Tag: Struggle

Agatha Christie – Towards Zero | Review

Title: Towards Zero

Author: Agatha Christie

Type: Fiction

Page Count: 192

Rating: 3.25/5

This book is one of Christie’s Inspector Battle books, and I’ve always found them to be a little weaker than the Marple and Poirot books, as well as just her general standalones. Unfortunately, Battle just isn’t a particularly gripping character, and so when he’s front and centre in one of Christie’s books, it’s a bit of a struggle.

I think part of the problem here was that the mystery itself also wasn’t particularly interesting, and so that left me just reading for the sake of reading even though the story and the characters were of only passing interest. I mean, it’s still alright, just not great.

Still, I should caveat this with what I always say about Agatha Christie, which is that even a bad Agatha Christie book is better than a good book by most other authors. It’s just a shame that I left this one until towards the end, because I was kind of hoping to go out on a high. And now I only have two more of her books left.

Learn more about Towards Zero.


Dashiell Hammett – The Dain Curse | Review

Title: The Dain Curse
Author: Dashiel Hammett

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 192

Rating: 1.5/5

 

 

I was looking forward to picking this book up because I’ve read and enjoyed Hammett before and because the title of this one basically has my name in it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as good as the other Hammett that I’ve read and my overarching feeling while reading this was just boredom. I didn’t care for the characters or the case.

There were a few redeeming moments here and there when it came to the writing, and I also liked the fact that opium was mentioned, which seems to happen a lot in old school murder mysteries. But while this one did have elements of the private eye style that Hammett is known for, it also had a lot of superstition and mystery thrown in which I didn’t really care for.

All in all, this was a struggle for me to complete, and I ended up tackling it as a bedtime book by reading 25 pages at a time. Even then it was a struggle, so I can’t recommend it.

 

Stephen King

Stephen King

 

Click here to buy The Dain Curse.