A review by sophieiellison
The Hollow by Agatha Christie

3.0

Lady Angkatell invited some relatives and friends to her house, “The Hollow” for the weekend which is anticipated by some guests but dreaded by others. Only by the time the last guest, Hercule Poirot, is arriving, a man lies dead beside the swimming pool - the red blood dripping into the blue water. Throughout the novel there are some twists that are expected within Agatha Christie novels but by the end the feeling that I had was that it was largely a guessable ending. I also felt that the ending and discovering “whodunnit” was quite rushed (considering it took around 140 pages for the characters to be introduced before anyone was killed and only about 50 pages to explain what had happened to the victim, John Christow). I also left the book feeling that the characters were quite forgettable or even unlikeable. John Christow (who is murdered) is seen to be cruel to his wife and doesn’t listen to his clients as a doctor yet his wife and mistress as well as his partner from 15 years before the story takes place adores him and follows his every order. This to me seems confusing as no reason is given as to why they should be so approving of him. Overall, the story was obviously very well written and kept a persistent flow of information to keep the reader engaged but the characters were not like other Agatha Christie novels. I would recommend this book only to those who are collectors and are reading all Poirot or Agatha Christie novels, otherwise there are better Poirot/Agatha Christie novels I would recommend before this one.