A review by chalkletters
Appointment With Death by Agatha Christie

challenging dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I chose to read Appointment with Death this week because I’ve been watching Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King with my online writing group and I thought it would be interesting to carry on the theme of terrible parents. Reading it with that in mind definitely added intensity to the toxicity the Boynton family are forced to endure. I’ve already said that I like it when Agatha Christie evokes a creepy atmosphere, but this experience dialled it up to eleven! 

Unusually, the best part of this murder mystery is not the detective, nor the solving of the crime. While Mrs Boynton is the victim of murder, her family are all the victims of her reign of terror, and that’s where the reader’s sympathy lies. Agatha Christie sets this up incredibly well, with lots of small simple details which have a chilling cumulative effect. 

Against such a dramatic backdrop, Hercule Poirot doesn’t stand out as much as he usually does. In his sections, the verbatim repetition of his list of clues and his timetable for events surrounding the murder felt like padding; it was difficult not to skim read material that had already been presented word-for-word. That said, the Summation Gathering was effective — particularly the way Agatha Christie twisted the usual practice of trying out how each suspect could be guilty. The solution to the mystery works, and all the clues have been fairly presented without being rushed or told rather than shown, which is more than I can say for some of Agatha Christie’s works. 

Finally, the ending works back around to centring the Boynton family members, which pays off all that they suffered in the set-up. It’s not a long scene, and it wraps up a lot of storylines very quickly and neatly, but it feels justified because these characters deserve it! 

Appointment with Death doesn’t quite reach the heights of Five Little Pigs, but it’s pretty darn close!
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