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3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
Wyszło takie trochę fanfiction, gdzie dwójka przyjaciół próbuje uratować świat przed międzynarodowymi przestępcami posiadającymi supernowoczesną broń (tu bym powiedziała wleciał element sci-fi). Problem w tym, że fanfiction sprawiłoby mi przyjemność, a tutaj się po prostu strasznie wymęczyłam.
Nie wiem, co się zadziało z osobowością głównych bohaterów, bo:
1. Hastings wyjątkowo nie był irytujący
Nie wiem, co się zadziało z osobowością głównych bohaterów, bo:
1. Hastings wyjątkowo nie był irytujący
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I know that The Big Four is considered one of Agatha Christie's weaker books (including by Christie herself), but I actually kind of enjoyed it? In part, it probably helped that I read it via Serial Reader, which matched well with the episodic feeling in the book. It also helps that it's quite short, and each episode is partly self-contained, meaning there's not so much time to get overcomplicated and build up a huge catch of the proverbial fishies.
It's of course melodramatic and over the top, with a bit of the flavour of Sherlock Holmes vs Moriarty, but I just kinda leaned into that and let it go. Hastings wasn't as unbearable as usual (though I still don't like him)... though I found Poirot pretty insufferable, especially with his repeated decision to let Hastings suffer in ignorance because he can't act.
I'm still not a Christie fan, but this one worked surprisingly well for me.
It's of course melodramatic and over the top, with a bit of the flavour of Sherlock Holmes vs Moriarty, but I just kinda leaned into that and let it go. Hastings wasn't as unbearable as usual (though I still don't like him)... though I found Poirot pretty insufferable, especially with his repeated decision to let Hastings suffer in ignorance because he can't act.
I'm still not a Christie fan, but this one worked surprisingly well for me.
Is it Hercule Poirot or James Bond? A shawdowy group of powerful elites controlling the world with headquarters in the dolomites that is a James Bond plot. I thought the twin Achillie Poirot was a real jump the shark moment.
The Big Four is something of a strange beast when it comes to an Poirot mystery. The novel is made up of a series of previously published short stories Christie adapted into an expansive plot that pits her little Belgian detective against a secretive organisation hell-bent on world domination.
The novel begins with the arrival of Captain Hastings at Poirot's door. Hastings is back for a visit from the Argentine, where he now lives with his wife 'Cinderella' (of The Murder on the Links fame), and hopes to surprise his old friend. Overjoyed, and certainly startled, Poirot explains that coincidentally, he is just about to set off on a visit to South America, after being tempted by an enormous fee to undertake a case there. Their conversation is brought to an abrupt end by the appearance of a mysterious figure in Poirot's bedroom doorway, who collapses at their feet. They manage to elicit from the desperate man that he is on the run from an international crime cartel run by four powerful figures - Number 1, a shady Chinese character called Li Chan Yen, and his three unknown accomplices, Number 2, an American; Number 3, a Frenchwoman; and Number 3, a dangerous figure known as 'The Destroyer'.
Shortly afterwards, the desperate man is killed, and Poirot, realising the South American case was a ruse to get him out of the way, decides to put his efforts into finding out all he can about the Big Four and what they are up to. As the months tick by, much to Hastings' frustration, the pieces of the mystery about the dastardly aims of the organisation come together slowly, via enigmatic clues left behind at the scenes of seemingly unconnected cases in which Poirot can detect their interference. As the bodies pile up, and they find themselves in many a sticky situation, the identities of the Big Four are eventually established, and Christie engineers a quite brilliant, and very ambitious climax, involving some stunning subterfuge on Poirot's part... and the appearance of a face from Poirot's past, the charismatic Russian, Countess Vera Rossakoff.
There are lots of really interesting features about this unusual, and highly enjoyable mystery. I really have not read anything quite like it out of all the Poirot novels I have consumed in terms of structure, scope, and surprises. It combines individual cases of the kind Poirot can solve at the drop of the hat, via his knowledge of the 'psychologies', with an over-arching, international espionage story that he really has to tax himself to solve, and which is the usual province of Christie's fast paced, stand-alone adventures - and there is more than a little of the Sherlock Holmes here around some of the gripping happenings, duplicity, and locations.
This is a Christie I have not read before, and it is very different from the David Suchet adaptation which was my only prior knowledge of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed all the fun and games, and the way Hasting's openly expresses mystification and heartfelt feelings in the way only he can, through the cracking audio book narrated by Captain Hastings himself, Hugh Fraser.
The novel begins with the arrival of Captain Hastings at Poirot's door. Hastings is back for a visit from the Argentine, where he now lives with his wife 'Cinderella' (of The Murder on the Links fame), and hopes to surprise his old friend. Overjoyed, and certainly startled, Poirot explains that coincidentally, he is just about to set off on a visit to South America, after being tempted by an enormous fee to undertake a case there. Their conversation is brought to an abrupt end by the appearance of a mysterious figure in Poirot's bedroom doorway, who collapses at their feet. They manage to elicit from the desperate man that he is on the run from an international crime cartel run by four powerful figures - Number 1, a shady Chinese character called Li Chan Yen, and his three unknown accomplices, Number 2, an American; Number 3, a Frenchwoman; and Number 3, a dangerous figure known as 'The Destroyer'.
Shortly afterwards, the desperate man is killed, and Poirot, realising the South American case was a ruse to get him out of the way, decides to put his efforts into finding out all he can about the Big Four and what they are up to. As the months tick by, much to Hastings' frustration, the pieces of the mystery about the dastardly aims of the organisation come together slowly, via enigmatic clues left behind at the scenes of seemingly unconnected cases in which Poirot can detect their interference. As the bodies pile up, and they find themselves in many a sticky situation, the identities of the Big Four are eventually established, and Christie engineers a quite brilliant, and very ambitious climax, involving some stunning subterfuge on Poirot's part... and the appearance of a face from Poirot's past, the charismatic Russian, Countess Vera Rossakoff.
There are lots of really interesting features about this unusual, and highly enjoyable mystery. I really have not read anything quite like it out of all the Poirot novels I have consumed in terms of structure, scope, and surprises. It combines individual cases of the kind Poirot can solve at the drop of the hat, via his knowledge of the 'psychologies', with an over-arching, international espionage story that he really has to tax himself to solve, and which is the usual province of Christie's fast paced, stand-alone adventures - and there is more than a little of the Sherlock Holmes here around some of the gripping happenings, duplicity, and locations.
This is a Christie I have not read before, and it is very different from the David Suchet adaptation which was my only prior knowledge of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed all the fun and games, and the way Hasting's openly expresses mystification and heartfelt feelings in the way only he can, through the cracking audio book narrated by Captain Hastings himself, Hugh Fraser.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Racist terms for Asians throughout this book. Distracting and a good reminder of how far society has come.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No