick, David, the young reporter, and a few other friends to piece together the truth and finally put the past to rest. Hopefully it won't be too late for Elizabeth or those left behind. Of course, since this is a Gothic romance, I'm sure he can figure out what happens in the end.
As usual, the synopsis from the back cover is a little misleading, both in tone and in point of view. Instead of focusing on Elizabeth, the book mainly focuses on Dick, a young reporter trying to garner the truth, and various other characters as they come in and out of the story. We do hear Elizabeth's voice from time to time, but most of the story is taken over by Dick as he tries to restore his past. It's a past he doesn't remember, but one he feels he needs to know about in order to move on with his life, a life he wants with Elizabeth.
Now I don't want you to get the impression that there isn't a mystery here, because there is. Dick Livingstone doesn't remember anything about his past. Other than for the last ten or so years, in which he went to war, medical school, and now practicing medicine with his uncle and aunt in a small town, he knows nothing about his life. He's been told a few things by David, the aforementioned uncle, but he doesn't really remember them. It's that lack of knowledge that keeps him from moving on with his life, especially once he realizes Elizabeth feels the same way about him.
What he doesn't know is that he is about to open up a whole can of worms. He doesn't know that his past includes a torrid affair with an up and coming actress, a vast inheritance which he drank and partied up, a murder, and a drunken escape into snow covered mountains. From that moment on, every trace of who Dick Livingstone was before vanished, most thought he was dead. It's only when he goes back to uncover the truth, that the horror of his past finally catches up with him.
Now it's up to Dick, David, the young reporter, and a few other friends to piece together the truth and finally put the past to rest. Hopefully it won't be too late for Elizabeth or those left behind. Of course, since this is a Gothic romance, I'm sure he can figure out what happens in the end.
February 21, 2016
I'm actually listening to a Librivox version of this mystery. About a young doctor living in the east, who can only remember his life from the most recent 10 years. People from a traveling theater group recognize him as someone from the west who ran away after a murder. Very good.
Want to read
September 29, 2012Free download at .
July 24, 2022
Slow, even for MRR.
This is one of Rinehart's lesser known books and with good reason. It moves so slowly that it requires almost super-human patience to stick with it to the finish. I DID finish it, but it's a book I'm hesitant to recommend to others.
I think you're either a Mary Roberts Rinehart fan or you're not. She wrote during a slower, more leisurely time and even her very best books can't be said to gallop along. This one is like a tired, old horse who trudges so slowly you could get out and walk faster. And yet, it has charm and the characters are intriguing and totally true to life.
The heroine seems too good to be true, but she's simply a naive, sheltered young woman who follows her heart. While her older sister married for money and is caught up in the Roaring '20s, Elizabeth Wheeler is content to stay home with her parents. She would like to fall in love, but isn't in any hurry. But when love comes, she is totally devoted and prepared to face down opposition in order to marry the man of her choice.
Not that her parents are opposed. Young Dr Livingstone is a dedicated general practitioner and devoted to the elderly aunt and uncle who raised him. He has a fine war record as an Army doctor. He, too, could live a more exciting life by moving to a large city and specializing, but he's content to be a junior partner in his uncle's practice, knowing how important it is to the old man. The two young people seem to be a perfect match, even if worldly friends and relatives think both of them could "do better."
But Elizabeth doesn't know about Livingstone's life in the years before he came to live with his uncle. And HE has no memory of it, either. Then a play comes to town, starring an actress who's no longer young, but still beautiful and desirable. And her brother-manager recognizes the man now known as "Dr Livingstone." The siblings have no desire to rake up the past, but an eager newspaper reporter smells a story that will make national headlines. There is no one more dangerous than a reporter on the trail of a scoop.
Soon the newsman is headed to the small town in Wyoming where Livingstone grew up. And soon Dick Livingstone follows him, determined to find out about his heritage and his past BEFORE he marries an innocent young girl.
