I'm finishing off this year with quite possibly the worst book I have read in a long time. Bought last Christmas as a present (sorry Jacqui!) I didn't squeeze it in before January and it felt wrong to read a book based around Christmas at any other time of the year.
The premise of Mystery in White was perfect, a snowed in train, a 1930s house where tea is laid on the table yet no one is at home, a handful of strangers forced together on Christmas Eve, classic Christie combination if you ask me.
Yet about a quarter of the way through (still grasping to recall characters names) I realised Agatha Christie J Jefferson Farjeon was not.
I found Maltby's character (the would be detective) most annoying. He knew everything before it had happened
"You're going to tell us there was a body in the carriage next to you"
"how did you know that"
"you said you were escaping the train, you left in the snow and you are breathless"
I'm paraphrasing here but the facts he came up with on such limited information were a stretch at the very least.
He also took every opportunity to state the obvious to the point of ridiculousness:
"Your father died 20 years ago when you had just been born"
"yes"
"so you are 20 years old now"
"yes"
"and you do not remember your father"
"no"
"because you had just been born when he died"
"yes"
"twenty years ago"
I'm paraphrasing again but should these laboured over points have been key to unlocking the mystery it would have made sense. They didn't however and I found myself eye rolling when faced with repetition after repetition of pointless bits of information.
It's also the first book I have read where the reveal of the victim(s?) was a disappointment. The reader didn't get to meet any of the victims beforehand so didn't get the opportunity to really care for (or hate) them. There was no lady unfortunate enough to stumble upon a body and require sniffing salts and Maltby spoilt (again) the reveals by almost casually throwing in to the conversation that the thing he initially thought was a log was in fact a body that he had just left outside to its own devices. Yes I get the fact that a body left to its own devices probably isn't going to get up to much but if he wasn't even bothered by the death why should the reader?
I thought at one point Maltby was going to be the killer and it would have been quite clever, having gained everyone's confidence and steered the characters so comprehensively ("you fear that painting don't you, it follows you" "yes come to think of it") but alas the story did not turn out that way and Farjeon missed the opportunity to at least claw back some interest.
The paranormal elements to the book were also quite silly. If it had been a genuine ghost story it could have worked however after much expressions of "I felt an unexplainable terror when in the presence of the bed/chair/painting" nothing really came of it other than more eye rolling.
I liked Lydia and David and the chorus girl who hurt her foot (STILL can't remember name) but other than that the book was a disappointment. It's already disposed of as a #PassItOn book and I would love to hear from the person who finds it to see what they make of it.
The premise of Mystery in White was perfect, a snowed in train, a 1930s house where tea is laid on the table yet no one is at home, a handful of strangers forced together on Christmas Eve, classic Christie combination if you ask me.
Yet about a quarter of the way through (still grasping to recall characters names) I realised Agatha Christie J Jefferson Farjeon was not.
I found Maltby's character (the would be detective) most annoying. He knew everything before it had happened
"You're going to tell us there was a body in the carriage next to you"
"how did you know that"
"you said you were escaping the train, you left in the snow and you are breathless"
I'm paraphrasing here but the facts he came up with on such limited information were a stretch at the very least.
He also took every opportunity to state the obvious to the point of ridiculousness:
"Your father died 20 years ago when you had just been born"
"yes"
"so you are 20 years old now"
"yes"
"and you do not remember your father"
"no"
"because you had just been born when he died"
"yes"
"twenty years ago"
I'm paraphrasing again but should these laboured over points have been key to unlocking the mystery it would have made sense. They didn't however and I found myself eye rolling when faced with repetition after repetition of pointless bits of information.
It's also the first book I have read where the reveal of the victim(s?) was a disappointment. The reader didn't get to meet any of the victims beforehand so didn't get the opportunity to really care for (or hate) them. There was no lady unfortunate enough to stumble upon a body and require sniffing salts and Maltby spoilt (again) the reveals by almost casually throwing in to the conversation that the thing he initially thought was a log was in fact a body that he had just left outside to its own devices. Yes I get the fact that a body left to its own devices probably isn't going to get up to much but if he wasn't even bothered by the death why should the reader?
I thought at one point Maltby was going to be the killer and it would have been quite clever, having gained everyone's confidence and steered the characters so comprehensively ("you fear that painting don't you, it follows you" "yes come to think of it") but alas the story did not turn out that way and Farjeon missed the opportunity to at least claw back some interest.
The paranormal elements to the book were also quite silly. If it had been a genuine ghost story it could have worked however after much expressions of "I felt an unexplainable terror when in the presence of the bed/chair/painting" nothing really came of it other than more eye rolling.
I liked Lydia and David and the chorus girl who hurt her foot (STILL can't remember name) but other than that the book was a disappointment. It's already disposed of as a #PassItOn book and I would love to hear from the person who finds it to see what they make of it.
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