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Just one more post after this, and I will have reviewed all 61 of my 2020 reads! I am glad I decided to do this — it’s been a great way to reflect over my books from last year.

After revisiting And Then There Were None, I decided to read a few more Agatha Christie books. I’ll be honest — I barely remember this one. I know it was a decent mystery, but clearly not the most memorable. And I’m pretty sure I knocked it down to three stars mostly because the narrating character was absolutely insufferable. No matter how often Poirot demonstrates that he knows exactly what he is doing and is basically always right, Arthur Hastings constantly looks down on him, questions his intelligence or even sanity, and considers his own opinions more highly.

I didn’t know when I chose this one that it was the first Poirot mystery, so it was interesting for that reason. I’ve read several later books featuring the little Belgian detective, so I enjoyed seeing his introduction. I’m just glad he ditched this particular friend and assistant after a few stories.

This one was much more memorable, though I can’t say the main reason why without major spoilers. Suffice it to say that the conclusion to the mystery was completely unexpected, something that is pretty rare for me as a major mystery aficionado. One of the more satisfying conclusions of Christie books I’ve read — sometimes I find them either too predictable or too out of the blue, but this one was neither!

Now this one was creepy. It was different than any other Christie book I’ve read, and the build up is so slow I kept wondering where the mystery was until it suddenly jumped out at me. This one features no detective, massive amounts of misdirection, and a compelling narrative that is not at all what it seems. Highly recommend this one, with the caveat that it is — well, creepy. Not gory or anything like that, just — there are some very evil and calculating people in it. That’s all I’ll say.

As I mentioned before, I didn’t let my distaste for Liane Moriarty’s first book, Three Wishes, stop me from trying some of her other works that my friends promised were much better. And I’m glad I didn’t!

This one was incredibly enjoyable and intriguing, even though I already unfortunately knew the twist (when the show came out I looked up things about it to decide whether or not to watch it — which I decided I couldn’t). Even knowing the twist, I was hooked from beginning to end. The characters are relatable and interesting, the story unfolds with mystery and empathy, and the writing is superb. There is some sexual content, though I don’t remember anything terribly graphic — and some descriptions of domestic abuse.

This was my last book club book of the year, and I’m the only one in book club who liked it. Only three of us even finished it. That said, I certainly didn’t like everything about it — but there was something that just caught my interest and imagination in a way I couldn’t shake.

I think I liked it for a couple of reasons — first, as a writer, I was fascinated by the creative and unique storytelling. There are stories within stories within stories, not to mention rooms and buildings and underground passageways absolutely filled with books and more stories. Second, I just love the whole idea of a secret, magical world — like an adult Narnia or Harry Potter (though not nearly as good or with as much depth).

Unfortunately, there are a lot of things not to like as well. The main character is gay, and there is a love story woven throughout between him and another man (nothing graphic and not the main storyline, but I still could have done without it). Much of the symbolism in the world and stories are taken from occult sources (or so I’m told — I didn’t delve into it myself, but hearing that didn’t surprise me). And the story, while fascinating and beautiful in certain ways, just never really culminated in a satisfying way. It’s like the author had all this potential and could never really quite pull it into something truly coherent and meaningful. So that was disappointing — but I’m still glad I read it.

Thank you for joining me for this post — I’ll be back next week for the final installment!