Reviews with content warning for Death - Death in the Clouds

This is a great Agatha Christie book, but I was a bit disappointed after watching the David Suchet Poirot episode which was (in my opinion) much more riveting. The book seemed to drag in a lot of ways. Nevertheless, even after watching the show about 6 months ago, I still guessed the wrong villain!

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leaflibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense

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

3.5

Okay, I get that this isn't a GREAT Christie mystery. The sleuthing detours felt haphazard and the ending became very convoluted. Still, I had a fun time consuming it! I've been in a reading rut lately, and this revitalized my interest in audiobooks, and Christie in particular.

What stood out to be about this story: low stakes, excellent cartoonish characters* (much more fun than the usual brooding suspects!), mediocre pacing, a bizarre act three murder and a conclusion so nonsensical that I accepted it because I couldn't keep track of all the convoluted clues and unlikely solutions!

*deadpan flute-obsessed doctor having some kind of affair; zany mystery writer obsessed with the murder weapon; indistinguashable father/son acheology nerd duo turned arranged employer/love interest?; cartoonishly villainous dentist with bipolar behavior who provides internal monologues (!) on multiple occasions; coke obsessed chorus girl turned duchess, and the random horse girl who wants her husband; TWO lost daughters who kind of matter but mostly don’t, plus the bored hairdresser main character you assume is one of those two but is actually a nobody, lol… and a little Belgian detective investigating the case with the police despite his CLEAR conflict of interest as a possible (even likely) suspect! A ridiculous, if occasionally tedious, DELIGHT, I tell you!

Serious side note, though: the version I listened to seemed to censor at least one very extreme instance of racism (and fatphobia!) that occurs as a bonding moment between two main characters. I learned about it later while reading a Goodreads review and was genuinely SHOCKED at its casual, intentional, and blatant awfulness. That lowers the score quite a bit for me and leaves a bad taste in my mouth about the fun and frivolous aspects of the story that I enjoyed.

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sunny_not's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-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

3.75

As always a lot of its time elements. Other than that a change in settings was nice and the storyline was quite interesting. Although after reading two of her books involving dentists I think she was really scared of dentists for no reason.

Norman gale(bale?) i forgot his last name was easy to guess in my opinion. I figured out that it had to do with giselles daughter or her husband and decided that Norman was probably the husband after Anna(?)'s death

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jfield351's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense slow-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

Interesting book. I find it amazing how her work is timeless. There’s a scene where Jane gets so annoyed at someone she almost throws the hairdryer at them, which is something that relates to modern day. I was thinking how great this book was until it got racist. The twist was unexpected - I had about 4 theories and none of them came true. It was a seemingly insignificant detail that is the crux of the twist. It was enjoyable to read. Surprisingly I liked reading about all the characters backstory’s, but this made it more slow paced.

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shelfofunread's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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ijustreallyliketrees's review against another edition

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2.5

I always struggle to review Poirot stories because they're very hit or miss as to whether I enjoy them or not... This one was okay, the mystery was interesting enough. Was once again thrown out of the book by the casual racism of two of the secondary characters. I get that this was written in the 30s but the line wasn't even relevant to what was happening in the story, it was just thrown in there for no reason. Actual rating 2.5 stars.

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