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Checkout FunnyFact.com | SuperHeroBooks - The Big Four (Hercule Poirot Mysteries)
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List Price: $6.99
Our Price: $2.19
Your Save: $ 4.80 ( 69% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Berkley
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
EAN: 9780425098820
ISBN: 0425098826
Label: Berkley
Manufacturer: Berkley
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 208
Publication Date: 1987-01-15
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: 2001-06-12
Studio: Berkley
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Not great, for Christie
Comment: This ranks as my least favorite Agatha Christie mystery. All of her puzzles are contrived but they are also usually fun. This one just didn't work.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Definitely not Christie's best - possibly her worst
Comment: I love, love, love Agatha Christie. When I read the back cover of "The Big Four", though, I became a little skeptical about how she could cover such world intrigue with huge characters in such a short book.
I should have listened to my instincts. This book seems as if A) she was in a hurry to get something out on a deadline, or B) it was written by someone else entirely.
It was choppy, predictable, pointless, and very far-fetched. I hope this is not the first Agatha Christie read for someone, because otherwise it will be their last, and they will forever wonder what the fuss is about her.
I gave it two stars instead of one only because it's worth a read ONLY if you are trying to read her complete collection.
Customer Rating:
Summary: If you like Sherlock Holmes you will LOVE this one!
Comment: One of my favorite Poirot mysteries ever! Probably second to his last mystery, Curtain. (If you like Sherlock Holmes, read Curtain and The Big Four...you'll love them.)
Poirot and Hastings are on the trail of a criminal organization, and it really seems as though they are in over their heads. It's also a very active plot. Instead of Poirot spending most his time exercising his "little grey cells" in an armchair, he and Hastings do a lot of traveling.
My favorite character in all fiction is Sherlock Holmes, and this book reminds me of Doyle's Holmes mysteries in many ways. I think there are even a few deliberate references written in by Christie. Some might complain and call it derivative, but I loved it!
Customer Rating:
Summary: not much mystery to this mystery
Comment: If you like a mystery to think over and try to solve, this will not be one of your favorite Agatha Christie's. This is an account of Poirot's uncovering of the Big Four. It wasn't one of my favorites.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Moriarty Syndrome
Comment: Ever since Sherlock Holmes pursued the super-villain Professor Moriarty, mystery writers have seemed compelled to pit their sleuths against an invincible evil opponent, often with the fate of the world in the balance. These efforts universally fall short of the authors' usual standards of excellence (Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe vs Arnold Zeck for instance).
Agatha Christie's "The Big Four" falls into this category. The saving grace is that Miss Christie treats the whole thing as a joke. The book reads more like an E Philips Oppenheim adventure than a detective story. Because Hercule Poirot is so great, Miss Christie matches him against not one but four super-villains including a Fu Manchu look-alike. There are both overt and subtle references to Sherlock Holmes. Even Chesterton's "invisible postman" makes an appearance.
Have fun. Forget detection. Approach "The Big Four" in the same spirit as you would a James Bond adventure.
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Editorial Reviews:
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An emaciated stranger approaches Hercule Poirot, shouts a warning about "the big four" and drops dead. Who knew Poirot's inquiry into the man's odd behavior would lead to an underground laboratory, an insane asylum, and rumors of a secret weapon?
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