Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Big Four by Agatha Christie

15 reviews

bookwyrmknits's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

2.0

This is my least favorite of the Poirot novels yet. I had two main issues with it: First, the casual racism of the era is taken to the extreme in this one, and I greatly disliked the characterization of so many characters as a result. Second, apparently this was originally a set of short stories with a connected theme/enemy, and the flow of the story is lacking as a result. It felt broken up in odd ways as a result of its origin as short stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Kidnapping

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, and Racial slurs

Minor: Suicide

balth_the_chaotic_good's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

this is a love story. to me

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Ableism, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

daryn's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

Minor: Sexism

poirot's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Torture, and Grief

Minor: Suicide

gillian_aftanas's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Suicide, Torture, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

writteninmagic's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Murder

oliii_24's review against another edition

adventurous challenging lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Confinement, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

hannahcstocks's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• 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? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

ameydireads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

"It is a duel to the death, mon ami. You and I on the one side, the Big Four on the other."

After being reunited with Hastings, Poirot goes up against the toughest enemies he has faced till now. Every time it seems like he’s one step ahead of them, the Big Four proves him wrong. But Poirot doesn’t give up easily! I liked that this mystery wasn't easy to solve. Poirot really had to give his all and put his little grey cells to work.

The structure of the story was different compared to the other Poirot stories. Whilst the focus mainly lies on the Big Four, Poirot has many side investigations which all in turn seem to be connected to the Big Four. 

I liked that there were references to Poirot’s previous cases. Poirot and Hastings have inside jokes about Inspector Giraud, the human foxhound, who appears in ‘Murder on the Links’, and Hastings’ soft spot for girls with auburn-coloured hair. This became evident when he proposed to Cynthia in ‘The Mysterious Affair at Styles’. 

Also, there were many similarities with Sherlock Holmes! The Big Four reminded me of the criminal mastermind Moriarty.

During his struggle with Moriarty, Watson believed Holmes was dead and that is exactly how it went down with Hastings and Poirot in this story. Poirot additionally mentions that he has a brother who is as smart as Poirot and maybe even smarter if he wasn’t lazy. We eventually find out that Poirot made this up to confuse the Big Four, but still it is very similar to Holmes’ brother, Mycroft.

 

There were some parts that I didn’t like that much. First of all, it bothered me that an Asian character was referred to as ‘Chink’ and secondly, Hastings’ comment about women in science.

“It has always seemed to me extraordinary that a woman should go so far in the scientific world. I should have thought a purely masculine brain was needed for such work.”

But it didn’t bother me too much. The story is nearly 100 years old and it is not entirely fair to judge it by today’s standards.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Misogyny and Racial slurs

mijtje's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

TL;DR
wtf

So this is a weird little book. It’s good to be aware that it’s a collection of short stories which together make up one longer story. This makes it a little too fast paced at times and it might feel like a weird, all-over-the-place book. Which it is. But hey, now you know the reason!

The weirdest part is the crossover between Hercule Poirot and James Bond. It has gadgets, disguises, evil geniuses and of course a world order that secretly controls everything. It’s still good old Poirot and his adorable friendship with the kind of stupid Hastings, but then packed into a really weird story.

The beginning especially is hard to get through. As someone on here described it very aptly: it read as a Hercule Poirot fanfiction. About halfway through it gets better, however. Still, very weird. I feel like I was sucked into a parallel universe for a moment where Agatha Christie wrote shitty spy novels. Good thing she decided not to.

It’s still Hercule Poirot and I love Hercule Poirot, so it’s hard to give a very low rating, but yeah. Read Christie’s other books instead.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Racism

Since the book was published in 1927, there are some paragraphs that can be seen as racist towards Chinese people.