THE CLOCKS
UK publication: 1963 (Collins)
US publication: 1964 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Hercule Poirot
Genre: Novel
Plot summary and comments: Poirot is called into a case by Colin Lamb, an intelligence agent of some kind whose father knew Poirot. A body has been discovered in the seaside town of Crowdean, in the house of a blind woman, and in a room full of clocks, most of which do not belong there. Lamb happens to be passing by when the body is discovered, and goes to Poirot, his old mentor [Christie said that Lamb was probably Superintendent Battle's son]. There are really two separate plots, which are linked at the end. One of the more unusual late books, with an amusing lecture on fictional detectives given by Poirot. Courtesey of: http://stout.physics.ucla.edu/%7eyoder/mystery/christie.html
Courtesey of: http://stout.physics.ucla.edu/%7eyoder/mystery/christie.html
::READERS REVIEWS::
"M. Hercule Poirot, the armchair detective, helps our hero Colin Lamb & Detective Inspector Hardcastle make sense of 'The Clocks' murder. The story is intricate and impossible to figure out. In customary Christie style, you are kept going till literally the last pages of the book where it is all explained to you and you realize how far off you were - I LOVE IT. If you want the best detective/murder mystery or are simply looking for a challange, you cannot do better than this book (except for one Christie's other works, of course)."
"this is a great book! throughout the book, i had a one-track mind and could not get myself thinking about anything else than what the title says "the clocks". christie amazes you at the end with a whole explanation by poirot and you are left speechless. sometimes confusing with all the different people's names that she throws at you but still a wonderful mystery!"
"Halfway through I knew who did it, though I didn't know why. There were little hints here and there, but I thought the person was too obvious to really be the killer. Even still, I couldn't put the book down (read it in 2 days) but was disappointed with the end. I felt like Agatha Christie was bored with the book and wanted to end it as soon as possible, which is why she crammed so much information into the last Chapter of the book."
"The story is good! I read this book in one day actually. I saw 2 problems: one is that sometimes I got confused with the characters, trying to remember who they are when they're mentioned in the end of the book, and the other problem is the ending, I think there are some details missing about how it all happened. She throws a lot of information in a few pages, but doesn't really tell how it all happened."
"I picked up this book at the library, (mainly because of the title) and was a good read until the end. I found the solution disappointing and could have been much better considering the immense building of the plot. Still, it hasn't given me any reason to doubt Christie's writing ability, and was totally surprised in the revealing of the murderer."
::YOUR OPINION::