It's a complicated story because the action takes place in the present (1922) in the East and ten years previous in the West. Some of the people who know what happened are dead and some have their own secrets to hide. Dick Livingstone doggedly pursues the truth, but is he also pursuing a woman he once loved? And how long will Elizabeth wait for him?
Rinehart knew middle-class, suburban American life in the first half of the 20th Century. She was married to a doctor and knew all about the life of a profession that was respected, but not very well paid. As a wife and mother, she knew how families operate and she builds a faithful picture of the Wheeler family and of old Dr Livingstone's household. She knew about gossip and how quickly it could destroy the career of a doctor. Medical care was primative by our standards and testing was almost non-existent. All the patient had was his faith in his doctor and that faith required conviction that the doctor was morally sound.
If you have the patience to stick with it, it's a charming picture of America before television homogenized the country. To middle America, the East Coast was sophisticated, the South was exotic, and the West was wild. The majority of Americans never traveled more than 10 miles from their birthplace. WWI shook things up, but life for most Americans was stable and governed by firmly held beliefs. The "new" or unknown was viewed with deep suspicion.
This book would have benefitted by severe editing and a large dollop of Rinehart's signature humor. Still, I'm glad it's available as an ebook (for free!) and I'm glad I read it. Rinehart was an intelligent woman whose experiences as a war correspondent in Europe during WWI gave her a broad outlook on the American experience. Her books have value because she knew so much about human nature. And human nature hasn't changed a bit between 1922 and 2022.
This is one of Rinehart's lesser known books and with good reason. It moves so slowly that it requires almost super-human patience to stick with it to the finish. I DID finish it, but it's a book I'm hesitant to recommend to others.
I think you're either a Mary Roberts Rinehart fan or you're not. She wrote during a slower, more leisurely time and even her very best books can't be said to gallop along. This one is like a tired, old horse who trudges so slowly you could get out and walk faster. And yet, it has charm and the characters are intriguing and totally true to life.
The heroine seems too good to be true, but she's simply a naive, sheltered young woman who follows her heart. While her older sister married for money and is caught up in the Roaring '20s, Elizabeth Wheeler is content to stay home with her parents. She would like to fall in love, but isn't in any hurry. But when love comes, she is totally devoted and prepared to face down opposition in order to marry the man of her choice.
Not that her parents are opposed. Young Dr Livingstone is a dedicated general practitioner and devoted to the elderly aunt and uncle who raised him. He has a fine war record as an Army doctor. He, too, could live a more exciting life by moving to a large city and specializing, but he's content to be a junior partner in his uncle's practice, knowing how important it is to the old man. The two young people seem to be a perfect match, even if worldly friends and relatives think both of them could "do better."
But Elizabeth doesn't know about Livingstone's life in the years before he came to live with his uncle. And HE has no memory of it, either. Then a play comes to town, starring an actress who's no longer young, but still beautiful and desirable. And her brother-manager recognizes the man now known as "Dr Livingstone." The siblings have no desire to rake up the past, but an eager newspaper reporter smells a story that will make national headlines. There is no one more dangerous than a reporter on the trail of a scoop.
Soon the newsman is headed to the small town in Wyoming where Livingstone grew up. And soon Dick Livingstone follows him, determined to find out about his heritage and his past BEFORE he marries an innocent young girl.
It's a complicated story because the action takes place in the present (1922) in the East and ten years previous in the West. Some of the people who know what happened are dead and some have their own secrets to hide. Dick Livingstone doggedly pursues the truth, but is he also pursuing a woman he once loved? And how long will Elizabeth wait for him?
Rinehart knew middle-class, suburban American life in the first half of the 20th Century. She was married to a doctor and knew all about the life of a profession that was respected, but not very well paid. As a wife and mother, she knew how families operate and she builds a faithful picture of the Wheeler family and of old Dr Livingstone's household. She knew about gossip and how quickly it could destroy the career of a doctor. Medical care was primative by our standards and testing was almost non-existent. All the patient had was his faith in his doctor and that faith required conviction that the doctor was morally sound.
