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2.5 stars for the strong first half

At first I was really getting into The Burden. The chapters with Laura's childhood were engaging and well-written, and so were the chapters up to about the time Shirley met Richard. But after that point, the story suddenly shifts to the viewpoint of an apparently unconnected character, a famous preacher named Llewellyn Knox. He ends up being connected to the two sisters in a strange way, but up until then his presence in the story seems superfluous. With the arrival of this character the story progression slows and is replaced by a series of religious discussions, culminating in the story's unusual but poorly explained theme, the titular "burden". The ending feels confusing and not wholly satisfying.

The Burden has an excellent first half, but was let down by the rest of the story. I didn't hate this book, but for me it was mediocre and took a completely different direction than the beginning seemed to indicate. I may try more of Agatha Christie's work under the Mary Westmacott pseudonym, so hopefully this book is not representative of all of them.