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3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
I’ve finally met a Poirot novel I didn’t like :( far too grand a scale— No clues, no motive, no real mystery, even. A crime thriller without any thrills.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
*3.5 stars
More of an international spy thriller than the usual English countryside murder mystery but very fun to read nonetheless!
More of an international spy thriller than the usual English countryside murder mystery but very fun to read nonetheless!
Well this was an odd one. Far more James Bond than Hercule Poirot (the bad guys even have a secret lair inside a mountain!) and more a series of vignettes than a novel. My least favourite of the series so far, but entertaining enough in a one-off "what on earth, did I accidentally read a Bond novel, why are there supervillains?" way.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
funny
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:
No
This was one hell of a weird book from beginning till end. I wonder if it was Agatha Christie who wrote it, or it's one big conspiracy to name her the author of this weird, un-poirot-y, un-agatha book. For starters, the character of Poirot was so off the whole time. Instead of the Poirot, who's known to use his "grey cells" to solve murder mysteries, the Poirot in this book was off fighting and using bombs, and what not to defeat some weird secret organization. It felt like Christie wrote random short stories, and then created some fantastic organization of 4 to thread the stories together, and convert it into a book? Don't even get me started on the climax and the ending where she keeps you wondering if the number 4 is even dead. Was she trying to keep his demise doubtful to bring him in some future novel and kill off Poirot. Now I've not read the last Poirot novel yet, so I'm just left wondering..hmm.
So anyway, the book in short:
1. Poirot calling himself a "triple imbecile" whatever that means.
2. Hastings losing consciousness now and again.
3. Number 4 appearing in each chapter as a new character.
I must say I lost a considerable amount of respect for Agatha Christie after this novel :(
So anyway, the book in short:
1. Poirot calling himself a "triple imbecile" whatever that means.
2. Hastings losing consciousness now and again.
3. Number 4 appearing in each chapter as a new character.
I must say I lost a considerable amount of respect for Agatha Christie after this novel :(
Action packed and filled with suspense and mystery. It’s a fast paced story and one laced with danger and threat. Hercule Poirot and his faithful friend Hastings, come up against the masterminds of The Big Four who leave all but a trial of bodies and death in their wake...
All throughout the book I was at a loss for how Poirot could overthrow and defeat this organisation as there really did seem like no solution. Through many twists and turns and unlikely events, I didn’t see it taking half the twists and turns that it did. This book seemed different from the other Poirot stories I’ve read, a lot bigger and more ambitious and I felt the end was a little abrupt but I still enjoyed the story nonetheless.
I’m a huge fan of Agatha Christie’s stories and love reading about the cases of Poirot. They never get old!
All throughout the book I was at a loss for how Poirot could overthrow and defeat this organisation as there really did seem like no solution. Through many twists and turns and unlikely events, I didn’t see it taking half the twists and turns that it did. This book seemed different from the other Poirot stories I’ve read, a lot bigger and more ambitious and I felt the end was a little abrupt but I still enjoyed the story nonetheless.
I’m a huge fan of Agatha Christie’s stories and love reading about the cases of Poirot. They never get old!
I tried being quite objective in my rating of this book, despite my fairly strong distaste for it. Not distaste in the sense that it was bad. More distaste in the sense that it probably won't appeal to the same target audience as the other novels in this series.
I appreciate that Christie may have had an Ian Fleming-type inspiration for this novel - despite the anachronism in that sentence. But this novel is a far leap from the English country estate murder mystery with which she has built her readership on. This sort of action-packed international secret-agent plot line just doesn't work with Poirot (I can't even picture Poirot moving any faster than a brisk walk to be honest).
This may be a fascinating story for those interested in the aforesaid action-type genre. But it's not for me. I tried really hard to follow the conversations and events, but I felt myself glazing over and had a hard time absorbing all the info dumps enough to be able to predict the following reveals, or even fully understand them.
The one thing that this story had going for it was the character interaction between Poirot and Rossakov. It was nice to be able to see Poirot as being slightly less than emotionally distant. I know she doesn't recur in the series a lot, but any familiarity in an episodic series such as this one is refreshing.
Fortunately, the story picked up a little steam right at the end, but just in enough time for the story to be cut short.
The only thing that kept me reading (other than my completionism) was the Hastings-Poirot interactions.
Poirot: "Hercule Poirot might have been crushed out of existence! A terrible calamity for the world! And you too, mon ami! Though that would not be such a national catastrophe."
Hastings: "...Thank you."
Gold.
I appreciate that Christie may have had an Ian Fleming-type inspiration for this novel - despite the anachronism in that sentence. But this novel is a far leap from the English country estate murder mystery with which she has built her readership on. This sort of action-packed international secret-agent plot line just doesn't work with Poirot (I can't even picture Poirot moving any faster than a brisk walk to be honest).
This may be a fascinating story for those interested in the aforesaid action-type genre. But it's not for me. I tried really hard to follow the conversations and events, but I felt myself glazing over and had a hard time absorbing all the info dumps enough to be able to predict the following reveals, or even fully understand them.
The one thing that this story had going for it was the character interaction between Poirot and Rossakov. It was nice to be able to see Poirot as being slightly less than emotionally distant. I know she doesn't recur in the series a lot, but any familiarity in an episodic series such as this one is refreshing.
Fortunately, the story picked up a little steam right at the end, but just in enough time for the story to be cut short.
The only thing that kept me reading (other than my completionism) was the Hastings-Poirot interactions.
Poirot: "Hercule Poirot might have been crushed out of existence! A terrible calamity for the world! And you too, mon ami! Though that would not be such a national catastrophe."
Hastings: "...Thank you."
Gold.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No