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A review by markalkman
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
4.0
Rating: 4.5 stars
This was my very first Agatha Christie novel and I absolutely loved it. Somehow I expected it to be a difficult read, but it wasn't. Not in the slightest. I enjoyed reading it; the storyline itself was really good and so was the mystery that Poirot and our narrator, Dr Sheppard, had to solve. The characters were interesting enough, even though they were a bit one dimensional (but that doesn't really matter, does it, in a mystery novel like this one?). The logic Poirot uses to dedude who the culprit is, is a fun one, because as the reader you actually have no idea what he's really doing, until the very end of the novel, where he reveals everything and all the pieces of the puzzel fall into place.
I did, however, guess who the murderer was before Poirot had the chance to reveal it. I wasn't 100% sure, but I had this feeling in my gut I couldn't shake. Turns out I was right. It didn't ruin the experience of the book for me, though. I still enjoyed it, and it was actually pretty nice to have some validation for my suspicions.
It has to be said that Agatha Christie is a very good writer and she absolutely deserves the title of 'queen of mysteries'. At the end of my edition of this novel, there was a postscript by Laura Thompson and she ended it by saying 'Christie fooled you'. Well, that's exactly what I want in a novel like this; because even though I did guess the murderer right, I had no idea what the motive behind the killing was. So it was still kind of a surprise, Agatha still kind of fooled me.
I highly recommend this to everyone; it's accessible for readers of all genres. That's what makes her books so special and timeless. It's got mystery, drama, humour and murder. And it's incredibly cleverly written. What else can you ask for? I'm definitely going to buy/read more of her books.
This was my very first Agatha Christie novel and I absolutely loved it. Somehow I expected it to be a difficult read, but it wasn't. Not in the slightest. I enjoyed reading it; the storyline itself was really good and so was the mystery that Poirot and our narrator, Dr Sheppard, had to solve. The characters were interesting enough, even though they were a bit one dimensional (but that doesn't really matter, does it, in a mystery novel like this one?). The logic Poirot uses to dedude who the culprit is, is a fun one, because as the reader you actually have no idea what he's really doing, until the very end of the novel, where he reveals everything and all the pieces of the puzzel fall into place.
I did, however, guess who the murderer was before Poirot had the chance to reveal it. I wasn't 100% sure, but I had this feeling in my gut I couldn't shake. Turns out I was right. It didn't ruin the experience of the book for me, though. I still enjoyed it, and it was actually pretty nice to have some validation for my suspicions.
It has to be said that Agatha Christie is a very good writer and she absolutely deserves the title of 'queen of mysteries'. At the end of my edition of this novel, there was a postscript by Laura Thompson and she ended it by saying 'Christie fooled you'. Well, that's exactly what I want in a novel like this; because even though I did guess the murderer right, I had no idea what the motive behind the killing was. So it was still kind of a surprise, Agatha still kind of fooled me.
I highly recommend this to everyone; it's accessible for readers of all genres. That's what makes her books so special and timeless. It's got mystery, drama, humour and murder. And it's incredibly cleverly written. What else can you ask for? I'm definitely going to buy/read more of her books.