Towards Zero is my favorite Agatha Christie novel. I have read them all, numerous times, so obviously it isn’t exactly a “who dun it” for me. I know who dun it, and why. But what I love about this book is that it is totally character-driven.
Unfortunately, I can’t go into any details, because if you haven’t read it, I would spoil the plot for you. (And I would be sentenced to a lifetime sitting in front of the fire watching Miss Marple knit.) Incidentally, neither of the main Christie detectives, Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple, is in this book. It is a stand-alone.
So what can I say that will induce you to read it? It is the arc of the story, the longest I know of. The arc leads from almost the beginning to the very end. As in most Agatha Christies, everything is important. Every word, thought, gesture . . . everything. You have to be in focus to read it.
You learn about the characters, one in particular, near the very beginning. And what you learn about this character leads to a truly shocking solution of the mystery. The shock is not finding out who did it; it is what the character did to solve it. And it would not be shocking except for what you know about this character.
/sb
