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Becs (244 KP) rated The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Hercule Poirot #4) in Books

Aug 4, 2019

Not my favorite novel

You can also find this review on my blog at bookingwayreads.wordpress.com
TRIGGER WARNINGS: death, murder, talk of suicide

Review:
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd follows detective Hercule Poirot as he investigates the murder of Roger Ackroyd. Ackroyd was murdered in his study that was locked, but not before he received a letter from the person that was blackmailing the widow he was having an affair with. This same widow was being blackmailed and rumors spread about her murdering her own husband. She ends up committing suicide because of these rumors and blackmailing.

King's Abbot is full of suspects but it's up to Hercule Poirot to figure out who is guilty of murdering Roger Ackroyd. He is aided by the village doctor and narrator of the story, James Sheppard and his sister, Caroline Sheppard.

I really wanted to love this novel, as it seemed really interesting. It didn't get interesting until the very ending and I wouldn't recommend reading this book first if you've never read an Agatha Christie novel. This was the first ever novel I've read by Agatha Christie and I'm just not really bothered to read any more novels by Agatha Christie.

The story was somewhat interesting, but the execution wasn't there. I wasn't able to guess the killer, so that was a fun little plot twist. But the ending came abruptly and the overall story lacked. It lacked that punch that most mysteries have. There was hardly any development and background for both the story and the characters.

I listened to the audiobook version of this so I wasn't sure if there wasn't any grammatical and/or spelling errors. The narrator was a bit monotone but was otherwise a decent speaker. I forced myself through this, when all I wanted to do was DNF it. It lacked, was confusing, and was rather boring. I did not enjoy this and was disappointed with the overall story.

"The things young women read nowadays and profess to enjoy positively frighten me."

Kudos

Night Reader Reviews (683 KP) rated NOS4A2 in Books

Apr 26, 2020

NOS4A2

Joe Hill | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy

8.5

(23 Ratings)

Book Rating

Wonderfully detailed, amazing world and story. (0 more)

Not unique to Joe Hill, feels more like a book by his father (0 more)

Just Because Review

While I imagine a few already know this it is important to note that Joe Hill is Stephen King's son, which is actually what made me interested in his work. This book reflects the works of Stephen King so much that I almost thought he was the actual author. It is very clear that this book resides in the same universe as Stephen King's works. It mentions things like the Pennywise Circus and True Knot (Doctor Sleep). It also reminded me of Christine and multiple people in the book have "a touch of the shinning" and if readers pay attention they may notice elements from Dreamcatcher and Finders Keepers as well.

As a child, Vic discovers a bike that gives her the ability to cross the Shorter Way Bridge to locate lost things, so long as they are in a fixed position. The bad thing about this is that using the ability has its cost and the price she must pay is the risk of losing part of her mind each time she goes across. One day after fighting with her mother she takes off across the bridge looking for trouble and finds just that in Charles Manx. Luckily she manages to escape but Charles Manx will forever hold a grudge against her and she will see him again after she is an adult and has convinced herself that the Shorter Way Bridge was just a fantasy from a delusional mind.

I highly recommend this book. The only reason why it did not get a 5 out of 5 was that while the story was original the world felt to firmly set in the Stephen King universe and I am not sure if that was intentional or if it was just a by-product of the household that Joe Hill grew up in.

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