There’s a story behind this book –
it was the very first Christie book I’ve ever read, when I was about eleven or
twelve. I came across it by accident, when my mum and I were sorting through a
bunch of books we got from somebody, selecting the ones we wanted to keep. I
chose to read this because of one simple, childish reason: I was going through
my Charmed-phase back then, which, in
Hungarian, is titled Bűbájos boszorkák
– “bűbájos” can either mean “charming” or “one wielding magical powers”, while “boszorkák”
means witches – and this book was titled Bűbájos
gyilkosok in Hungarian – which approximately means “Charming Murderers”.
Same word, it got my attention. I read it.
I couldn’t really appreciate it back
then, and almost completely forgot about it after reading.
But then a few weeks ago I was
coming up from the subway, and there was a girl standing in front of me on the
escalator, with this very book in her hand – it was even the same version.
It was a sign.
Then, some time later my friend
Flóra and I visited this very low-profile second-hand bookshop, and there,
while browsing through the books, I found this little gem: same book, same
cover, same version – printed in 1984. Of course I bought it.
But the exams were breathing down my
neck, so I didn’t have much to read it, until this Wednesday, when I finally, finally took my last exam. After that, I
needed less than thirty-six hours to finish the book.
Okay, story-time done, let’s talk
about the novel itself a bit.
As far as I know, it’s one of
Christie’s lesser known works – it’s neither a Miss Marple nor a Poirot – although
there’s a character, who’s technically Christie’s alter ego, who knows him. Our
narrator is a certain Mark Easterbrook, an author who writes books on art
history. He, on several accidental occasions, hears about a former inn of
sorts, allegedly owned by ‘witches’, called The Pale Horse – and, at the same
time, he, through a friend, hears the story of a murdered priest, who, at the
time of his death, had a list of names on him, dictated to him by a dying woman
– the only problem is that three people from the list are already dead.
Things happen, acquaintances are
made, and Mark slowly links the deaths to the witches of The Pale Horse. He suspects,
although even he can’t really believe it, that the deaths of the people from
the list – although all of them appear to be completely natural – are, in fact,
caused by black magic.
And so the investigation begins.
I won’t say that it was completely
satisfactory. The idea is awesome, the start is awesome, the scene with Mark
and Christie’s alter ego is awesome, but after about a hundred pages, the story
somewhat… dulls down. Of course, the ending, the revelation of the real killer
is stunning and surprising, but the middle part of the novel somewhat feels
rushed.
Although, what I really liked in
this book is Ginger. She’s a lovely, lively young woman, partner in
crime/investigation of Mark. When he has doubts, when he doesn’t know what he
should do – if he should do anything –, Ginger is right there beside him,
pushing him forward, coming up with crazy and dangerous ideas. So, yeah – I really
liked her.
So, all in all, it was a delighting
book. Not Christie’s best, I assume, but still entertaining.
Summer reading project progress: 254/10000
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