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dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Car accident, Murder
dark
mysterious
sad
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:
Complicated
I've been on a bit of an Agatha Christie binge. I chose this as the next to read since I learned this would be the next one turned into a movie. The synopsis alone made me wonder why this was chosen. Pretty dark for Hollywood to kill of a 13-year old in the opening act.
Overall it was quite an interesting mystery. I guessed one of the main twists but was quite pleasantly surprised how all the different threads came together. I didn't guess it in it's entirety so it was quite satisfactory. While I didn't guess, everything did come together nicely with sufficient clues having been laid and for Poiroit's explanation being quite clear that most of it made a lot of sense looking back and it was overall cohesive enough to be satisfactory.
MAJOR trigger warnings for (the obvious) child's death, attempted murder of a child but also a lot of ableism directed towards the mentally disabled. Or well, not just them actually, towards anyone they considered mentally disabled at the time (which is far more encompassing than our own definitions). It's not particularly relevant to the plot except as a sort of red herring so I assume it will be done away with in the modern movie adaptation but I can understand how it's difficult to release a book with it edited out.
Overall it was quite an interesting mystery. I guessed one of the main twists but was quite pleasantly surprised how all the different threads came together. I didn't guess it in it's entirety so it was quite satisfactory. While I didn't guess, everything did come together nicely with sufficient clues having been laid and for Poiroit's explanation being quite clear that most of it made a lot of sense looking back and it was overall cohesive enough to be satisfactory.
MAJOR trigger warnings for (the obvious) child's death, attempted murder of a child but also a lot of ableism directed towards the mentally disabled. Or well, not just them actually, towards anyone they considered mentally disabled at the time (which is far more encompassing than our own definitions). It's not particularly relevant to the plot except as a sort of red herring so I assume it will be done away with in the modern movie adaptation but I can understand how it's difficult to release a book with it edited out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Child death
mysterious
medium-paced
Of the handful of poirot books I’ve read so far this one really felt like I was reading the same Q&A session over and over as he interviews different people. Like the goal in that style is to get a sense of the different characters points of view but they didn’t feel different enough to be distinct so I found the middle of this book kinda slow. Read it before Haunting in Venice (Kenneth Branagh) comes out later this year and I can see why they’ve changed some things to spice it up a bit
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Suicide, Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
mysterious
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:
Yes
I picked this up at random but honestly didn’t really care for it. There was detailed settings immersing you into the world but there was no character development, the overall plot fell flat, and it was incredibly misogynistic. There were also some terms through I that I didn’t like and while it might have been published 2001 it’s still pathetic. Honestly, I was just waiting for it to end. I only finished it out of spite.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Classism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia
Minor: Body horror, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Murder
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Murder
dark
mysterious
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:
Yes
This was such a slog.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Racism, Murder, Classism
Minor: Child abuse
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
One of Christie's more elegant mysteries when it comes to the plot. Weaving together multiple crimes and presenting additional crimes (rather than characters) as red herrings, this is an expertly crafted narrative. It's shortfall is, perhaps because of the altered focus, poorly fleshed out characters. A solid Poirot mystery nonetheless.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Murder