Book Review: Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie

 

A while back, I shared on social media that I was reading Evil Under the Sun, but didn't have time to share my review! Today, I'm finally getting around to posting that review here on my blog.  

Where to begin? There's a lot that I really enjoyed about this book, and of course, Agatha Christie is well-known for her ability to craft a complex mystery. She was so prolific, too, which means there are still a lot of her books for me to get through! Very exciting!

The blurb of this book, taken from the back of my copy, reads: "It was August and the holiday mood ran high at the Jolly Rancher Hotel. The rich and the famous were gathered together on the picturesque Smuggler's Island. The sun shone from a blue sky... sunbathers sprawled on golden beaches... floats bobbed on the bay... and beautiful Arlena Stuart Marshall was strangled to death. Her holiday was over, but then so too was Hercule Poirot's..."

Color me intrigued!

The two main parts of the story that I really want to go into are the setting and the characters, but I also want to add a little bit at the end about the plot - particularly the plot twist.

Setting

The book is set at the Jolly Roger Hotel, which is located on an island off the coast of England called Smuggler's Island. 

As with any mystery, the setting is important, because it sets the limitations of movement and lets the reader know the possibilities (or impossibilities) of how a criminal could have done what they did.

The book comes with a nifty map that you can refer to, and it definitely is quite helpful. I enjoyed this particular kind of setting because it's quite a classic mystery setting - an island, or a secluded location. It makes it easy for the reader to realize that whoever killed the victim has to have been one of the people on the island at the time of the murder, which makes it very fun trying to find out who it was.

It also has the perfect summer vibes for a summer read! 

Characters

It's really the characters that take this story away - and especially the victim, Arlena Stuart Marshall. Arlena is a famous retired actress, and strikingly beautiful. As a result, she's had her fair share of relationships - and scandals. I think I was most surprised by how the characters, her fellow hotel-goers, speak of her in the book. Some (the women especially) make such scathing remarks about her that I honestly felt a bit taken aback. 

One character, for example, said: "She's the kind of woman that to my mind is absolutely worthless! She did nothing to justify her existence. She had no mind - no brains. She thought of nothing but men and clothes and admiration. Useless, a parasite!"

Another said: "Mrs Marshall was not at all the right person - no breeding at all - and I should say a very animal nature."

And, one more for good measure: "Now to my mind that woman's a personification of evil! She's a bad lot through and through. I happen to know a good deal about her."

Anyway, the general consensus that I got from most of these characters was one of Well - I mean - what does a woman like that expect, anyway? Of course she's the type to get killed. And it was frustrating to see how quickly all of the other hotel guests had formed this kind of mob mentality in which Arlena was this evil seductress bent on breaking up marriages and homes, when they didn't even know her. I'm the reader - I knew her even less - and even I had more sympathy for her!  

That being said, it was also quite believable. People will think and say horrible things, as long as they've got it in their heads that they're right. And the idea of assumptions plays a big role here. The assumption that you know who a person is, in particular. It'll come around at least twice in the book to get pulled out from under your feet. But I won't say much more than that!

Plot Twist

So, here's the thing that bothered me a bit, though I suppose it was entirely within the realm of possibility and I'm just a bit miffed I didn't (couldn't) see it coming. I spent most of the book paying attention to what people were saying and doing, and in the end, when the killer is revealed, it was someone who wasn't who they said they were. 

As the reader, you can't possibly know that until the reveal, so it was a teeny bit disappointing to realize all my sleuthing was for naught. It was made even more difficult to guess because of the way each person seemed to have some kind of alibi or motive - though one character seemed particularly guilty throughout, and another was a very blatant red herring.

 

 

All in all, though, the story was intriguing, and the mystery - with all of its clues and characters and different motives and alibis - really kept you thinking hard! I would say this is one story that you should just read and enjoy. You can stop and make your own theories, but the plot twist at the end makes it so that most of these theories are a bit moot. I would recommend going with the flow with this one, and it'll be quite enjoyable!

A good summer mystery to add to your summer reading list!

Speaking of summer reading lists, if you'd like a free copy of my psychological suspense ebook Apartment, you can get one by filling out this survey (I'm undertaking a research study) and opting in for it at the end! The survey is about enhanced ebooks, and it's just me trying to see what people generally think of them. 

Thanks in advance!