If you have the patience to stick with it, it's a charming picture of America before television homogenized the country. To middle America, the East Coast was sophisticated, the South was exotic, and the West was wild. The majority of Americans never traveled more than 10 miles from their birthplace. WWI shook things up, but life for most Americans was stable and governed by firmly held beliefs. The "new" or unknown was viewed with deep suspicion.
This book would have benefitted by severe editing and a large dollop of Rinehart's signature humor. Still, I'm glad it's available as an ebook (for free!) and I'm glad I read it. Rinehart was an intelligent woman whose experiences as a war correspondent in Europe during WWI gave her a broad outlook on the American experience. Her books have value because she knew so much about human nature. And human nature hasn't changed a bit between 1922 and 2022.
August 23, 2018
Free | The best of Rinehart's I've read so far. | One of the things about reading mysteries of the early 20th century is that you know there will be certain happy endings. Writers of the time just didn't leave their heroines to be crushed by their sweethearts, and heroes weren't killers or victims in the end. In this case I had the rare experience of doubting that formula. As the book went on I could see where the author could choose an acceptable ending that wasn't Dick and Elizabeth happily ever after, and further it became harder and harder to see any way they could be together. This provided more suspense than I usually get in these books, and the combination of the dual sides of Dick's life and the sight twist that was the solution to the mystery gave a good payoff.
January 29, 2016
Like a long quiet volcano erupting.
It's been a long time since I've read a full length novel. I thought this might be too long at first, but what a plot. Much like a volcano, this story has a bubbling undercurrent. A small town doctor who is missing ten years of his life is triggered emotionally by love, causing his missing years to bubble up and overtake his current life. Much like lava after an eruption, his triggered memories will forever change the topography of his life
It's been a long time since I've read a full length novel. I thought this might be too long at first, but what a plot. Much like a volcano, this story has a bubbling undercurrent. A small town doctor who is missing ten years of his life is triggered emotionally by love, causing his missing years to bubble up and overtake his current life. Much like lava after an eruption, his triggered memories will forever change the topography of his life
August 22, 2023
I own a vintage copy of this book from 1922 that I use as a prop in my photography. I decided after the last photo shoot that I really should read it. While the general plot was interesting (I'm a sucker for amnesia stories) some parts were too dull and strung out for words. If you are looking for a good old fashioned adventure/romance novel from this time period, I suggest giving Grace Livingston Hill a go.
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October 3, 2022That was a beast of a book!
November 18, 2023
A Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ reviewer (Janice) describes the book as a “long quiet volcano eruptingâ€� which is perhaps unbeatable. There is a long build-up of three separate strands, a young doctor's hidden and very mysterious past, his present romance with a neighbour's daughter, and an elderly couple, his uncle and aunt, with whom he has been living since he can remember. There is a younger couple too, who are living life in the fast lane, whose marriage is disintegrating. Other characters appear and disappear, all with a particular part to play: a beautiful actress, still in her prime, a pesky journalist after a good story, a small town ready for salacious bits of gossip, a young man hopelessly in love with the main girl, the main girl’s brother, who also likes to live life in the fast lane, and you have a good potboiler on your hands. Every character seems bent on keeping back one secret from at least one other person, and not the same person either. Otherwise, there are few clues to the unravelling of the mystery, a characteristic of MRR’s works.
Although not a romance, it starts off as one. Essentially a mystery, rather than a detective story per se, it explores at some length the relatively new science of psychoanalysis, and in particular, the effects of long-term amnesia. It is perhaps the first thriller to use this as a central theme, but it takes too long about it, so in the end we cannot be sure if this is a detective novel, a cold case mystery, a dissociative personality disorder analysis, whether it is about one man or more, and in such a diffuse context, something of the very real pleasure of an MRR novel is also dissipated. And if we are to cherchez la femme, it is not clear which femme is intended to be cherchezed.
