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A review by sharonus
Hercule Poirot's Silent Night by Sophie Hannah
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
No one is ever going to be as good as Agatha Christie and I commend the author for taking up her pen. While I was happy to again visit with my friend Poirot, a few things bugged me:
- At times, Poirot seemed surprised at conclusions Catchpool reached—like Poirot had not thought of that himself. That does not happen. Poirot’s “little grey cells” are always one step ahead.
- Catchpool was more of a central character than Poirot. We needed more Poirot.
- A lot of the plot was revealed in “tell” rather than “show.” Having characters walk up and reveal things unprompted is kind of a cheap way to tell a story.
In the end, I think the mystery was a good one, it just seemed like the author had a hard time figuring out how to tell it. I’m hopeful that in future Poirot books, there won’t be as much reliance on character soliloquies and long letters from murders to explain the plot to the reader.