Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding . . .
Review: 'Evil Under the Sun' is Agatha Christie's best work of art, and yes, it is a work of art. If you don't read any other of her novels, read this one. It is well worth your time. I was sucked in from the get go.
Rating: 
Summary: The Eternal Triangle Again...with a Twist
Review: Agatha Christie seems fascinated with the eternal love triangle plot (usually a husband, a wife, and a mistress); she uses it again and again in her books. Here we have a devoted couple; the husband is distracted by a grasping beauty, and murder ensues. Christie's handling of this theme is always sure-footed (possibly due to the breakup of her own first marriage due to a philandering husband); here she takes these commonplace elements and twists them to produce an end result that will lift the reader out of his chair. There are, perhaps, more exciting Christies, but this is quite satisfying and interesting. After all, the lady wrote a tremendous number of books and short stories; they can't all be her "best." See how many different variations on this theme Christie was capable of in "Five Little Pigs," "Death On the Nile," "Towards Zero," and "The Hollow," in which the triangle is more of a square, with four sides instead of three.
Rating:
Summary: A Solidly Constructed Mystery by the Queen of Crime
Review: Agatha Christie's EVIL UNDER THE SUN was immensely respected when it debuted in the 1940s. Today it pales a bit alongside the truly great Christie novels of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s--but it is still a tremendously entertaining read that will appeal to both new and long-established fans.The novel is cast in a "classic English mystery" mold: a group of vacationers at an exclusive resort with limited public access fall under suspicion when a beautiful femme fatale is found strangled to death on an isolated beach. Is the killer a jealous husband, a jealous wife, an unstable step-daughter--or is it connected with the occult, a possible serial killer, an unknown blackmailer, or a member of a drug distribution ring? The plot complications come tumbling one on top of another, but fortunately for the innocent the island resort is host to a private detective on vacation: the celebrated Hercule Poirot. The novel is particularly memorable for the way in which Christie requires readers to interpret the personality of her characters... and in the process leads you completely astray. Long time fans may recognize the plot device on which the solution rests, for Christie used it earlier in a number of celebrated short stories and would repeat it in a number of later works as well--but to give the Queen of Crime her due, she so neatly works the story that even the most astute reader is unlikely to arrive at the full truth until Poirot deigns to expose it. Tremendous fun, and well recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A Solidly Constructed Mystery by the Queen of Crime
Review: Agatha Christie's EVIL UNDER THE SUN was immensely respected when it debuted in the 1940s. Today it pales a bit alongside the truly great Christie novels of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s--but it is still a tremendously entertaining read that will appeal to both new and long-established fans. The novel is cast in a "classic English mystery" mold: a group of vacationers at an exclusive resort with limited public access fall under suspicion when a beautiful femme fatale is found strangled to death on an isolated beach. Is the killer a jealous husband, a jealous wife, an unstable step-daughter--or is it connected with the occult, a possible serial killer, an unknown blackmailer, or a member of a drug distribution ring? The plot complications come tumbling one on top of another, but fortunately for the innocent the island resort is host to a private detective on vacation: the celebrated Hercule Poirot. The novel is particularly memorable for the way in which Christie requires readers to interpret the personality of her characters... and in the process leads you completely astray. Long time fans may recognize the plot device on which the solution rests, for Christie used it earlier in a number of celebrated short stories and would repeat it in a number of later works as well--but to give the Queen of Crime her due, she so neatly works the story that even the most astute reader is unlikely to arrive at the full truth until Poirot deigns to expose it. Tremendous fun, and well recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Evil Under the Sun
Review: Although this book doesn't particularly stand out among other Agatha Christie novels like Murder on the Orient Express and And Then There Were None, it is still a good book with an unexpected ending. Arlena Stewart is a gorgeous woman who turns heads everywhere she goes. Men admire her, and women are jealous of her. She is found murdered in a remote cove near the hotel where she was vacationing with her husband and stepdaughter. Each of the hotel guests has a motive for murdering the newlywed actress; some blatant, some concealed. Agatha Christie bounces back and forth between potential suspects, engineering the clues to first implicate one suspect, then implicate another. Although nicely written, it isn't an essential read for Agatha Christie fans.
