Like many, I was first put on to Agatha Christie many years ago with her famous And Then There Were None. I remember really enjoying that story, even though it was nearly thirty years ago that I read it. It was such a great mystery and clearly showed how wonderful of a storyteller Christie is. Recently, I came across an article listing the Murder of Roger Ackroyd as they most underrated book she wrote and another great mystery novel, so I gave it a shot. Pretty happy I did.
Unbelievably, this book was written nearly a hundred years ago. I note that as the pace and focus of the novel seemed nearly modern. Not overly indulgent or long, the book quickly puts you into the center of the book, which, not surprisingly, is the murder of Roger Ackroyd. It swiftly picks up from there as the great detective, Hercule Poirot, comes on the scene. Besides being an interesting character who also seems to always say something clever. He, via Christie of course, begins to observe many elements and slow expose pieces of them to the reader to help discover who might have killed Ackroyd.
For much of the novel, it really did feel like I was watching a real life "Clue" game take place. A rich guy, killed in a giant mansion with many different individuals around as suspects. At one point the author actually provides a visual of a sitting room in the house, and it almost felt like a Clue board. The book is also entertaining as the characters are pretty interesting and there's such a large number of them, who seemingly all have a motive to kill Ackroyd, you never stop guessing.
Of course, like any good sleuth, I did figure it out about half way through. Unfortunately, I read a newer edition that included two prefaces that probably gave away too much information about the killer (I will not do the same for you but do suggest you just start the novel if you get the same copy). And, like And Then There Were None, Christie does such a super job of smartly giving you only what you need to keep guessing while also enough to stay full engaged.
Few downsides to the book. It does get slow at some parts and, of course, there are some dated terms, items, etc. But, honestly, for being a century old, it was surprisingly easy to get through. Only other frustration is just how much Christie tries to paint everyone as the murderer. I get it, that's the type of story and it is entertaining. However, the plot sometimes gets so complicated to try to make everyone look bad it becomes a bit unrealistic.
In any case, I do recommend it if you love Christie and/or a great mystery novel. Again, super and fun easy read and see if you can be as good a detective as I was!
No comments:
Post a Comment