Sunday, September 13, 2009

"Poirot's Early Cases: 18 Hercule Poirot Mysteries"

NOT WORTH CONSUMING

Agatha Christie’s mysteries are known for not being 100% fair with the reader. However, when you read a 200+ page work, you tend to give Dame Agatha a bit of leeway to having a highly unlikely plot twist or the fact that a pair of shoes being the key to the whole crime, despite the fact that until the mystery was solved, the word “shoe” appears not even once in the entire book.

But, when you’re given only 15 pages to solve the crime, such overlooks of important clues really insults one’s intelligence. That’s a main reason why it took me 3 weeks to finish this book. After about 7 preposterous solutions, I started to feel cheated and well, to be honest, my heart really wasn’t in it to continue. I mean, if the writer isn’t willing to devote herself to her book, why should I?

Fans of Christie will like this book. But, if you want to really get to know her for the first time, skip this collection of the early cases of her most famous character and read “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd”. You’ll be glad you did. Then, after you start to understand her style a little, feel free to give these tales a try. I just hope they don’t put you off wanting to read more of her works. (If you are like me, you just may feel like a break from it for a while.)

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