Agatha Christie Lovers discussion

Originally published in 1927. Features Hercule Poirot. "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'."

This was a previous book of the month in April 2011. Here are links to that threads https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... & https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Is anyone (re)reading it this month? I hope to finish my current read during the weekend and then I will start this one.

it's a very strange story, very melodramatic. NOt one of my favourites.

I’ve just started this one. Haven’t got very far yet though.

Darn it this is one I don’t have! Well, back to the bookstore

I’m up to Chapter 14 and enjoying it. It’s quite a lively plot and a bit unbelievable in places but good fun although it seems almost like linked short stories to me. There are several months of inactivity between each event. I like the examination of the relationship between Hastings and Poirot. There are several funny little scenes between the two of them and there is a good balance between Poirot thinking that Hastings is a little dim but also feeling genuine affection. Similarly H acknowledges P’s arrogance but is clearly very fond of him. That relationship seems to come through more clearly in this book than some of the others.

Sue, I totally agree about Hastings and Poirot relationship!

I started reading it yesterday and went through 100 pages (out of 240 in my edition). It seems like this one has more action: they get tied by a rope, they run away from the train, etc.

Agree that it’s like several short stories joined together which makes it easy to read. Whilst the overall story was not the best I did like some of the individual stories and I love Poirot and Hastings.

I finished the book yesterday late in the evening.
It looks like this one is very different than other detective stories by Agatha Christie. As others already mentioned, it is more like a lot of short stories tied together by the same topic - Big Four. Poirot and Hasting are going not after single murderer, but after a secret organization. Also, this book reminded me a lot of Sherlock Holmes mysteries, because of one certain plot point: (view spoiler)[faking the death (hide spoiler)].

I am two chapters from the end, so I'm sure you can all guess what I will be ding before bed tonight. 😉

This story was more of a spy story than a straight mystery. I don't remember if I have seen the movie of it. Poor Hastings is at his bumbling best. I have always wondered why Roger Ackroyd came before this since at the end of this book, Poirot says he is going to retire and grow vegetable marrows. That's what he has done in Roger Ackroyd.

Well, I really enjoyed it, although I wouldn't say it was one of my favourites of hers. It was pretty well written though. I suppose my favourites are the more traditional 'country house' murders and the Miss Marple ones set in villages. But given how long she was writing for (was it 50 years I think?) she would have wanted to break out and try something different I guess.

Maggie wrote: "I have always wondered why Roger Ackroyd came before this since at the end of this book, Poirot says he is going to retire and grow vegetable marrows. That's what he has done in Roger Ackroyd."

I was wondering the same thing! It looks like these too books should change places.

I will start rereading this soon.
This also reminds of my grandmother wagging her finger and saying "Well, it's all a syndicate, you know."

Normally, Agatha Christie just pulls me into the story and I don't want to put it down. That was not the case with this one. It seemed to drag on forever even though it's very short. It's not a murder mystery, more of an action/adventure story. Poirot and Hastings are trying to identify, and track down the (villainous?) organization The Big Four after learning about them from a strange visitor in Poirot's apartment one night. The Big Four keeps coming up in everything they investigate, and it's all Poirot will take cases about now. The story seemed like a bunch of short stories thrown together and connected to The Big Four, but also seem to not really be connected at all. It was a very disjointed story, and I was really disappointed by the ending. Definitely not my favourite Christie. I prefer her murder/mystery stories much more. Get me Poirot and Hastings solving a good old fashioned murder and I'm in!

I have only read 4 Christie Books (Affair at Styles, Murder on the Links, Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and this) and this is probably my favorite so far. A lot of people say it is an outlandish story. Yes, it is. However, Poirot is an outlandish character. It fits his personality. I found it amusing and fast paced.

SPOILER WARNING. In my current effort to re-read all of Agatha Christie's works in chronological order, this is #8, but has been my least favorite so far. This is a total departure from Christie's usual genre (i.e., detective novel focused on a murder in a country manor or some such), and instead focuses on global espionage, with Hercule Poirot trying to thwart 4 supervillains across the globe conspiring together to create total anarchy and world domination. All of Christie's works require some degree of suspension of disbelief, but The Big Four is on a different level of implausibility entirely. She is basically trying to recast Poirot and Hastings as action heroes, and it just doesn't work. Poirot, always very confident in his own abilities, comes across here as excessively & irresponsibly so, relying in many instances on just plain luck to survive. Definitely my least favorite Christie work so far.

As other folks have noted, it seems that this novel was perhaps written before The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, even though it was published afterwards. At the end of The Big Four, Poirot conveys his intention to retire and grow vegetable marrows, which is basically what he's doing in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (which happens to be my favorite Christie work so far).

Here's hoping Christie is back to top form in The Mystery of the Blue Train, which is next in my queue.

Robert wrote: "Here's hoping Christie is back to top form in The Mystery of the Blue Train, which is next in my queue. ..."

Yes I agree Robert, Poirot doesn't make a good action hero! I think implausible is a very apt term for the plot. Personally, the Blue Train didn't do it for me either, but I hope you enjoy it more than I did! I also agree about Roger Ackroyd, I loved the story but also admired the cleverness of the plotting, it's one of her best I think.

Sue wrote: "Personally, the Blue Train didn't do it for me either, but I hope you enjoy it more than I did!"

Hi Sue! Just finished The Mystery of the Blue Train, and while it wasn't my favorite Christie book so far, I definitely enjoyed it much more than The Big Four! :-) Cheers, Rob

Robert wrote: "Hi Sue! Just finished The Mystery of the Blue Train, and while it wasn't my favorite Christie book so far, I definitely enjoyed it much more than The Big Four! :-) Cheers, Rob..."

Glad you enjoyed Blue Train Rob!

This was a weird one. I really don’t know what to think or say. We see Poirot around an international conspiracy with his friend Hastings following him every step of the way, to discover who are the Big Four. And let me just tell you how tired I ended up of listening to the number four. In fact that’s the only thing about this book that remain in my memory after I finished it. Four, four, the big four, four, the number four, the big four, four… It was tiredsome! I was glad when it ended. To my conclusion, I don’t know if it was a great idea to just linked all those short stories into one big novel.This one was not one of my favourites.