That said, this is an extraordinarily reading experience. The plot complications in themselves form a novel of suspense, a cliff-hanger in the best tradition. This book was written over a hundred years ago, when the fashion for romance and “goodness� and happy endings was very strong, and the fashion for murder still in its infancy. A classic vintage crime novel, or a cosy mystery.
Although not a romance, it starts off as one. Essentially a mystery, rather than a detective story per se, it explores at some length the relatively new science of psychoanalysis, and in particular, the effects of long-term amnesia. It is perhaps the first thriller to use this as a central theme, but it takes too long about it, so in the end we cannot be sure if this is a detective novel, a cold case mystery, a dissociative personality disorder analysis, whether it is about one man or more, and in such a diffuse context, something of the very real pleasure of an MRR novel is also dissipated. And if we are to cherchez la femme, it is not clear which femme is intended to be cherchezed.
That said, this is an extraordinarily reading experience. The plot complications in themselves form a novel of suspense, a cliff-hanger in the best tradition. This book was written over a hundred years ago, when the fashion for romance and “goodness� and happy endings was very strong, and the fashion for murder still in its infancy. A classic vintage crime novel, or a cosy mystery.
November 30, 2023
A compelling and moving novel. Striking for what we now consider to be old-time morality, where characters make self-effacing moral decisions to save others pain, but perhaps end up causing more. The book addresses what is now a contemporary issue: is it just and appropriate to pay for past mistakes forever? "You reap what you sow," snarls one "villain" - and he's correct. But how long should we be reaping it? Also striking for post-traumatic amnesia back in 1903, and for the consequences of addiction/obsession.
Okay, so keeping all the players and plot points straight is difficult.
The Librivox narrator is outstanding.
Okay, so keeping all the players and plot points straight is difficult.
The Librivox narrator is outstanding.
December 21, 2024
The author is known for her mysteries and that is what I expected when I started this book. However, while it has a mystery, it was not too much of a mystery. I would warn you to not expect that when you start. I found this book to have very deep and important messages about life. Mainly pertaining to mistakes made through life and the varying degree of how consequences will follow you. I will definitely have all of my children read this book at least once when they are older.
May 23, 2024
Fun little 1920s mystery story. The blurb really sells it that Elizabeth has to solve the mystery but she's very passive and kept in the dark by her family (boo!). An interesting take on amnesia and whether a kindly father figure can Pygmalion a decent guy out of a rich idiot.
February 7, 2024
Written over a hundred years ago and better than any other mystery I've read in years! Wish the current crop of writers could accept gratuitous sex scenes aren't necessary.
February 13, 2024
Love the book, recommend to all bibliophiles
April 24, 2024
Great book, I listened to the audiobook version on YouTube. I will leave the link below so that everyone can enjoy it!
December 9, 2023
It was well written, but I didn't like the drawn out agony. I guess that was kind of the point though?
January 5, 2012
My mother actually recommended this book to me. And while we're both big readers, we don't necessarily have the same taste in what we like to read. As such, I picked up this book with a bit of trepidation ...
And loved it. I don't even know where to begin. It starts out as a basic boy-meets-girl story. The young couple are in love, but before they can get married and live happily ever after, he has to go off and "find himself". In this case, literally.
The story takes a melodramatic turn when he finds out that prior to an illness 10 years earlier resulting in amnesia, he had lived a completely different life - one that seems to completely obliterate any chances of a happy ending.
Since it was written in 1922, not all of the medical and psycological aspects of the book are correct. But even so, Rinehart delves into how the human mind works, and mixes that with how human nature works, to create a suspenseful, dramatic, mystery story. She left me guessing as to whether everything would work out - and actually changed my mind a few times as to what the best possible ending could be.
