Reviews with content warning for Child death - By the Pricking of My Thumbs

Possibly the worst agatha christie book ive ever read.
I have not read the Tommy & Tuppence series (this is the 4th book) so maybe i had no emotional attachment for them created in the other novels.
I found the story to be a terribly written mystery with obvious clues and the atypical detective "ah ha!" moments.
I didnt find the twist ending exciting or overall interesting. There were still multiple unanswered questions left. What of the diamonds, if Lily Waters dad was told, was she the ballerinas daughter, who knows, who cares, and the characters just leave it be after being told the truth. No conclusion just a lazt retirement.
Tw/Cw discussion: the ageism, sexism and terrible birtish slang is extremely off putting and i dont care for the time period argument because agatha has been called out (before death) for weird writing

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meekumoh's review

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

It's hard to say why this is my favourite in the series, but it is. It was a mess of a plot. So much history and large, spider-web plots and of course the classic getting coshed-in-the-head. But I loved it. I loved how Tuppence went off on her instincts. I love how Christie embodied the old crochety grandma with her snarky depictions of everyone. I love how its less sleuthing and more horrific truths falling one after the other. The final reveal was just so thrilling, more satisfying and scandalous than any in this series.

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questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This was definitely not one of Christie's strongest. Tommy and Tuppence are fun characters but this was barely a mystery and definitely not a thriller. It was very dialogue heavy and had quite a meandering plot which relied on quite a few coincidences.

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trekkifulshay's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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bethanie_l's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I've been trying to read more Christie that's non-Poirot or Marple, and I really loved the secret adversary, so I thought this would be a fun read on the other side of their life. I'll say that it was fun to catch up with them and that I did get a good gasp out of the ending, but this book is nowhere up to par with things like The Secret Adversary or And Then There Were None. As a warning to readers, this book came out 8 years before Christie was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and it shows some early signs.

I think I'd have enjoyed the book more if there had been a big wrap up at the end as there are in most of her novels. There were lots of things that weren't clear in their connection and were never plainly explained. I understand not spoon-feeding readers, but a lot of it just didn't make sense. I also found it hard to get into the dialgue, it meandered quite a bit in parts. Just really not up to par with her previous work. Granted, still better than most of us could ever do and I have much respect for the great Agatha Christie, but I feel a bit like I wasted my time. I think from now on I'll stick to pre-1960 Christies.

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becphe's review

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adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This is the first Agatha Christie book that I've read which does not have a detective as lead character. Neither Hercule Poirot nor Miss Marple are in it. Instead, two retired spies who are dealing with a family problem come across an intriguing mystery. I would have liked more descriptions of these characters so that they would be relatable or lovable in some way. I loved them for their understanding of one another.

The story itself felt a little disorganized and it jumped around so much that I spent time just trying to remember what happened where and what the loose ends were. I tend not to read books that have children as the victims but I was able to enjoy this especially during the Halloween season. The villain and the ending were chilling.

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carolineloveswombats's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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crystalldaddy's review

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Very disappointing. I adored the first three Tommy and Tuppence stories and this just doesn’t hold up. I love Christie but this was sloppy and just generally not great. The interactions between Tommy and Tuppence were its only saving grace.

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