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chalkletters's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
While I enjoy all the Agatha Christie stories, I have a definite soft spot for what I privately think of as 'the creepy ones'. And By the Pricking of My Thumbs (something wicked this way comes) is gloriously full of creeping thrills. Agatha Christie contrasts a sinister atmosphere against the anything-but-creepy antics of Tuppence and Thomas Beresford.
For the star of a mystery novel, Tuppence isn't a very good detective. But somehow, she's all the more endearing for that. The way she thinks, meandering from recollection to connection to frustration, is excellently depicted. She remembers things in just the way real people do, in bits and pieces and with plenty of extraneous information to sift through.
On this reread, I particularly noticed how Thomas approached exactly the same set of clues in a completely different way. And it's not a spoiler to say that he and Tuppence both got somewhere with their lines of enquiry, which meet up again towards the end of the book.
I can't go into the creepiest thing about By the Pricking of My Thumbs without giving away the ending, so I won't mention it here. Instead, I'll recommend that if you enjoyed this, you might like Murder is Easy or Halloween Party.
For the star of a mystery novel, Tuppence isn't a very good detective. But somehow, she's all the more endearing for that. The way she thinks, meandering from recollection to connection to frustration, is excellently depicted. She remembers things in just the way real people do, in bits and pieces and with plenty of extraneous information to sift through.
On this reread, I particularly noticed how Thomas approached exactly the same set of clues in a completely different way. And it's not a spoiler to say that he and Tuppence both got somewhere with their lines of enquiry, which meet up again towards the end of the book.
I can't go into the creepiest thing about By the Pricking of My Thumbs without giving away the ending, so I won't mention it here. Instead, I'll recommend that if you enjoyed this, you might like Murder is Easy or Halloween Party.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Dementia, Infertility, and Animal death
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