The Big Four
Ratings104
Average rating3.3
A change in style from previous Poirot adventures, but not a good one in my eyes. This book feels very disjointed, which is not a surprise when you discover that it was originally twelve distinct short stories that were later cobbled together to form one novel. The grander scale is an interesting change of pace, and Poirot's fallibility is appreciated, but that is not enough to warrant a high rating for a novel that even Christie herself thought was poor.
Another great entry in this series!
I liked that the plot happened on such a big scale and how it was set up. The twists and turns were plentiful and very well executed. And the ending was slightly ambiguous which left me wanting and expecting more from some of the following books.
Very exciting read and masterfully executed by the queen of the mystery.
Can't wait to continue with the series!
This was one hell of a weird book from beginning till end. I wonder if it was Agatha Christie who wrote it, or it's one big conspiracy to name her the author of this weird, un-poirot-y, un-agatha book. For starters, the character of Poirot was so off the whole time. Instead of the Poirot, who's known to use his “grey cells” to solve murder mysteries, the Poirot in this book was off fighting and using bombs, and what not to defeat some weird secret organization. It felt like Christie wrote random short stories, and then created some fantastic organization of 4 to thread the stories together, and convert it into a book? Don't even get me started on the climax and the ending where she keeps you wondering if the number 4 is even dead. Was she trying to keep his demise doubtful to bring him in some future novel and kill off Poirot. Now I've not read the last Poirot novel yet, so I'm just left wondering..hmm.
So anyway, the book in short:
1. Poirot calling himself a “triple imbecile” whatever that means.
2. Hastings losing consciousness now and again.
3. Number 4 appearing in each chapter as a new character.
I must say I lost a considerable amount of respect for Agatha Christie after this novel :(
Not your usual Hercule Poirot. More of a spy story, this one, with international villainry. It got really scary :-D
