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eurydycja's review against another edition
4.0
Bardzo przyjemna intryga, trochę w stylu dark academia.
hkburke2's review against another edition
3.25
Not quite as compelling as others, and the varied young foreign people were tagged kind of flatly (not to mention that classic old fashioned racism that's always sprinkled throughout her books). Poirot was still plenty funny though.
dotingdusk's review against another edition
3.0
Hickory Dickory Dock is a book narrating the strange incidents that take place at Hickory Road Hostel. The book is written by the Queen of Mystery, Agatha Christie. This story has mystery, murder, investigation everything you would find in an Agatha Christie book.
The story starts with a letter, one written by the perfect secretary of M. Poirot, the lead and the detective of the story. Poirot’s secretary is known for her machine-like accuracy but this morning she has made 3 mistakes in a simple letter, upon asking she tells that she is bearing the stress of the thefts taking place at the hostel for which her sister works. For his own sake, M. Poirot reaches out to his secretary’s sister at 26, Hickory Road to help her with the eccentric thefts.
When you read the book, you’ll be introduced to racism. There are going to be many racial comments passed by the narrator or even the characters themselves, but the good thing is the story doesn’t revolve around it, the racial comments are subtly strong for some characters (like Akibombo) and very subtle for some (the French, the Turks and the Indian characters).
The one problem I encountered while reading was when I initiated the book there were so many characters introduced at once, it was quite hard to differentiate and imagine them, up until 50-70 pages I struggled with imagining the characters. Of course, this could be only an issue with me, but I would have loved it if there was more to character’s physical appearance apart from their skin colour and their hair colour.
Coming to the actual plot, it is quite intriguing, somewhat predictable but not on par with other novels of Agatha. When the murders are being decoded M. Poirot inserts many of his own guessings, his own surmisings, later in the story the dots are interconnected but it leaves a very blank space for you until they connect. Also, just a personal opinion, but I would have loved an insight into M. Poirot’s mind and how he decoded all of the things (like it is done in another book of Agatha, the Murder of Roger Ackroyd).
To say the least, the book is short, sweet and simple. A book that I would recommend to people who have read at least a few books of the same genre. A beginner could digest the book but it is not as intriguing as other books that exist in this genre. For a beginner I would say The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie is a good start.
Thanks for reading the review! Have a good day!
The story starts with a letter, one written by the perfect secretary of M. Poirot, the lead and the detective of the story. Poirot’s secretary is known for her machine-like accuracy but this morning she has made 3 mistakes in a simple letter, upon asking she tells that she is bearing the stress of the thefts taking place at the hostel for which her sister works. For his own sake, M. Poirot reaches out to his secretary’s sister at 26, Hickory Road to help her with the eccentric thefts.
When you read the book, you’ll be introduced to racism. There are going to be many racial comments passed by the narrator or even the characters themselves, but the good thing is the story doesn’t revolve around it, the racial comments are subtly strong for some characters (like Akibombo) and very subtle for some (the French, the Turks and the Indian characters).
The one problem I encountered while reading was when I initiated the book there were so many characters introduced at once, it was quite hard to differentiate and imagine them, up until 50-70 pages I struggled with imagining the characters. Of course, this could be only an issue with me, but I would have loved it if there was more to character’s physical appearance apart from their skin colour and their hair colour.
Coming to the actual plot, it is quite intriguing, somewhat predictable but not on par with other novels of Agatha. When the murders are being decoded M. Poirot inserts many of his own guessings, his own surmisings, later in the story the dots are interconnected but it leaves a very blank space for you until they connect. Also, just a personal opinion, but I would have loved an insight into M. Poirot’s mind and how he decoded all of the things (like it is done in another book of Agatha, the Murder of Roger Ackroyd).
To say the least, the book is short, sweet and simple. A book that I would recommend to people who have read at least a few books of the same genre. A beginner could digest the book but it is not as intriguing as other books that exist in this genre. For a beginner I would say The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie is a good start.
Thanks for reading the review! Have a good day!
thenovelbook's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed the characterization of Poirot in the first chapter, and was intrigued by the setup of a series of peculiar thefts that don’t seem to be explainable. But the solution fell down for me in a way that’s uncommon with Christie. There were too many suspects of nebulous personality and very little chance to figure out the solution.
Nevertheless, I leave you with a classic Poirot moment that made me laugh:
With George, his perfect manservant, and Miss Lemon, his perfect secretary, order and method ruled supreme in his life. Now that crumpets were baked square as well as round, he had nothing about which to complain.
Nevertheless, I leave you with a classic Poirot moment that made me laugh:
With George, his perfect manservant, and Miss Lemon, his perfect secretary, order and method ruled supreme in his life. Now that crumpets were baked square as well as round, he had nothing about which to complain.
iriwindel's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
ranee_samaniego's review against another edition
3.0
This was intriguing, as always, but not one of my favorite Hercule Poirot mysteries. I wasn’t on the edge of my seat as I am with several other Poirot books.
scarecrow3's review against another edition
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
afender's review against another edition
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
kloughlin's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Suicide