The Big Four
by Agatha Christie
Edition: Berkley, paperback. Not the edition pictured.
Overall rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Like all Agatha Christie mysteries, this was a quick and suspenseful read. The basic story is, a stranger--supposedly escaped from a mental institution--comes to Poirot with a message, a description of a group known as "the Big Four". These are four mysterious criminals of four different nationalities, who are working together towards establishing a worldwide dictatorship. Once the Big Four finds out that Poirot knows they exist and is determined to end their plans, they send their fourth member out to stop him. Before long, Poirot and his chronicler Captain Hastings find themselves in the middle of a very dangerous task, and faced with the numerous traps and spies the enemy has in store for them.
It's been years since I last read a Poirot book, but still, this book seemed quite different than any other Poirot book I've read before. In many ways, it resembles the Sherlock Holmes story "The Final Problem", as Poirot is up against a "mastermind" kind of criminal; but The Big Four has a bit of action and sci-fi in it, too. And you know that it's an extraordinary story when Poirot actually decides to wear a disguise, or climb out a window! Lol. It is somewhat like a spy story, too--a much better one than The 39 Steps (the TV movie version). In short, it's not a typical Poirot novel, but I really liked the plot; apart from the action/sci-fi stuff, there was more than one mystery within the mystery, several disguises, and a lot of confusion as to what was real or true, and what wasn't.
I only give it 4 1/2 stars, though, because some of it wasn't very well written, particularly the action scenes; and the portrayals of the Chinese and the American guy seemed somewhat stereotyped. Some parts of the story were also predictable, to some degree. I think that that could have been avoided if the story was longer, but it is very fast-paced, and is only about a couple hundred pages long.
Overall, I recommend this, especially if you are looking for a short page-turner. :)
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