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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-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:
No
Ran out of time on Libby and wasn't enjoying it enough to renew
When a teenage girl known for fabrications is found dead at a school Halloween party, a friend of Hercule Poirot calls for the sleuth's help in solving the crime. Hugh Fraser helms this audiobook production. While this novel was originally published in 1969, I am late to the Agatha Christie party. She's one of those writers I always mean to read, so re-entering the murder fray (my second Christie read) during Halloween only seems fitting. Overall, this was a tidy, comfy, and well-performed fray into darkness. (Optional game: Eat a piece of candy or take a shot every time Poirot's mustache is mentioned.)
The Belgian detective unobtrusively wends his way through clues and interviews, careful not to tip his hand to the murderer. To my ears, Fraser's characterization of Poirot sounds like a cross between Anthony Hopkin's Van Helsing and Marc Thompson's Sinjir Rath Velus (Star Wars: Aftermath trilogy). Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoyed the narrator's performance of the aging sleuth. Fraser gives solid performances of many other Agatha Christie novels, in addition to this one. While his pleasant British timbre doesn't always capture or clearly delineate between the women and girls as they assist or interfere with the investigation, his female characters certainly embody their personality traits through tone and energy. Neither the unfolding events nor the case's resolution are scary (so if you're looking for hair-raising Halloween, look elsewhere), but it does peel back and reveal some disturbing human characteristics.
The Belgian detective unobtrusively wends his way through clues and interviews, careful not to tip his hand to the murderer. To my ears, Fraser's characterization of Poirot sounds like a cross between Anthony Hopkin's Van Helsing and Marc Thompson's Sinjir Rath Velus (Star Wars: Aftermath trilogy). Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoyed the narrator's performance of the aging sleuth. Fraser gives solid performances of many other Agatha Christie novels, in addition to this one. While his pleasant British timbre doesn't always capture or clearly delineate between the women and girls as they assist or interfere with the investigation, his female characters certainly embody their personality traits through tone and energy. Neither the unfolding events nor the case's resolution are scary (so if you're looking for hair-raising Halloween, look elsewhere), but it does peel back and reveal some disturbing human characteristics.
mysterious
A fun, twisty little Christie mystery that has some excellent moments.
This was a reread for me, and though I remembered the murderer, the reason I set out to rediscover the book was to see how it compared to the most recent adaptation. Of course, they are nothing alike (and actually this works in the film's favour as you can completely separate it from the book so it's less jarring) and it's actually very hard to compare them because of this.
So, the book. I enjoyed the party set up, the nasty murder and the ever revolving list of suspects - this is one of those mysteries that's very hard to solve because there are simply so many crimes that could be connected. I also loved a lot of parts where Ariadne and Poirot grumble about "the youth of today" and such - it made me wonder what Christie would think about today's young people!
Entertaining and a fun little read for spooky season. Christie is always a reliable choice.
This was a reread for me, and though I remembered the murderer, the reason I set out to rediscover the book was to see how it compared to the most recent adaptation. Of course, they are nothing alike (and actually this works in the film's favour as you can completely separate it from the book so it's less jarring) and it's actually very hard to compare them because of this.
So, the book. I enjoyed the party set up, the nasty murder and the ever revolving list of suspects - this is one of those mysteries that's very hard to solve because there are simply so many crimes that could be connected. I also loved a lot of parts where Ariadne and Poirot grumble about "the youth of today" and such - it made me wonder what Christie would think about today's young people!
Entertaining and a fun little read for spooky season. Christie is always a reliable choice.
Thoroughly enjoyed this one! It’s not as dark as the movie trailer, and still has all the English country charm which I love. Compared to other Agatha Christie novels I’ve read (which is not a lot… About half a dozen), this one feels a bit more developed with defined clues. For the first time I was able to pick up clues and had a good guess of who the murderer was.
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Kidnapping, Murder
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
This book was okay, nothing less and nothing more. I thought, being October, it was an apt book to read. However, as I found with other Poirot novels that included the Ariadne Oliver character,I didn't like her; quite simply, she annoys me.
I found the plot itself had potential to be very interesting, but it wasn't, not really. I felt a bit bored and wanted to read it quickly, not from delight but from wanting to find out the end and finish.
The repetition about criminals being mentally insane and that there isn't enough room in asylums got tedious. I'm not sure whether it was reflective of the time period Christie wrote in (was this what people though, generally?) Or whether it was designed to make the story scarier?- to put fear into the readers when they considered many people around and about could act perfectly sane but had evil within them that meant they should be in a mental institution. Either way, the constant repetition was boring.
There was good bits to it, after all, it is "okay". A somewhat clever but not entirely satisfying or spectacularly clever ending. Overall, unlike a lot of Poriot novels, I wasn't hooked and was glad to have finished so I could move on. A bit of a "meh" book.
I found the plot itself had potential to be very interesting, but it wasn't, not really. I felt a bit bored and wanted to read it quickly, not from delight but from wanting to find out the end and finish.
The repetition about criminals being mentally insane and that there isn't enough room in asylums got tedious. I'm not sure whether it was reflective of the time period Christie wrote in (was this what people though, generally?) Or whether it was designed to make the story scarier?- to put fear into the readers when they considered many people around and about could act perfectly sane but had evil within them that meant they should be in a mental institution. Either way, the constant repetition was boring.
There was good bits to it, after all, it is "okay". A somewhat clever but not entirely satisfying or spectacularly clever ending. Overall, unlike a lot of Poriot novels, I wasn't hooked and was glad to have finished so I could move on. A bit of a "meh" book.