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the_bookwormhole_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Minor: Death, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
typedtruths's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
look, the period typical sexism gets me every time i read christie but her mysteries are god tier. they deliver time. i think i know how it will go down and it never, ever works that way. hands down, the only author i can't predict and i love it
(except for the weird romance subplot but eh)
Blog • Trigger Warning Database • StoryGraph
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Sexism, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
➸ Trigger warnings for period-typical sexism, infidelity, minor blood and injury depiction (fainting episodes, dead bodies), death of a father and husband, death from an epileptic fit mentioned (off-page), murder by stabbing with a knife, faked being tied up and held captive by armed burglars, false incarceration, and blackmail mentionedbessadams's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
anna_hepworth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Thoughts on finishing - this is one of the good ones. There are lots of fascinating twists and turns, there are people faking alibis all over the place (for themselves and others), Hastings gets to show what a twit they are while still being a generally good egg. There is a scathing commentary on modern policing which puts the police in a bad light.
I'm giving this one a 4, because unfortunately, it is showing its age, and I doubt that I would rate many of the Christie's as five star reads these days, even if I might have when reading as a more naive individual. Other than classism and misogyny that seems in keeping with the setting, I didn't notice any isms, but that doesn't mean they were there (I was reading this on a plane as something that didn't require a lot of focus; I would not call myself at all a discerning reader in this context)
Minor: Infidelity, Sexism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
fraise's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Infidelity, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Kidnapping and War
Minor: Racism and Xenophobia
leaflibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
My favorite character was Cinderella/Bella/Dulcie, an underage manic pixie dream girl who eventually marries Hastings. Much like the surprise of meeting a Poirot already in retirement last book, this end game pairing caught me off guard so early in the series. Apparently Christie later agreed, because Cinderella is barely - if at all - mentioned in the Hastings stories ahead. How disappointing! Dulcie is such a bold, rascally, risk-taking character, with a love of true crime and acrobat skills to boot. She could have been a youthful, plucky third in at least a few of the Poirot/Hastings pairings ahead!
I also wish she weren't SO much younger than Hastings - that weird old womanizing stick in the mud. She's "little over seventeen," and he's at least 30 (his age in Styles). Speaking of Styles, it's interesting how Christie covers that topic: she references it almost immediately, but without giving anything (other than the initial death) away for someone who hasn't read it yet.
“Do you remember the Styles Case?” I asked.
“Let me see, was that the old lady who was poisoned? Somewhere down in Essex?”
I nodded.
“That was Poirot’s first big case. Undoubtedly, but for him, the murderer would have escaped scot-free. It was a most wonderful bit of detective work.”
Warming to my subject, I ran over the heads of the affair, working up to the triumphant and unexpected dénouement.
It was a sound in the doorway that made us look up. Poirot was standing there looking at us.
I did not hesitate. With a bound I reached him and pinioned his arms to his sides.
“Quick,” I said to the girl. “Get out of here. As fast as you can. I’ll hold him.”
With one look at me, she fled out of the room past us. I held Poirot in a grip of iron.
“Mon ami,” observed the latter mildly, “you do this sort of thing very well. The strong man holds me in his grasp and I am helpless as a child. But all this is uncomfortable and slightly ridiculous. Let us sit down and be calm.”
The combination of awkwardness, earnestness, sarcasm, and homoeroticism (“It is that you have the strength of a bull when you are roused, Hastings!") adds fun to an otherwise rather grim murder mystery.
Moderate: Death, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
lucyselim's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I enjoyed the closeness that a first person narrative supplied over a third person narrative, but I found Hastings himself was rather annoying and stupid. I hope other companions of Poirot in other books are better. Regardless of Hastings irritating manor, I enjoyed following a narrator who was at least 5 steps behind Poirot at all times, as it meant Poirot's reveals were all the sweeter: it would have been ruined if Poirot himself had been the narrator.
Each new piece of evidence brought me further and further from the truth, when in reality, my first assumption over the killer had been the correct one all along. However, by the time I reached the end, I think I had assumed almost everyone to have committed the crime! A brilliantly thought out, non-violent murder mystery was exactly what I had wanted and was exactly what I received.
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail