A review by sarahandika
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

mysterious medium-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

4.75

 

• We all know Agatha’s reputation and fame for writing wonderful whodunnits, and given that this is the book that rocketed her to fame, and one of her most well-known, there was no doubt it was going to rank highly. When I first read this back in 2019 (and more so, as my introduction to the works of Agatha), I don’t think I truly appreciated the mastery of miss Christie in her writing, and I'm pretty sure that the more I reread it the more I will keep uncovering even more nuance and randomly brilliant details hidden within the paragraphs.
• This is a brilliant mystery novel whodunnit that actually starts with the death of a secondary character. Her (Mrs. Ferrars') suicide, and revelation that she was being blackmailed up to her death, then sets the stage for the Murder of Roger Ackroyd, as he is made aware of the blackmail but murdered before he learns the identity of the blackmailer. Convinced to take up the case, Hercule Poirot ends up engaging the services of the book's narrator, Dr. Sheppard, as his pseudo-assistant. It is through Dr. Sheppard that we learn how the case unfolds and the main details of the case.
• The brilliance of the book comes in the reveal of the murderer, who we of course come to learn is Dr. Sheppard, himself. As the reader, you realize all along that you were listening to a confession not a witness account of the story and therein lies the brilliance. Agatha doesn’t necesarilly employ the unreliable narrator trope as Dr. Sheppard more or less gives a truthful narration of the fact of the story. Agatha simply works in certain sentences brilliantly that one would be need to be very keen to have caught on the first read and that I think is the brilliance of this story.
• The fact that she pulls the wools so well over the reader’s eyes that most people don’t even consider Dr. Sheppard a suspect up to the final reveal. And obviously, there is also Poirot at his best shown in the book. Agatha leaves such tiny details that point to the murderer that Poirot details later on, such as the 5 min discrepancy in Dr. Sheppard’s story and the slight mention of the visit of the dictaphone salesman. How everything ends up coming together is just brilliant.
• I did think that some of it was a bit unncessary, for example, the story of Mrs. Russell and her son and the idea that Dr. Sheppard would have rigged that dictaphone so perfectly well, but otherwise, I think this is one of the best formulated mystery novels, right down to the ensemble cast that individually unkowingly work to confuse the case, to the tiny clues and the red herrings presented everywhere. But even with all the chaos presented, Agatha shows that Hercule Poirot, as always, while being quite eccentric, is always right. With method and order, any case can be solved. The clues are there. You simply need to engage your grey cells to piece it together.