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onaimg 's review for:
Ordeal by Innocence
by Agatha Christie
I always rated Agatha Christie but the last few books of hers that I’ve read have me doubting her purported skill. The only reason this has two stars instead of one, is that it’s not the worst book I’ve read this week.
The writing for the first part of the book is fine and there is a lot of detail that a reader can appreciate, especially as it sets the scene fantastically. But then, inexplicably towards the end, she races to a conclusion that makes little sense.
For example, she uses a chapter to describe the musings of a middle-aged man as he crosses the water on a ferry. But she fails to spare even a paragraph to describe how a doctor recognises in seconds, what the Argyle household has failed to notice... that Tina has not fainted but has been stabbed. What gave it away - was it the blood? It may be me but that’s the detail that matters to a reader in a murder mystery.
And Micky. What knife? Who found it where and when? Was it the police? Was it a member of the household? And how would Kirsten even have found the time to frame him? Again, the key details in the mystery are missing and so many key questions remain unanswered. And yet, I have to read through chapters on Mary and Phillip’s unsatisfactory marriage.
The end was also so abrupt I flicked through empty pages puzzled. Hester and Arthur Calgary? How did that even happen? There’s mention of a relationship but it seems as though he regards Hester as a puppy or a daughter or younger sister... anything but a lover.
I’m really glad this is my first book of 2021...
The writing for the first part of the book is fine and there is a lot of detail that a reader can appreciate, especially as it sets the scene fantastically. But then, inexplicably towards the end, she races to a conclusion that makes little sense.
For example, she uses a chapter to describe the musings of a middle-aged man as he crosses the water on a ferry. But she fails to spare even a paragraph to describe how a doctor recognises in seconds, what the Argyle household has failed to notice... that Tina has not fainted but has been stabbed. What gave it away - was it the blood? It may be me but that’s the detail that matters to a reader in a murder mystery.
And Micky. What knife? Who found it where and when? Was it the police? Was it a member of the household? And how would Kirsten even have found the time to frame him? Again, the key details in the mystery are missing and so many key questions remain unanswered. And yet, I have to read through chapters on Mary and Phillip’s unsatisfactory marriage.
The end was also so abrupt I flicked through empty pages puzzled. Hester and Arthur Calgary? How did that even happen? There’s mention of a relationship but it seems as though he regards Hester as a puppy or a daughter or younger sister... anything but a lover.
I’m really glad this is my first book of 2021...