My only complaint - the ending was far to quick. After a whole book of struggling and doubt and uncertainty ... I wanted to relish the characters being happy for a few more pages!
And loved it. I don't even know where to begin. It starts out as a basic boy-meets-girl story. The young couple are in love, but before they can get married and live happily ever after, he has to go off and "find himself". In this case, literally.
The story takes a melodramatic turn when he finds out that prior to an illness 10 years earlier resulting in amnesia, he had lived a completely different life - one that seems to completely obliterate any chances of a happy ending.
Since it was written in 1922, not all of the medical and psycological aspects of the book are correct. But even so, Rinehart delves into how the human mind works, and mixes that with how human nature works, to create a suspenseful, dramatic, mystery story. She left me guessing as to whether everything would work out - and actually changed my mind a few times as to what the best possible ending could be.
My only complaint - the ending was far to quick. After a whole book of struggling and doubt and uncertainty ... I wanted to relish the characters being happy for a few more pages!
November 17, 2012
I wanted to like this book, the first Mary Robert Rinehart I've read. I remember my mother loving this author so when I saw it was available I decided to try it.
Dr. Dick Livingston has joined his uncle David in his general practice in small East Coast village. Dick is a quiet man with a mysterious past, but he is well-regarded in the village. He falls in love with Elizabeth Wheeler, a young woman living with her parents. One evening he takes her to a play. The star's manager is appalled when he looks out into the audience and sees Dick there. He recognizes him as Judd Clark, wanted for questioning in the death of the star's husband, a potential homicide that occurred ten years earlier in Wyoming. The plot itself isn't bad, but the writing is quite dated and melodramatic. The story is set in the early 20th century, probably the 1920's. It also felt a bit preachy. The only real suspense was whether or not a half-brother existed, and whether or not Elizabeth and Dr. Dick would marry. I couldn't get terribly excited about either. I was disappointed in the book.
Dr. Dick Livingston has joined his uncle David in his general practice in small East Coast village. Dick is a quiet man with a mysterious past, but he is well-regarded in the village. He falls in love with Elizabeth Wheeler, a young woman living with her parents. One evening he takes her to a play. The star's manager is appalled when he looks out into the audience and sees Dick there. He recognizes him as Judd Clark, wanted for questioning in the death of the star's husband, a potential homicide that occurred ten years earlier in Wyoming. The plot itself isn't bad, but the writing is quite dated and melodramatic. The story is set in the early 20th century, probably the 1920's. It also felt a bit preachy. The only real suspense was whether or not a half-brother existed, and whether or not Elizabeth and Dr. Dick would marry. I couldn't get terribly excited about either. I was disappointed in the book.
May 28, 2017
Group read with Public Domain Readers. I read it on . Audiobook on .
Dick Livingstone is a successful doctor. But he has a mysterious past that he can't remember. He didn't care about the future till he knew of his love to Elizabeth Wheeler. Now, he can't propose to her without knowing his past. He's afraid that his past might negatively affect his dear ones. He must know who he was? Why does David object to Dick's going to Norada? Did he commit a murder in his past? Or is it someone else who did it? Will he ever be free and start afresh again with Elizabeth?
It took me a while to get into the plot. I had to read the first three chapters a couple of times but after that, it was a smooth reading.
Dick Livingstone is a successful doctor. But he has a mysterious past that he can't remember. He didn't care about the future till he knew of his love to Elizabeth Wheeler. Now, he can't propose to her without knowing his past. He's afraid that his past might negatively affect his dear ones. He must know who he was? Why does David object to Dick's going to Norada? Did he commit a murder in his past? Or is it someone else who did it? Will he ever be free and start afresh again with Elizabeth?
It took me a while to get into the plot. I had to read the first three chapters a couple of times but after that, it was a smooth reading.
June 5, 2022
Once again a non-sequiteur of a cover. There are no crimes committed with knives in this book.
