Reviews

a very easy read! my first agatha cristie, found lying around in a korean café of all places... made me think ah so this is why people read AC, and come to find in the reviews this is apparently one of her worst! i liked the writing but the final reveal was a bit lacklustre in my opinion. should've contained more hannibal pov

orestesfasting's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This is a fascinating Christie, and quite unlike anything else of hers that I have read. Written right at the end of her career, the distance in time between the sleuths and the murder is almost the same distance as that between the novel and The Mysterious Affair at Styles, her first novel. Viewed in that light, what is perhaps a frustrating whodunit turns into a meditation not just on her career, but on many of the changes of the twentieth century. The world that allowed the whodunit to prosper - a world with limited technology, of propagandised lurid tales of espionage, of rigid social class etc. - no longer exists, and solving a whodunit is nearly impossible in the 1970s; they simply don't exist. A lovely, melancholy meditation at the end of a career.

sofylovesbooks's review against another edition

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mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

timetravelling_dreamer's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

2.75

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