• Author: Agatha Christie
• Series: Hercule Poirot #11
• Genre: Murder Mystery
• No. of pages: 333
• Dates read: 03.08.2022 – 07.08.2022
• Star Rating: 1.5 stars

Plot: From seat No. 9, Hercule Poirot was ideally placed to observe his fellow air passengers. Over to his right sat a pretty young woman, clearly infatuated with the man opposite; ahead, in seat No. 13, sat a countess with a poorly concealed cocaine habit; across the gangway in seat No. 8, a detective writer was being troubled by an aggressive wasp. What Poirot did not yet realize was that behind him, in seat No. 2, sat the slumped, lifeless body of a woman…

Now normally I am a stand out Christie fan. I will always find an enjoyment in her books, even if I didn’t love it. But my god that was not the case with this book. At all.

Starting off with the writing. Now I know that Christie doesn’t have the fanciest of writing. It’s a very state the facts kind of style. But this time I found the writing to be really boring. I think this was down to how much I didn’t care for the plot. Normally I enjoy her style. Laying the facts out very straight-forwardly so I can figure it out myself. But this time round I felt that the story was so slow and the writing so dull. I struggled to get through it.

In terms of the plot. I didn’t enjoy it too much. I felt that we jumped way to early into the murder. I didn’t have any time to learn or connect with the victim to care that she died. I also didn’t connect with any of the suspects. I would have preferred a bit of an introduction before all the events took place. The plot was all over the place. I started losing track of what was important and what wasn’t important. The reveal at the end was super unsatisfying and very unrealistic and that’s saying something even for Christie. I figured out most of the ending in the first 30 pages as well which I put down to the fact I am slowly understanding the Christie formula.

Poirot as per usual I loved and I enjoyed his interactions with his fellow detectives. I also thought that the victim was interesting and I wish we had got a bit more from her at the beginning of the story as she was by far the most interesting character from this book. I felt her character was wasted. That being said every other character in this story I did not care about. Jane Grey, who is meant to be the secondary protagonist to Poirot, was annoying, fatphobic and racist which was incredibly ugly. I understand that when you read books from this time period (1920/30s) that you will read uncomfortable things that showcase certain viewpoints of that time. But this was just super gross.

All the other characters were boring. When the murderer was revealed at the end I was just happy the book was over.

Overall, not a great book from Christie at all. I am looking forward to The ABC Murders which is meant to be incredible.