This was an interesting one, dealing as it does with trauma and amnesia. A little deeper, as a book, than the Hilda Adams series. It is extremely old-fashioned in some ways - the writing style, the small town, the perfect woman, the man needing to prove himself - and in others an astute look at people and how they respond to disappointment and stress. It drags just a little bit in the last half, but over all the pacing is good and the interest lies in the characters of the people in the story rather than the dark-house-at-midnight spookiness of some of Rinehart's other work. I am a fan (barring the sexism )
This was an interesting one, dealing as it does with trauma and amnesia. A little deeper, as a book, than the Hilda Adams series. It is extremely old-fashioned in some ways - the writing style, the small town, the perfect woman, the man needing to prove himself - and in others an astute look at people and how they respond to disappointment and stress. It drags just a little bit in the last half, but over all the pacing is good and the interest lies in the characters of the people in the story rather than the dark-house-at-midnight spookiness of some of Rinehart's other work. I am a fan (barring the sexism )
May 4, 2013
It's very old school, to the point that I could see the 1920s MGM movie version of it playing in my head. A lot of it is fun, but it's dated in bad ways, namely: Dick and Elizabeth. Good lord, Dick is insufferable and Elizabeth is a walking "look at your life, look at your choices" lesson. I can see how that relationship would have had an appeal almost 100 years ago, but now it just seems kind of creepy. I skimmed the last bit of the book since I knew it would be all about Their Great Love.
That said, it's an interesting mystery and all of the secondary characters are great. I especially enjoyed Louis Basset and Leslie.
That said, it's an interesting mystery and all of the secondary characters are great. I especially enjoyed Louis Basset and Leslie.
November 4, 2016
I listened to this book via Librivox and quite enjoyed it. The reader did an excellent job and the story calmly bubbled on. I wouldn't have listed it as a mystery (only found out later that the author was nicknamed America's Agatha Christie). I enjoyed it however as a nice novel with interesting twists and turns. Of course it was terribly dated, but that did not detract at all. I think the author did a great job painting the different characters. They were all very true to life and believable. Whether the amnesia bit was medically realistic I can't tell - either way, it was an original plot, with interesting characters, giving an interesting glimpse into American life in the 1920's.
December 17, 2019
Generally, I enjoy MRR, but this book is a definite no. The story is bland and uninteresting and seems more like a romance than a thriller. The romance itself is very reflective of its time (1921 publish date) and I'm not interested in the characters. I gave up on this last month after about 25 pages so I don't even remember enough details to write a short plot overview. Just: blah. Probably well-written blah, but blah all the same.
I recommend these MRR books because they are more thriller/mystery than romance: Miss Pinkerton, The Swimming Pool, The Yellow Room, The Album, and The Bat.
I recommend these MRR books because they are more thriller/mystery than romance: Miss Pinkerton, The Swimming Pool, The Yellow Room, The Album, and The Bat.
November 2, 2011
This book may come across as somewhat melodramatic for today's readers, but it had me anxious to learn the outcome. The characterization was very good, and the plot held many twists and surprises. I cared about the characters. Rinehart did a very good job not making the villains totally one-sided and evil. Everyone had flaws, but they were within human bounds. Excellent reading. Satisfying ending. (As an aside, searching for this book on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, I never before realized how many books have been titled Breaking Point .)
September 6, 2016
This book captured me and I couldn't do anything else until I'd finished it. I didn't give it more stars, only because it didn't have what I'd call redeeming value, like historical information or deep philosophical inquiry. It is simply an excellently written mystery. Great characterization and settings (it is set and was written in the 1920's), but mostly well drawn plot.
And now I'm in trouble, because I just learned she wrote a lot of mysteries, and has been called the American Agatha Christie, though she preceded Christie. I know I'll be captured again.
And now I'm in trouble, because I just learned she wrote a lot of mysteries, and has been called the American Agatha Christie, though she preceded Christie. I know I'll be captured again.
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