REVIEW: The Clocks

 The Clocks
Author: Agatha Christie

The Clocks first published in the UK in 1963. US publication followed in 1964.  

The Basics: Hercule Poirot assists in the investigation of a murder where an old man was found stabbed to death, surrounded by several clocks. To show the power of the mind, Poirot helps solve the crime without ever visiting the crime scene or speaking with any witnesses in person. He is purely an arm chair detective....solving things using only his intellect and from a distance. 

I read my old paperback copy [Pocket Books, 1979, 246 pages] while listening to the audio book version. [HarperCollins, 2012, 7 hrs 15 minutes, narrated by Hugh Fraser].

Warning -- the following may be an unpopular opinion but it is how I feel: 

Like with The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side, I had a bit of a challenge to get through this one. Christie's later books were still well-written but lack that spark from her earlier books. Poirot was a bit too egotistical in his statements about his intelligence, but that's nothing new and he has good reason to believe in his brains. But his constant mentioning it got very old by the end of the story. In places, the pacing was too slow and the plot dragged for me. And, there were a couple major plot points that were just pure cheese. 

Definitely Poirot. Definitely Agatha Christie. But.....not the best book in her collection, in my opinion. 

Adaptations: 

Only one for this book!

Television: Agatha Christie's Poirot adapted this story for an episode in 2011 [Season 12, episode 4].

There were many changes in setting, characters and plot. The changes were made to fit the tale into episode length, but I think it also strengthened the story. This is one case where I enjoyed the television episode more than the actual book.  

I think this story may have made a better novella or short story than a full novel. A shorter length may have stopped the dragging of the plot that really kept me from enjoying this one as much as I did earlier Poirot mysteries.  

Only a few more books to go before I finish my complete journey through Agatha Christie. Having a great time, even while reading some of her less popular tales. I'm finding that she wrote some mystery novels that are still in the top 10 in the genre, and others that are just ok. But that's to be expected with 80+ books....they can't all be a masterpiece!

On to the next!!