A review by mariekejee
The Hollow by Agatha Christie

mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

In many ways, this is a book just like many of the other Agatha Christie's I've read. The murder occurs, the misdirections keep coming your way, and in the end you have no idea who actually murdered whom so you patiently wait for M. Poirot to tell you the who, why and how of it all. This story changes things up a bit, however: not only do we spend a significant portion of the book with the characters before anyone gets killed, but the conclusion of it all isn't Hercule Poirot standing in front of the suspects and kicking off his spiel, like so many of Christie's other stories. It is a bit of a sad ending, but to keep this a spoiler-free review, that's all I'll say.

I enjoyed getting to know our characters before the mystery kicked in, and it works quite well because these odd characters need some introduction to be able to understand their reasoning as the reader. My only complaint is that as a whole, this book feels quite slow, while I prefer somewhat quicker paced stories when reading mystery novels. I didn't feel much, if any, tension during this book, but rather I felt for the characters and their relationships. I've never really come out of a Christie novel rooting for the relationship of two fictional people, but that definitely happened here.

Overall, I would recommend this novel if you don't mind a bit more character based, slower paced mystery. 
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