Goodreads – 5 stars
Average star rating – 4.4 star
Area Rating (out of 5 stars)
Summary
Agatha Christie gives another outing to her Belgium detective, Hercule Poirot, as a murder takes place on a plane with a poison dart. With only a limited number of suspects, a unique weapon of choice, the victim being in plain sight at all times, and Hercule being on board it should be an open and shut case. However, it soon becomes apparent that this is no ordinary crime, and no ordinary killer. A story full of twists and turns, and red herrings, can Hercule get to the bottom of this complex case?
Review – minor spoilers
I love Agatha Christie’s writing, I love her storytelling, plots and how we get the solution in each of her novels. This makes me a bit biased when it comes to reviewing her books, as I grew up reading her and it was her that helped to start my love of reading. Therefore, I will try to be as honest as possible about the books of hers I read.
Writing style – I love her writing style, I find it really engaging and fun to read. She is able to put in clues without people noticing until it is pointed out and that takes real skill. This is particularly obvious in this novel, with a list of travellers belongings hiding a substantial clue to the identify of the killer in something so usual. I loved that reveal. I do think sometimes that I can fall out of her stories as the plot slows at times, but it quickly recaptures my attention. 4.5 stars
Plot – This is a genuinely intriguing plot that takes a surprising twist at the end that, unless you were paying attention, you would not have solved (in my humble opinion). I thought it was a very clever, unique and well researched story that kept moving at a steady pace. 5 stars
Characters – Hercule is at his best in this book, with his usual quirkiness coming out throughout. The list of suspects is very small and therefore there is a lot of development throughout the story as we follow them through the course of the resolution. I with there had been more on the surprise reveal character around 2/3rds of the way through as that may have had more of an impact if we had known they were there from the beginning. 4 stars
World building – With it taking place in the past, world building is limited. However, she has clearly captured what is was like to live in England at this time, as it functions as most would expect for the time period, meaning that there are some outdated views stated throughout, but otherwise it read well and is very realistic 4 stars
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