SINOPSIS:
In this startling historical mystery, unique in the author’s canon, Agatha Christie presents the puzzle of a deadly mystery at the heart of a dissonant family in ancient Egypt.
Imhotep, wealthy landowner and priest of Thebes, has outraged his sons and daughters by bringing a beautiful concubine into their fold. And the manipulative Nofret has already set about a plan to usurp her rivals’ rightful legacies. When her lifeless body is discovered at the foot of a cliff, Imhotep’s own flesh and blood become the apparent conspirators in her shocking murder.
But vengeance and greed may not be the only motives…
REVIEW:
I’ve gone through hundreds of books throughout my life, from famous one to completely unknown ones, but weirdly, I seem to have skipped few major authors. Agatha Christie is one of them. So I decided to rectify this issue and randomly started with Death Comes As The End.
I’m not sure if it was the best choice for a first reading of this author of if I should have started maybe with one of her more popular novels. Not that I disliked the story, but it was a bit far from what I was expecting.
Death Comes As The End felt kind of like a light, cozy mystery set in an ancient setting. I mean… as “cozy” as it can get, considering the seven murders that take place. Nothing wow, nothing impressive, yet pleasant and catchy enough. It didn’t make me wish to instantly buy all the books written by this author, but in the same time, it’s hard to find anything to dislike in the story. Everything feels just… unremarkable, from the chain of events to the personalities of the characters. The kind of book that you enjoy while reading, but completely forget a week after.
I did appreciate the construction of the characters though. I did not get attached to any of them in particular, I found most of them to be too passive, but I loved how clear and well defined each of them was. I don’t know how to explain it in a better way, but even if you would suddenly forget all their names midway, it would be impossible to get confused about who is who. Their actions and words are perfectly well aligned with their personalities. I encountered the opposite in many many other books and I completely detest when the characters and their voices or behaviours are indistinguishable.
Regarding the mystery itself, I’m never the kind of reader that tries to be a step ahead and guess in advance who the killer is. So as long as the solution is not painstakingly obvious, I’m usually enjoying the story as it goes. This was the case with Death Comes As The End. I probably should have paid more attention to the psychological development of the characters and seen what was coming. Looking back, the changes in their conduct would have been the best clue to follow if I’d be the detective type of reader. But I feel that I did not get the chance to connect with them more because of how inactive most of them were throughout the storyline.
Overall, it was an enjoyable and quick read, but definitely not the type of book that would make me want to read even the grocery list of that author. If I’ll return to Agatha Christie, it will definitely be because of her name and not because of this particular story.
