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rouge_red's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
3.0
Rough start because there was a lot of flipping back and forth between the story and footnotes, but the notes lessened as we got into the book, so this is only a minor gripe. The story was actually pretty interesting and took its time in a satisfying way. Philo Vance is a character and not entirely unlikeable, even though he's definitely a showoff. Not a bad book and I could read more, but the intro does say the books become less interesting so...unless I'm really hankering for another mystery writer to read, I'll probably go elsewhere.
hannah850's review
challenging
mysterious
tense
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? No
3.75
swathi_narasimhan's review against another edition
4.0
Another golden age mystery and its a treat to read one. As usual, Van Dine surprises the reader at the end with who and how parts. My only problem with the book was that, The language was difficult to understand at parts. Also, a game of poker provides considerable insight into a person’s character. I do not know how poker is played, so it was hard to get by there. Otherwise its a great great read.
k_lee_reads_it's review against another edition
4.0
A classic locked room mystery.
I find Philo Vance bugs me much less than Poirot, but the police are not shown as competent at sll.
Still it is escape fiction in my favorite genre.
I find Philo Vance bugs me much less than Poirot, but the police are not shown as competent at sll.
Still it is escape fiction in my favorite genre.
cmbohn's review against another edition
3.0
Not as crazy about this one as I was about the first one. Philo Vance and his "I'm so much cleverer than everyone else and let me demonstrate by using foreign words you can't understand" attitude is not as appealing the second time around. The story was perhaps a little stronger than in the first one, but the main character just got on my nerves. I will probably read the next one in this series, but I'm not sure how many more I will bother with.
justasking27's review against another edition
3.0
I liked Vance better in this one, as he was more involved with the questioning and the suspects and less aloof and priggish. Though he is still kind of a jerk.
ele_lucia's review against another edition
3.0
Il delitto è estremamente articolato e complesso e si dirama lungo tutto il libro cercando di sviare il lettore dal colpevole che in realtà si intuisce senza troppa difficoltà, più difficile invece è capire la dinamica.
Il detective intuitivo e geniale Vance ricorda molto Poirot per il modus operandi ma gli viene lasciato decisamente troppo poco spazio, forse per non rendere il tutto eccessivamente semplicistico.
Le ultime pagine sono sicuramente piene di emozioni e di colpi di scena ma il libro procede forse troppo lentamente nella parte centrale con interrogatori ripetuti alle stesse 4 persone a cui alla fine orbita attorno l'omicidio.
Il punto forte rimane sicuramente scoprire il "come" del mistero, che, nota di merito, è ben diverso dai soliti gialli.
Il detective intuitivo e geniale Vance ricorda molto Poirot per il modus operandi ma gli viene lasciato decisamente troppo poco spazio, forse per non rendere il tutto eccessivamente semplicistico.
Le ultime pagine sono sicuramente piene di emozioni e di colpi di scena ma il libro procede forse troppo lentamente nella parte centrale con interrogatori ripetuti alle stesse 4 persone a cui alla fine orbita attorno l'omicidio.
Il punto forte rimane sicuramente scoprire il "come" del mistero, che, nota di merito, è ben diverso dai soliti gialli.