Reviews

Early on, this novel carries some of the wistfully philosophical vibes of author Agatha Christie's pseudonymous Mary Westmacott books, and although that tone is dropped as the story goes along, I think it still might have worked better if it had been published under a different byline. If you approach it as a Christie mystery, it's a little unsatisfying: the major puzzle takes a while to come into focus, but essentially boils down to a group of people claiming that they can commit murder remotely via witchcraft / intense concentration. The protagonist is at first skeptical but then frightened and aghast, until the conclusion provides the fairly obvious mundane explanation and fingers the equally suspicious figure behind the scheme. There's no detective work and only one real attempt at a red herring, which I personally haven't found particularly convincing.

Now, the spooky atmosphere is nice, and I like the detail of the middleman who arranges payments for the assassinations insisting that his clients are merely placing friendly wagers that their intended victims will still be alive in a month's time. But if you go into this one hunting for a culprit and a non-supernatural method of homicide, the ensuing plot starts looking rather thin.

[Content warning for racism.]

Like this review?
--Throw me a quick one-time donation here!
https://ko-fi.com/lesserjoke
--Subscribe here to support my writing and weigh in on what I read next!
https://patreon.com/lesserjoke
--Follow along on Goodreads here!
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6288479-joe-kessler
--Or click here to browse through all my previous reviews!
https://lesserjoke.home.blog

shakgraph's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

This was a fun read! I meant to read this off in October,but I was extremely busy with Uni. This really was a perfect October/Spooky read. I really liked the majority of these cast of characters. I was riveted to see how the bad guys were executing all the murders.

jupiter2932's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

It's always fun when Christie touches on folk horror :3. Results aren't always her at her best, but this was a lot of fun! The mystery was delightfully twisty, with a pretty memorable solution, and the main character and his love interest are good enough.

szabo_b's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

I liked this one much better than a lot of other Agatha Christies that I had read lately.

megscorner's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

More...