Rating:
Summary: Fooled! Again.......
Review: Another master piece by Agatha. While Poirot is on a vacation,a woman hated by most of her gender, is found dead on a beach. Since all the hotel members think her husband did it, Poirot sets out to prove them wrong. This is another well-written mystery that will shock you when you read the ending.
Rating:
Summary: An outstanding reading of an ingenious Christie mystery.
Review: As an example of how ingeniously a whodunit might be plotted, and how expertly an audio book might be read, this package could hardly be bettered. Agatha Christie wrote "Evil Under the Sun" in the early 1940s. It was a time when the second world war had brought widespread misery, pain and austerity. A welcome antidote, therefore was to devise a little budget-priced escapism, to depict a group of guests at a sea-side holiday resort relaxing and exchanging gossip and tittle-tattle as they overlook a beach and the bathers who are using it. The inane gossip and the lack of suspense in the opening pages might wear your patience, but keep alert! Many significant clues are scattered here. The subsequent murder and the possible motivation relate mainly to a context of human relationships. A drug smuggling racket is occasionally suggested. Hercule Poirot is present, of course, to lead police, readers, and everybody else to the solution of the mystery, even if he needs to ruin a good pair of shoes and risk seasickness during the hunt. Addictive and ingenious as her books can be, Agatha Christie's prose and dialogue are not renowned for literary merit. All the more remarkable, therefore, is the contribution of David Suchet. Such is the reading of the great British actor that the banal is transformed into the brilliant, the commonplace into the courtly, and the mediocre into the memorable.
Rating:
Summary: An outstanding reading of an ingenious Christie mystery.
Review: As an example of how ingeniously a whodunit might be plotted, and how expertly an audio book might be read, this package could hardly be bettered. Agatha Christie wrote "Evil Under the Sun" in the early 1940s. It was a time when the second world war had brought widespread misery, pain and austerity. A welcome antidote, therefore was to devise a little budget-priced escapism, to depict a group of guests at a sea-side holiday resort relaxing and exchanging gossip and tittle-tattle as they overlook a beach and the bathers who are using it. The inane gossip and the lack of suspense in the opening pages might wear your patience, but keep alert! Many significant clues are scattered here. The subsequent murder and the possible motivation relate mainly to a context of human relationships. A drug smuggling racket is occasionally suggested. Hercule Poirot is present, of course, to lead police, readers, and everybody else to the solution of the mystery, even if he needs to ruin a good pair of shoes and risk seasickness during the hunt. Addictive and ingenious as her books can be, Agatha Christie's prose and dialogue are not renowned for literary merit. All the more remarkable, therefore, is the contribution of David Suchet. Such is the reading of the great British actor that the banal is transformed into the brilliant, the commonplace into the courtly, and the mediocre into the memorable.
Rating:
Summary: Christie at her best
Review: Don't go by the movie (which is not bad!)- the book is much better! Its definately in the league of her other masterpiece- Death on the Nile; those who enjoyed Death on the Nile would definately like this one (and vice- versa). I would strongly recommend this one to those who enjoy a murder in an exotic setting!
Rating:
Summary: Terrific book
Review: Evil Under the Sun is one of Christie's most enduring mysteries. It features Hercule Poirot and takes place on Smuggler's Island off the coast of Devon. This is classic Christie- drop off all the characters in an isolated setting, kill one of them off and let Poirot (or Miss Marple) go to work. The plot is well-conceived and executed, the story fast paced and Poirot is, as usual, incomparablewhen using his little gray cells to figure out the identity of the murderer. This is first-rate Christie and should be enjoyed by every mystery fan. Highly recommended.
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