Strictly, worth reading multiple times (in part) because you might want to go back and re-read some scenes knowing the final reveal. You can finish that before the book is due, so I am keeping it a 3. How often can you re-read a mystery?
Last night, the widow down the lane committed suicide. Just now, Roger Ackroyd received a letter from her saying who was blackmailing her. Tonight, Roger Ackryod dies. Tomorrow, Hercule Poirot will be on the case.
If you have read anything from Agatha Christie, you should have read something with Poirot in it, so you know roughly how this goes. If you have not, welcome to the world of mysteries, and you might also want to check out that Doyle fellow.
I am loathe to mention much for fear of spoiling anything by accident or implication. It is not an entirely fair mystery, in that the reader does not learn everything he needs to know until immediately before the reveal, and you could argue about at which point in the "Poirot explains everything" chapters you are no longer guessing the answer before the book tells you.
There are many things to explain. One principle of the book is that everyone is hiding something, and everyone really is, to the point of farcically stacked events. How many secret goings-on can happen in one house in one hour? All of them.
You may see that as a brilliant bit of storytelling or as far-fetched. If you have read any Agatha Christie, you know that she is good at what she does, and this is one of her good novels. If you have not, you might want to start with something slightly less innovative but still with Poirot. The ABC Murders
perhaps?Innovative? Yes, to the point where I cannot tell you what I cannot tell you without a potential spoiler. And do not look the book up, because apparently this is one of those endings that people feel free to spoil because the book is old/well-known enough. Just go pick up a copy if you enjoy convoluted murder mysteries.
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