REVIEW: Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case by Agatha Christie

Curtain: Poirot's Last Case by Agatha Christie
Series: Hercule Poirot #42
Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Detective, Classics

I must confess the Hercule Poirot is not one of my favourite detectives. Not even close. But that’s personal opinion. What I enjoy most Poirot’s cases or I must say, Agatha Christie’s writing is the how the cases unfold in the end after reaching the climax. This book has a brilliant ending, that’s all. No spoilers. I enjoy her writing which never fails to create a tension on the reader to get to the end of it. And Then There Were None is the best case scenario.

Curtain is the last novel starring Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot. Narrated by Captain Hastings, Poirot’s friend who never fails to represent himself as a sidekick. Poriot has summoned Hastings to him in order for them to investigate one last case together at  Styles. Poirot now elderly and unable to walk is bound on a wheelchair. Even though in his pitiful situation, he assures his friend, Captain Hastings that he still the same man and his core, the mind, or the grey cells as Poirot refers to a multiple times are working as much as they were in their first meeting in The Mysterious Affair at Styles. He tells Hastings about a mysterious “X” who Poirot believes to be a connection in five murders. Poirot believes that “X” is going to strike again and someone at Styles will be murdered. Since Poirot cannot interview and pick people’s brains per usual, Hastings is to be his eyes, ears, and legs in this case.

Interesting point to note is that, Poirot is at his close to best in this book. The best book of Hercule Poirot that I have read and can recall, please note I have read very limited amounts of Poirot’s, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Other characters in this book are somewhat misleading but none of them gives a feeling of the usual red-herring until the read reaches the end of the book with narrator himself. There’s not much of Poirot’s mind games but nonetheless, I have came to a realisation, he’s not that sort of a detective.

Plot follows a steady pace, not so fast but nor a slow one. Some might feel an adrenaline rush in their bodies towards the end of the book. That’s where the climax is. Brilliantly done. This novel produces a clever solution that I desperately failed to even come close to. However, at the same time, I disliked that not a single hint or glimpse of an adrenaline rush, through a red-herring or something else, was given in between the tale. The author discuss the possible red-herrings just before the ending.

If you haven’t read it, go read it.

3 out of 5

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