Reviews

Hag's Nook by John Dickson Carr

littletaiko's review against another edition

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3.0

Sort of creepy locked room mystery with a gothic vibe. While I had to roll my eyes at the usual trope of man and woman meeting briefly and falling head over heels in love, I did enjoy the mystery aspect and was proud of myself for figuring out aspects of it.

shreyas1599's review against another edition

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3.0

A decent countryside mystery. The beginning one-third of the book was a tad boring. There was a lot of talk about supernatural elements and I didn't really find the story to be picking up pace. For that reason, I put off completing the story for a long while. I looked through my Currently Reading list yesterday and decided to close out some of them. Hag's Nook was on that list and I decided to give it another chance.

The remainder of the book was written at a pace more suited to my liking. The story has all the usual elements of a countryside mystery. A small pool of murder suspects - and everyone's character arc given ample time. The number of characters was fairly limited so it wasn't hard for me to pick up where I left off when I resumed reading the story from the 30% mark after a couple of months. That is a point in the book's favour, in my opinion.

However, in this particular book, suspicion was not drawn to all of the characters. It was sort of impossible to guess with any degree of certainty who the murderer could have been. I don't think (maybe I am not as observant as I make myself out to be) there were enough clues scattered about for the reader to take a gander at who the murderer could've been.

For that and the slow 1/3rd of the book (albeit the novel being short), I give this only 3.5 stars.

merrysociopath's review against another edition

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2.0

Il problema di questo libro, a parte la traduzione del terzo secolo avanti cristo, è che si focalizza troppo su personaggi irrilevanti anziché su quelli che contano davvero per la storia.

jennifermilanovic's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced

4.25

richardmcartney's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

kudeern1's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

poachedeggs's review

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2.0

I was hoping to discover a new mystery writer but after having read two of Carr's books, I don't think I am that interested in continuing...

jimmypat's review against another edition

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3.0

This was a fun locked-room mystery from the Golden Age. While not quite at the level of Carr’s Devil in Velvet, this one gets points for using GK Chesterton as the model for the sleuth, Professor Gideon Fell.

gabitheaustrian's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

howie904's review

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4.0

Nice short creepy whodunit.
The atmosphere and setting were fantastic so that as the heroes are hunting the murderer you feel they are also watching out for ghosts.
The detective taking the form of G.K. Chesterton, the a jolly fat smart-ass is a lot of fun and he seemed able to dispel fear from other characters and instill bravery.
I would certainly read another mystery by John Dickson Carr.