Agatha Christie

The Big Four (Poirot)

Okay... they aim for world domination, then?? I want murder solving, AC. I just feel like something is missing in this book. Maybe it's the lack of suspense. But I still enjoyed reading it, especially those funny antics from both Hastings and Poirot.

Kath

Sonia Grgas

3.5, first half a 3, second half a 4. It was like reading a James Bond movie parody.

Poirot E I Quattro

Silvia Lucchini

Un romanzo con Poirot diverso dal solito senza uno specifico omicidio, ma una malefica organizzazione criminale internazionale da dover smascherare e dove il famoso investigatore belga sembra l'unico in grado di riuscire nell'intento grazie a intuizioni, travestimenti e ingegnosi piani.

Questa struttura mi ha ricordato moltissimo le storie di Conan Doyle e si potrebbero benissimo sostituire il nome di Poirot con Holmes e quello del capitano Hastings con quello del dottor Watson. 
Anche se differente, lo trovo un romanzo piacevole, dove spicca non tanto l'omicidio e il mistero di trovare chi sia l'assassino, ma le geniali doti di Poirot e le continue stoccate una volta da parte del belga e una volta da parte dei Quattro. 
Sicuramente per chi è abituato alla scrittura e alla struttura "classica" dei romanzi della Christie potrà restare confuso, ma penso che sia stato un modo per uscire dalla sua "confort zone" o comunque per sperimentare un nuovo tipo di romanzo giallo. 
Sicuramente preferisco i classici della Christie e in questo romanzo non ci sono i finali a sorpresa sull'assassino, ma come Poirot risolve il caso dei Quattro è ingegnoso e degno di Sherlock Holmes. Adoro la relazione tra il belga e l'amico Hastings (in particolare come Poirot lo punzecchia e spesso lo prende in giro) e mi è piaciuta l'ambientazione finale in un posto meraviglioso come il Lago di Carezza.

Lo consiglio per chi voglia leggere una Christie diversa dal solito.

Big Four

Kirsten Simkiss

While a bit more dramatic than some of the Poirot mysteries, this is certainly one to read if you're into conspiracies. This one is about the Big Four. Four people running the world behind the scene through various methods of influence, and who could oppose them but Hercule Poirot? This mystery is as much crime solving mini-stories as it is spy craft. It's different from what I've come to expect from Agatha Christie, but it was enjoyable.

The Big Four

Giulia Pianta

This book is quite hard to rate and review, as it is not the usual Poirot story. It is quite fragmentary, apparently due to being written as short stories for a periodic. This is noticeable as almost every chapter has a sort of summary of what happened before and they do not flow perfectly together. It would have been better if some editing had been done maybe.

However, the story in itself is nice. It is not one of the best, as there is no murdered person and a small set of suspects. Here Poirot travels, faces many different individuals, there are bombs, chasings and more adventure than usual. Also, the enemies are these weird supervillains that remind of the villains in Sherlock Holmes books. Poirot usually faces ordinary people that are smart enough to commit a crime hard to solve, but this time the villains are 4, spread around the world and a bit too evil and powerful.

Despite this, the story is still quite fun. I tried to see it as a collection of short stories, and indeed every story has the usual plotting and development as the actual short stories, and the surprises are a lot.
This is probably not my favourite Agatha Christie book, and I definitely prefer the most classical ones, but it made for a fun and quick read.

a Hercule Poirot novel

The big four

Shelby Doherty

** spoiler alert **
           Likes:
- Quick, easy, fast-paced read
- Chapters are all quite similar in structure so that you know what to expect and how to pace yourself
- Entertaining

Dislikes:
- everything always ends up working out in their favor. Sort of like an action movie in that it is unbelievable.
- not really invested in the story and trying to solve things myself, I know each "mini" mystery will be resolved by the end of the chapter and felt quite certain that the whole thing would be neatly resolved by the end

Ruby Huber

Worst Hercule I’ve read so far.... crime was a huge web of crimes that were all interconnected and therefore too complicated and then over simplified? Too much info crammed in, not enough egg-head jokes!! Exhausting mess. Also so racist!! Feel free to skip this one thanks.

Jayarna La Bozzetta

Way too many plot conveniences. I really prefer her locked door mysteries

Struggling between 2 and 3 stars.

So this was, from my point of view, an 'interesting' book to read. I've read so many books written by dame Agatha Christie that I've lost track of, but this really feels weird.
The format is a bit different. Now, I do understand that the reason behind that is the fact that these were actually short stories with the same antagonist. But they just weren't seamlesly tied together as they should've been in this book.

Plus this is such a Sherlock Holmes parody that once you see it you can not unsee it.
I don't know. It's just not meeting my expectations. It's not what I want from an Agatha Christie novel: One big mystery, less Hastings and more Hercule Poirot in all his glory. 
Honestly Hercule was a bit out of character here. He was as full of himself as usual, but not as loveable as he usually is. He was just annoying. And so was Hastings.
If I continue on with this rant I'll realise that I hate this book, so I'll just stop now.

Dania Khan

“The stars fight against us.”
Favourite Character-
Madame Oliver is a female scientist, a visionary and a great criminal, something that no one has achieved in Christie’s books. This is what makes Madame Oliver my favourite character, the holy grail of criminals, the one who makes Poirot run round and round in circles. She was unstoppable until well Poroit caught her but Poirot caught her much later than his other criminals.
Things I didn’t like about the book-
I would have liked to know more about the Chinese master of the Big Four and more about the other characters as Christie mainly focused on Number Four.
Age Rating- 9/10+
Rating the book- 4 stars

James Muspratt

A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Mystery Masters)

J. Faller

A ruthless international cartel seeks world domination... Framed in the doorway of Poirot's bedroom stood an uninvited guest, coated from head to foot in dust. The man's gaunt face stared for a moment, then he swayed and fell. Who was he? Was he suffering from shock or just exhaustion? Above all, what was the significance of the figure 4, scribbled over and over again on a sheet of paper? Poirot finds himself plunged into a world of international intrigue, risking his life to uncover the truth about 'Number Four'.

The Big Four (Poirot)

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