Death in the Clouds – Agatha Christie – Book Review

There would be always be something in everybody’s life that would have shaped their interests. Sherlock Holmes was a character that made me fall in love with books & reading. Investigative crime thrillers have been my all time favorite reads since I devoured all the Sherlock Holmes collections for the first time (Re-reads are innumerable). Perhaps the other most famous character only second to Sherlock is Hercule Poirot. The Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie. I was never interested in reading Poirot series until some time back. The library where I hold membership has a good collection of Poirot series and so I thought why not!

            Hercule Poirot has boarded a flight ‘Prometheus’ in France. The journey was supposed to a normal one for all the passengers. But while the flight was nearing destination, the lifeless body of a woman was found. All the people abroad the plane can be suspected on the same. The suspected murder weapon was found near the seat of Poirot. Nobody could have performed the act, as it would have attracted the people in the plane. Poirot collaborates with English and French detectives; carries out his own private investigation as well to solve the mystery behind the horrendous crime.

            Poirot has a slightly different style from that of Holmes. Both have good observation skills. But the way Agatha Christie draws his character is in such a way that he is not painted in a dark tone as Holmes. Also, there was Watson like side kick for Holmes. And well, Poirot takes his mistakes in a much better way that Holmes. (The book had a reference to Holmes if I remember). All the characters were well etched out leading us into an intricate web of suspicions and confusions. The writing sways in such a way that we are tempted to suspect the characters; and when we fix our conviction on that person; some other things which happen at that point of time makes us suspect someone else. The various characters like the saloon girl, the dentist, archaeologists, high class ladies etc are well written. There is ample depth in the characterization of such players in the story which are of some importance. Once characteristic that makes Agatha Christie books a tad boring for me is the starting pace. I always used to get bored with the rather slow or dull start in many of her books. It takes some 15 – 20 pages to set the right tempo. But here, the excitement was from the starting page itself.

            All together, this was one of my most favorite of the Poirot books (among the few of them which I have already completed). The pace was better than the previous books which was an important factor for me.

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