Agatha Christie Reviews
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Third Girl
Two young women rent an apartment. Then they advertise for one more to help with expenses, a "third girl". The third girl here is Norma Restarick. She shows up at Poirot's place one morning, blurts out she "may" have killed someone, decides Poirot is too old, and promptly vanishes.
Mrs. Oliver turns up next, and hearing the tale, decides the girl must have been someone she met at a party. Between them, and with the help of Mr. Goby, they track down Norma's identity. However, there is no body or recent death anywhere to be found.
Unfortunately, despite the promising start, this is one of Christie's substandard books. Coincidence plays a big part: just by chance, Mrs. Oliver walks into a cafe and sees the missing Norma in close conversation with her undesirable boyfriend.
Soon after, thanks to Poirot, Norma is whisked away to relative safety for the time being. Meanwhile, much of the story is taken up with digging around in the past of the Restaricks and assorted other characters.
Mrs. Oliver, who begins with an active role, takes a heavy hit to the head and afterwards becomes very much secondary. There isn't a lot she can do from a hospital bed.
We share too much of Poirot's thinking. In earlier novels, we were just given some tantalizing bits and pieces; here we have pages of his mental workings, which, to be blunt, seems like padding.
Christie approaches the "hippie scene" with a good deal of tentativeness. There are mentions of the odd and disreputable appearance of young people and the prevalence of drug-taking, but little else. It is obvious she isn't familiar with this milieu. Even though the book is contemporary with the times, it lacks an authentic feel.
Of course, by now Dame Agatha was in her 70s, and the world she wrote about up through the 40s had disappeared. She may have been a little bewildered by the "generation gap", and it was a mistake on her part to incorporate that to give her work a "modern feel".
Even the denouement isn't startling. Much of it is telegraphed to the reader long before the "final chapter".
Overall, Third Girl is a disappointment from many angles. Christie fans may want to read it, just to complete going through her work. Otherwise, you can skip this one and not miss anything.
Mrs. Oliver turns up next, and hearing the tale, decides the girl must have been someone she met at a party. Between them, and with the help of Mr. Goby, they track down Norma's identity. However, there is no body or recent death anywhere to be found.
Unfortunately, despite the promising start, this is one of Christie's substandard books. Coincidence plays a big part: just by chance, Mrs. Oliver walks into a cafe and sees the missing Norma in close conversation with her undesirable boyfriend.
Soon after, thanks to Poirot, Norma is whisked away to relative safety for the time being. Meanwhile, much of the story is taken up with digging around in the past of the Restaricks and assorted other characters.
Mrs. Oliver, who begins with an active role, takes a heavy hit to the head and afterwards becomes very much secondary. There isn't a lot she can do from a hospital bed.
We share too much of Poirot's thinking. In earlier novels, we were just given some tantalizing bits and pieces; here we have pages of his mental workings, which, to be blunt, seems like padding.
Christie approaches the "hippie scene" with a good deal of tentativeness. There are mentions of the odd and disreputable appearance of young people and the prevalence of drug-taking, but little else. It is obvious she isn't familiar with this milieu. Even though the book is contemporary with the times, it lacks an authentic feel.
Of course, by now Dame Agatha was in her 70s, and the world she wrote about up through the 40s had disappeared. She may have been a little bewildered by the "generation gap", and it was a mistake on her part to incorporate that to give her work a "modern feel".
Even the denouement isn't startling. Much of it is telegraphed to the reader long before the "final chapter".
Overall, Third Girl is a disappointment from many angles. Christie fans may want to read it, just to complete going through her work. Otherwise, you can skip this one and not miss anything.
posted by Nightowl, 10:56 AM
