This book will add to my tally of #BritishCrimeClassicsChallenge books
Once again I was in the same situation as last night, was I to post this review or not? I read this book (according to Goodreads) last in 2015 from the very same library but I did not remember it all so I read it all the way through. I identified the instance where a clue was given to me but despite that or maybe because of it, I enjoyed the book.
The class of Agatha Christie I think is the books’ innate re-readability. For someone like me, who remembers instances of long (ought to be forgotten) ago instances along with the tang of the emotions that go with it, rereading books is a double-edged sword. On the plus side there was this copy of King Solomon’s mines that I read while eating this sweet one summer. Every time I read, I would eat and for years later if I picked up that particular copy (I had two!) I could feel the taste as if I was eating it(and no I did not spill on the book causing this effect, believe me, I checked). On the other hand if I know what is going to happen before it happens it is hard to want to continue sitting with the book when there is always another book that is demanding my attention. Agatha Christie provides a vivid background and liberally throws in all the clues among the myriad amount of other extraneous information that adds to the collage and if you (like me) grew up reading them, and identifying how she plays her hand then I am sure you also extend that to everything that you watch on TV and read, unconsciously dictating the most possible next step to add to a tense situation, etc.
In this book, by some strange chance Mark ends up seeing a woman in a fight a few days before her natural (but untimely) demise. There is also the casual but frightened mention of a ‘Pale Horse’. This leads both amateur and actual detectives down the track of killer(s). There is a lot that happens but the way the trap is set and how casual mentions lead to the survival of one of the lead protagonists. I enjoyed the book and was surprised to see that I did not remember the finale. Ariadne Oliver plays a fleeting but important role in this entire escapade.
I recommend this to anyone who is a fan and hasn’t checked it out yet.
Superfluous Reading 