Here we are: I have finally read a book written by Agatha Christie. And I loved it. Now I understand why she is the Queen of Murder.
Something to know before jumping straight into Christie's works: She's written like a million different books so don't expect great characterisation or an emotional read - just follow the story for the murder mystery. That's what she does best.
At first I wasn't too impressed. Our main character seemed a little too proud of himself and there wasn't anything I could find myself getting attached to. I personally really enjoy emotional reads so this was a little bit of a disappointment for me to begin with.
As the story progresses, Christie develops only the points needed for her mystery. Many characters in this story are completely obsolete and are treated as so. I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that instead of going into pointless details when certain characters converse, Christie shortened the situation to "Here the conversation became technical." This saves a whole lot of time (although it does mean that you are left with a feeling of detachment from the characters, but I didn't mind too much).
I must admit, I did not work out who the murderer was. I picked up a few points here and there and was on almost the right track, but Christie still completely wowed me with her "murderer reveal", I suppose I can call it.
The story picks up momentum in about the last third of the book, at which point I decided to give up on any other plans I had for today because I just simply had to carry on reading to find out what would happen.
By the end of the book, I was completely accustomed to Christie's writing style and now I can see that although it's different from what I'm used to in more modern books, it is still superb.
Although I'm not in any particular hurry, I'm quite sure that I'll pick up another Agatha Christie sometime soon - it was wonderful to read for hours on end and be completely absorbed in a good old-fashioned mystery.
I would recommend this book to anyone. In fact, I've already given the book to my mum for her to read it too.