I have found that Agatha Christie's body of work feels very uneven to me. Some of her novels are blow-your-mind fantastic, filled with interesting characters and unexpectedly twisty plots. However, some of them are bland, flat, and slightly smug. It's hard to tell what you're getting really. I avoid the Poirot mysteries all together, and find that I have much better luck with her non-series works.
The Pale Horse tells the tale of Mark Easterbrook, a young writer who finds himself embroiled in the mystery of the Pale Horse Inn. One night, on his way home from hearing a dying woman's confession, a priest is murdered. Found on his body is a list of names. But who are these people? What do they have in common. Through chance encounters in a coffee shop and on a country weekend, Easterbrook begins to look into the case, trying to figure out what is going on, and what it has to do with three very spooky self-avowed "witches" living at the Pale Horse Inn.
This is definitely a plot book--the characters are adequate, but nothing particularly special. Luckily, the plot moves along well, and the pieces of the puzzle seem to fit together rationally once all is revealed. I didn't know who the murderer was until almost the very end, which is unusual for me.
I enjoyed this a lot, though it was a pretty quick read.
No comments:
Post a Comment