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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
More like three and a half stars. I still have never in my life guessed an Agatha Christie villain, with or without Hercule Poirot being awesome, so that's cool.
¡Tía Agatha lo hace de nuevo!
Acabé totalmente conectada con la lectura de este libro y como soy de aquellos lectores que se deja llevar por la narración me encantó el desenlace, en serio!! Además de los personajes muy bien descritos, cada uno en el papel que le correspondía; pude congeniar con Iris, entender su personalidad y seguir su "destino".
Acabé totalmente conectada con la lectura de este libro y como soy de aquellos lectores que se deja llevar por la narración me encantó el desenlace, en serio!! Además de los personajes muy bien descritos, cada uno en el papel que le correspondía; pude congeniar con Iris, entender su personalidad y seguir su "destino".
This short novel was all romance with a little spy action mixed in. It had everything that I suppose was very popular at the time: love triangles, hidden affections, damsels in distress, secret identities, and lies and subterfuge. I enjoyed the reading experience but it didn't leave any lasting impression. As always, I enjoyed the insight into the era but it definitely is one of the more mediocre of Christie's mysteries.
I usually enjoy Agatha Christie, but I particularly liked Sparkling Cyanide. I think part of the reason is that it involves Colonel Race. I've read so many Poirot stories that I get a bit tired of them, so Christie's other stories make for a refreshing change of pace.
A man arranges a dinner party, exactly one year after his wife killed herself. The dinner is almost an exact replica of that tragic night, because, he believes his wife was murdered.
This one really had me hooked. It's full of potential suspects, making it so much fun to try to figure out who the culprit is. Had me changing my mind several times as to the killer, & a murder that couldn't have possibly happened, but did. As usual, I had the killer all wrong by the end.
A man arranges a dinner party, exactly one year after his wife killed herself. The dinner is almost an exact replica of that tragic night, because, he believes his wife was murdered.
This one really had me hooked. It's full of potential suspects, making it so much fun to try to figure out who the culprit is. Had me changing my mind several times as to the killer, & a murder that couldn't have possibly happened, but did. As usual, I had the killer all wrong by the end.
Re-read 26.09.2017 From 2 to 4 stars.
A person is murdered, although it's seemingly impossible, because it's done under the watchful eye of several people - my favorite kind of murder.
The identity of the murderer isn't actually a huge surprise, nor is the basic idea of the execution of the murder (it's very simple if you think about it), but a couple of things surrounding the latter poisoning incident and the way it was done are. The moral of the story is the classic "don't take anyone's word for it", and it's actually surprising that a certain statement wasn't verified immediately. The most successful aspect of Sparkling Cyanide is, however, Christie's characterization. All the people involved (except the investigators) feel alive with all their faults and grievances. Human.
I don't know why I gave this 2 stars originally, but it's possible it was an audiobook and the book itself got blamed if I got bored, or maybe I didn't appreciate the lengthy background portion dealing with each of the suspects. In any case, their stories are crucial. I do think that not only is this an unusual Colonel Race novel (like Superintendent Battle, not my favorite investigator, but I got a slightly better sense of who he is than I did of Battle), but also an unusual Christie novel in a broader sense, because the case is solved by someone else than the main investigator.
A person is murdered, although it's seemingly impossible, because it's done under the watchful eye of several people - my favorite kind of murder.
The identity of the murderer isn't actually a huge surprise, nor is the basic idea of the execution of the murder (it's very simple if you think about it), but a couple of things surrounding the latter poisoning incident and the way it was done are. The moral of the story is the classic "don't take anyone's word for it", and it's actually surprising that a certain statement wasn't verified immediately. The most successful aspect of Sparkling Cyanide is, however, Christie's characterization. All the people involved (except the investigators) feel alive with all their faults and grievances. Human.
I don't know why I gave this 2 stars originally, but it's possible it was an audiobook and the book itself got blamed if I got bored, or maybe I didn't appreciate the lengthy background portion dealing with each of the suspects. In any case, their stories are crucial. I do think that not only is this an unusual Colonel Race novel (like Superintendent Battle, not my favorite investigator, but I got a slightly better sense of who he is than I did of Battle), but also an unusual Christie novel in a broader sense, because the case is solved by someone else than the main investigator.
I thought this was a very clever story, and I enjoyed the multiple POVs very much! As usual, Christie kept me guessing, going from one character to another and wondering if he/she was the murderer. As I neared that last fourth of the book, I couldn’t bring myself to put it down, even though it kept me up way past my bedtime. And that ending was such a twist; didn’t see that coming!
Not my favourite Agatha Christie. The end picked up a bit so I'd give it a 2.5 stars instead of 2 like I intended, but the middle dragged a lot, with very little happening, less interesting characters than one usually gets from AC. And seriously "depression after the flu" is the most ridiculous suicide verdict ever
My first Colonel Race mystery and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Clever plot, strong story development, and a very satisfying conclusion. Plausible too! (Fan of Anthony's from the start and hope he makes an appearance in future stories.)
