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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
Honestly wished Halloween played a bigger role, but really like this whodunit
I think Agatha Christie maybe had a second unexplained disappearance no one knew about and someone was forced to churn out this garbage in the span of a week as a ghost writer. The dialogue, the personalities, the way Poirot and Ms Oliver interact was all just blah. Also a giant plot twist at the end seemed unnecessary and weird and the entire book was sloggingly slow. If you don’t read this you’re not missing anything. ALSO there is very little resemblance to the movie that just came out - “ A Haunting in Venice.” Which makes total sense because there is NO way you could turn this into a movie.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Este libro me decepcionó. Esta en mi primera novela de Agatha Christie y estaba emocionada por leerla para Halloween, pero la verdad es que no la disfruté. Entiendo que la autora tiene muchas mejores opciones, así que le daría otra oportunidad, pero este claramente no es uno de los grandes misterios resueltos por Hércules Poirot.
No me importó ninguno de los personajes y en general no me interesaba resolver el crimen. Hubo mucha investigación que se sintió innecesaria y descripciones demasiado largas, mientras que partes interesantes terminaron muy rápido. Algunas cosas me causaron gracia y me puse feliz de estar correcta respecto a los asesinos, pero no es un libro que recomendaría.
Crime happens, Poirot is called, Poirot interviews suspects, Poirot notices incongruity, Poirot solves case.
I know that's essentially all of these mysteries, but in the best of them, there's solid character work and some interesting drama. Here, there's not much. The perpetrator is kind of creepy, not that you can solve it early, it's a mystery where most of the key information comes out at the end. It's definitely low tier Poirot.
I read this because the film is coming out, and I am not more curious because the film is adapted as A Haunting in Venice, and this neither features a haunting nor is it set in Venice. Hilarious. The trailers also seem to focus on a séance, and there is no séance in this novel, just a fortune teller.
I know that's essentially all of these mysteries, but in the best of them, there's solid character work and some interesting drama. Here, there's not much. The perpetrator is kind of creepy, not that you can solve it early, it's a mystery where most of the key information comes out at the end. It's definitely low tier Poirot.
I read this because the film is coming out, and I am not more curious because the film is adapted as A Haunting in Venice, and this neither features a haunting nor is it set in Venice. Hilarious. The trailers also seem to focus on a séance, and there is no séance in this novel, just a fortune teller.
3.5/5 (rounded up to 4)
I enjoyed reading this book and liked the central mystery. I did correctly predict the murderer, but my theory was not entirely correct and I was wildly unsure of myself, so it was still fun to read the final explanation. A few reviews say it was obvious within the first 30-40 pages, but you certainly don’t have all the information you need at that point so I’m not sure where they are coming from. If they did correctly predict the murderer, they certainly did not know the correct motive or what was going to happen later in the book.
My major issue with this book is that every character Poirot interviews says almost the exact same thing about more children being born evil than ever before, and how they need psychological evaluations. It’s wildly unnecessary and quite annoying after the second or third time, and yet it continues to come up throughout the book. One or two characters making that point would have been enough, and the fact that the same passage seems to be copied and pasted into every chapter is what knocked this book from 4 stars to 3.5 stars for me.
That being said, it’s a solid, classic Poirot novel with an intriguing mystery at its core. If you are a fan of Agatha Christie, definitely don’t skip this one.
Note: The movie adaptation, renamed “A Haunting in Venice,” is about to come out. This book does not include a haunting, and is not set in Venice. From what I understand, the movie adaptation is only loosely based on the book, so I will keep that in mind and try to enjoy the movie as an independent Poirot mystery.
I enjoyed reading this book and liked the central mystery. I did correctly predict the murderer, but my theory was not entirely correct and I was wildly unsure of myself, so it was still fun to read the final explanation. A few reviews say it was obvious within the first 30-40 pages, but you certainly don’t have all the information you need at that point so I’m not sure where they are coming from. If they did correctly predict the murderer, they certainly did not know the correct motive or what was going to happen later in the book.
My major issue with this book is that every character Poirot interviews says almost the exact same thing about more children being born evil than ever before, and how they need psychological evaluations. It’s wildly unnecessary and quite annoying after the second or third time, and yet it continues to come up throughout the book. One or two characters making that point would have been enough, and the fact that the same passage seems to be copied and pasted into every chapter is what knocked this book from 4 stars to 3.5 stars for me.
That being said, it’s a solid, classic Poirot novel with an intriguing mystery at its core. If you are a fan of Agatha Christie, definitely don’t skip this one.
Note: The movie adaptation, renamed “A Haunting in Venice,” is about to come out. This book does not include a haunting, and is not set in Venice. From what I understand, the movie adaptation is only loosely based on the book, so I will keep that in mind and try to enjoy the movie as an independent Poirot mystery.
Poirot is called into action by a friend, popular mystery writer Ariadne Oliver(standing in for Ms. Agatha Christie) who wants Poirot to investigate a murder.
During preparations for a Halloween party, a young girl Joyce Reynolds claimed to witness a real life murder that she did not realize was a murder at the time. After quickly being disbelieved and mocked Joyce becomes upset. Later on at the actual party, Joyce is found dead, drowned in a bucket that was used bobbing for apples. Ms. Oliver contacts Hercule Poirot since she feels as if she is to blame since she feels as if the young girl would never have brought up her story if not to impress her by it.
Poirot travels back with Ms. Oliver and after interviewing several different characters begins to suspect what "murder" young Joyce could have witnessed.
I can say that hands down I love to read Agatha Christie novels since I can never tell who is the actual murderer. With a writing style that manages to evoke feelings of unease and dread, Ms. Christie does show a darker side of children and childhood in general.
When the murderer is found out and the reasons behind the murder you once again have to marvel at M. Poirot and his "little gray cells".
The only thing that I missed in this novel is the character of Hastings who acted as a stand in for readers since I think his character always brings up questions and details that I wonder over too.
During preparations for a Halloween party, a young girl Joyce Reynolds claimed to witness a real life murder that she did not realize was a murder at the time. After quickly being disbelieved and mocked Joyce becomes upset. Later on at the actual party, Joyce is found dead, drowned in a bucket that was used bobbing for apples. Ms. Oliver contacts Hercule Poirot since she feels as if she is to blame since she feels as if the young girl would never have brought up her story if not to impress her by it.
Poirot travels back with Ms. Oliver and after interviewing several different characters begins to suspect what "murder" young Joyce could have witnessed.
I can say that hands down I love to read Agatha Christie novels since I can never tell who is the actual murderer. With a writing style that manages to evoke feelings of unease and dread, Ms. Christie does show a darker side of children and childhood in general.
When the murderer is found out and the reasons behind the murder you once again have to marvel at M. Poirot and his "little gray cells".
The only thing that I missed in this novel is the character of Hastings who acted as a stand in for readers since I think his character always brings up questions and details that I wonder over too.
And she did it again. I never actually know what is going to happen in these books until they actually happen… even if I think I know
This was not one of her best. Most of the book was incredibly dry. It only began to pick up towards the end. I’ll be very interested to see what liberties are taken with the upcoming film adaptation.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fun read, but more predictable than other Poirot books. I figured this one out about halfway through and had suspicions before that as to who was responsible, and I wasn’t far off.
Still enjoyable to see the threads pulled out.
Still enjoyable to see the threads pulled out.