The Pit contrasts with its predecessors Swept Away and The Mountain in that it is a detective story rather than a thriller.

Jeanette's behavior was not logical in Swept Away and The Mountain, clouded as it was by conflicting emotions that she had trouble controlling, but in The Pit she puts her mind to work, using her education and the mental discipline it has taught her to organize a logical hunt for clues. She is still uncertain of her true motivations, but she hunts for clues as logically and methodically as the protagonists in classic detective stories, such as Sherlock Holmes or Philip Marlowe.

Although the structure of The Pit is that of a detective story, its content is a psychological study of a young woman under terrible stress. As she uncovers the truth about Bill, the reader slowly uncovers the truth about her. The first...