Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

A Murder Is Announced by Agatha Christie

4 reviews

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

This was an assigned reading that I happened to quite enjoy! This was my first Agatha Christie novel, and I can see myself picking up more of her work. What was surprising about this Miss Marple novel is just how little she shows up in this book and how little she does when she's there. I dinged a star for this reason, as well as because I think the novel could've been about 50 pages shorter to keep it from dragging towards the end. The twists, however, were quite good, and it was easy to get invested in the plot and characters. It was definitely a page turner!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Medical content, Classism, Death, Bullying, Colonisation, Dementia, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

eve81's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Murder, Gun violence, Chronic illness, and Violence

Moderate: Classism, War, and Xenophobia

bonsai_delores's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

A well written murder, best understood after a second reading. Holds up amongst her other titles, I was pleasantly shocked.

The use of the “silly old lady” trope helps heighten tension in some places and highlights one of the key turning points of the mystery. It helps that Agatha Christie was good at distinguishing the different types of silly old ladies, and making each of them endearing in their own way. The reveal was shocking enough to be a surprise, but believable enough to make sense during the detective’s synopsis. The only thing that was a little too rushed was the triple reveal at the end.

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Death, Xenophobia, Grief, Gaslighting, War, and Terminal illness

Minor: Stalking, Blood, Violence, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Body shaming, and Alcohol

sunny_not's review

adventurous challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

3.5

The level of xenophobia in this... It's definitely of its time. Other than that the plot was fun however I guessed the twist pretty easily.

the pip and Emma storyline was interesting and I enjoyed it

Overall a nice read to pass time but very xenophobic and not one of her greatest. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Medical content, Blood, Dementia, Murder, Ableism, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Death