Riveting ... Simultaneously revels in and criticizes the press’s shameless bravado in shaping the Christie murder investigation ... The author questions our own ambivalent complicity in the 'peepshow' of true-crime reportage ... Ms. Summerscale’s evocation of Christie’s purse-lipped, self-satisfaction and his bossy, neurotic pride relates British repression to obsession, prudishness to prurience.
Absorbing ... If, like me, you inhaled Summerscale’s gripping true crime The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, your expectations will be high for The Peepshow. So I should warn you that Peepshow is not quite as riveting as Suspicions ... Still, Peepshow is very good ... Calm, sinuous prose ... [Summerscale] knows the details of the story are ghastly enough that she doesn’t need to strain for effects, so the seeming ordinariness of her prose creates suspense ... Summerscale explores new territory. One of her smart choices was to include parallel stories of journalists who covered the trial of Christie ... Offers persuasive social analysis ... Offers convincing new explanations for a couple of murders Christie may have committed ... Absorbing, authoritative and well researched. Some readers may not want to dive into the gruesome details but, if you do, you’ll find that, as with Christie himself, there is a lot more to The Peepshow than meets the eye.
Summerscale...brings a novelist’s eye and a sociologist’s understanding to a trove of thrilling material ... There’s so much to admire in this engaging, deeply researched book. But though nothing Summerscale writes is dull, her story loses steam, and a bit of focus, after the conclusion of Christie’s trial, about three-quarters of the way through.
