REVIEW: Death in the Clouds (Agatha Christie)

Book: Death in the Clouds

Author: Agatha Christie

My rating: 2/5.

Premise: 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, sat a Countess with a poorly-concealed cocaine habit; across the gangway, 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.

⚠️[CW: racist comments, body shaming, drug use] 

This was not my favourite Agatha Christie. The story felt a bit jumbled as we followed the different passengers rather than focusing on Poirot. There was one detail that I was practically shouting at someone to recall that was pivotal near the end. The reveal was impressive, but I was already not feeling the book.

One hazard of reading old book is that there can be comments that were normal at the time, but don't wash with the modern reader. This happened for me. The one bit of racism came completely out of nowhere and made me uncomfortable. And then throughout, I found the constant judging of people's appearance and little misogynistic remarks grating. I understand it's a product of its time, but it was too much for me.