REVIEW: Third Girl

 Third Girl
Author: Agatha Christie

I am going to be completely honest in my review right from the start. Here goes....

I did not like this book. 

I got through more than half of it, and DNF'd it. 

Yep. This Hercule Poirot fan DNF'd a Poirot mystery. There is a first time for everything.

I made myself a promise that I didn't have to finish reading books that weren't enjoyable for me. So, I let myself put this one down and move on. 

Even Ariadne Oliver (my favorite Agatha Christie side character!) didn't save the story for me. 

Not all books are for all readers. And this Poirot mystery was not for me. 

I had a very old paperback copy of this book on my shelves [1967, Pocket Books, 218 pages].  

The Basics: A woman comes to Poirot, telling him that she needs his help to find out if she committed a murder because she is having odd lapses in her memory. Norma exhibits strange and rude behavior, but Poirot is on the case to discover the truth. 

I had to sit for awhile after I quit reading to figure out why this story just didn't hit well for me. I did not like Norma Restarick (the girl who thinks she may have murdered someone). She is a ridiculous character. The actual crime wasn't even identified until really late in the story....and once the reveal happened, I just lost interest in the book. The plot just seemed super contrived from the start. 

Adaptations: 

Television: In 2008, the long-running show Poirot featured an episode based on this book. The episode made some major plot and character changes. I preferred the television episode over the book. The changes were needed to improve the plot. 

French television: Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie adapted this story in 2017. There are massive changes as usual, moving the setting to France and having French detectives. The show is entertaining. If you can access Kanopy through your local library, the entire show is available there. 

 

I am finding that I'm not enjoying many of Agatha Christie's later novels. I have a suspicion (and could be totally wrong) that Agatha was tired of writing Poirot and Marple novels. This book just seemed lackluster...like she wrote and published it because she had to put out a new book, rather than enjoyment of creating a good story.  

Moving on!!