Evil Under the Sun (Hercule Poirot Mysteries (Paperback))

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: 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: Outstanding . . .
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.

Rating:
Summary: Evil on the island
Review: Evil Under The Sun was the first Agatha Christie book that I have read. I am not sure that I will read another one of her books or not. The book did have a good plot, but it was rather slow moving. It took approximately sixty pages for someone to die,which to me was a long time. Before, Arlena Stewart Marshall was murdered, the book was a little confusing to me. The book did, however become a little more interesting after the murder. The best part about the book was the way the Hercule Poirot explained the murder. He explained the exact movements of everyone who was involved with the murder. Altogether I thought that it was a fairly good book despite some of it's faults.

Rating:
Summary: David Suchet is wonderful!
Review: I highly recommend the audio book read by David Suchet. You won't believe the voices that he can give these characters. It really makes the book come alive. He's a class act.

Rating:
Summary: Evil at the Jolly Roger Hotel
Review: Set at an English seaside summer resort, EVIL UNDER THE SUN is one of several Hercule Poirot mysteries involving a "love triangle" that is not quite what it appears to be (DEATH ON THE NILE is another and the most famous). In EVIL UNDER THE SUN, beautiful but brainless Arlena Marshall is strangled on a beach, and the most obvious suspect appears to be Captain Marshall, her husband, who was jealous of her relationship with young, handsome Patrick Redfern. While the police are eager to convict Marshall, Poirot (as usual) concerns himself with the case's psychological aspect, asking himself who at the resort is the true focus of evil: Arlena (as everyone else assumes) or somebody else? When Poirot finds the answer to this question, then he will have found Arlena's killer. As always, Poirot's logic is brilliant; in fact, the dialogue contains a very funny line about Poirot's eternal competition with the dim-witted "local police." Agatha Christie's one flaw is neglecting to explain the drug-smuggling thread of the mystery in tying up the loose ends of the plot in the novel's final pages. Two bits of trivia: EVIL UNDER THE SUN was filmed in 1982, with Peter Ustinov as Poirot, and the more recent TV adaptation of "Triangle at Rhodes" - another "love triangle" story - starring David Suchet as Poirot, borrows some dialogue from EVIL UNDER THE SUN.









Rating:
Summary: Classic Agatha Christie Whodunnit!
Review: The beautiful and flirtatious Arlena Stewart is holidaying in the South West Coast of England with her husband, Captain Marshall and her stepdaughter Linda, staying at the Jolly Roger Hotel on an exclusive island. There she carries out a not too discreet affair with the handsome Patrick Redfern, husband of poor quiet Christine Redfern. Amongst the hotel guests are an American couple, a retired priest, a longwinded army chap, a spinster, a female friend of Captain Marshall and Hercule Poirot.

One bright sunny morning, Arlena is found dead, strangled at Pixy Cove. Hercule Poirot and the local police are called in to investigate the matter. Could the jealous husband have murdered her or perhaps it was the long suffering wife. Could it be that Arlena was blackmailed by some unscrupulous cad? Could she have stumbled across a smuggling operation at the cove? Hercule Poirot fits the pieces of the puzzle together. Amongst the clues are a pair of scissors found at the scene of the crime, pieces of a green calendar and wax in the fire grate in one of the guests rooms, an empty bottle thrown out of a window, the sound of bath water draining from a tub at midday.

This is classic Agatha Christie at her best. The scene is set, the characters introduced, the clues planted. As always the reader wil be left wondering right up to the end of the book as to who comitted the crime. As with all Agatha Christie novels, there are as many twists and turn in the plot to keep you changing your mind as to the identity of the killer. Agatha Christie is always a joy to read and this is no exception.

Lea Ling Tsang

Rating:
Summary: David Suchet is wonderful!
Review: This Hercule Poirot mystery is set on an island resort. In this exotic setting, the vacationers watch each other, and learn a bit about each other's history and personalities - and gossip about the flamboyant, and possibly unfaithful wife, of one of the guests. When she's found dead, the investigation shows the guests have many secrets - suspicions of murder, financial difficulties, previous romantic entanglements with other guests.

As is typical of many Christie stories, it's one of those secrets that is key to solving the mystery.

Classic Christie puzzle plot with engaging characters. Well-written and a very enjoyable read. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Sun, Sand and Murder - the perfect combination
Review: Written in 1941 this is not Agatha Christie's best book, but it is right up there at the top. I highly recommend this as a book to take on your next beach vacation! It follows a theme also found in A Caribbean Mystery, that you don't really know the people you meet on holiday. (It really gets you thinking about that couple you had dinner with last night.) Set on the English coast outside Devon, Evil takes place in an island resort and is filled with such typically British characters you'll find yourself reaching for the suntan lotion and craving tea and cakes as you read it. Even if you're not on vacation, Evil Under the Sun is a bright spot for any day.