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adventurous funny medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

3.5

After reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, I eagerly dived into another Agatha Christie book. But The Big Four was a let down, and surprisingly enough, I can’t blame the return of Hastings. This book reads differently from other Christie books, and I couldn’t get invested in the plot.
adventurous challenging funny mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I bought a huge collection of Agatha Christie books on Fictionwise with my Micropay rebate, so it was basically free. Got to love the free books :)

This my first one - not sure if it was a smart one to start with now reading the reviews but so far it has drawn me in.

Yeah - got a bit bored and decided to start with a different Agatha Christie.

*audiobook* I guess this book was actually released as a serial back in the day. With it being a few different stories with one main thread, it might've been a little less confusing to read this one instead of listening.

A fun romp

A strange man comes to Poirot for help, insensible except for repeating “four” before dying. Digging into it, Poirot discovers a conspiracy of four people from across the globe conspiring to gain more power for themselves. Now Poirot must match his wits and his skills against theirs to discover who they are and stop them before it’s too late.

This was an odd book. It was not the usual whodunit that we are accustomed to for Poirot; it’s more of an action & intrigue novel, almost as if Christie was trying to write something more like the rivalry between Holmes and Moriarty. And it ends up being not good because it’s a disparate collection of smaller mysteries all loosely tied together as part of the large conspiracy, with a big finale that is so ridiculous and over-the-top that it’s just laughable. This has none of the smart clues, and red herrings, and deft reveals that make other Poirot novels so enjoyable.

The Big Four is slightly different from all other Agatha Christie books. It starts with a mysterious murder, but soon converts into an action adventure where Hercules Poirot is fighting a formidable enemy, namely the four individuals called the Big Four, who are keen to bring anarchy and mayhem to the world, with the intention to rule it. Poirot solves the situation with the help of Hastings and most of the governments of Europe, but he has to use his fray brain cells in the task.

Atypical, but a readable Christie book that deviates from the familiar formula.
dark mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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