Poirot Retrospective #6: The Hollow

 

Poirot Retrospective #6: The Hollow

Well, this was a very welcome surprise. I had never once heard of this novel, not even in essays about Poirot, but it's easily one of the best ones so far. "The Hollow" is the name of a fancy estate, and also obliquely refers to a state of coldness and despair that some/most of the characters feel inside themselves.

Apparently the leading Agatha Christie podcast (All About Agatha) said this was the 8th best novel she wrote, and I would tend to agree, more or less.

This was written in 1946, her first novel after WWII; the last one was the (excellent) Five Little Pigs, where Poirot solves a cold case 16 years after the fact. This book exhibits the same level of cleverness, creativity, and good writing.

The plot is unusual. The first 1/3 of the book is all setup, background of the members of a rich family including quite a bit of their shared history. It is understood right away that these will be the suspects ... and one of them, a victim.

Poirot doesn't appear until after this section, but is immediately his normal self. Normally I call attention to Cabot Cove Syndrome, where Poirot just HAPPENS to stumble across murders everywhere he goes... but in this case, it's handled ingeniously: the murder is executed precisely because Poirot is there.

As Poirot notes upon arriving at the murder scene, it's as if the murder scene was staged just for him. But who did it? I made a choice about halfway through, and was mostly (although not completely) wrong. The ending felt entirely natural in an uncommon way, and I really respected it.

The writing is excellent. There are several moments I highlighted in the Kindle app because the writing was so good - poetic, even. At her best, Christie can make incisive and wise remarks about human nature and psychology, and she does so a few times here. Also, her eye for class differences is again on display, but paired with the good writing it's elevated even further. This is a book with Things To Say, which her best ones all seem to do.

So this was a real winner. I like to say that good characters make good suspects, and everyone here (barring, maybe, one) is fleshed out very well - you feel like you've known someone just like that, which is a high praise indeed.

I also felt the book "played fair" - the murderer is realistic and the clues are mostly available for the reader. Nothing comes out of nowhere and nothing is implausible. In addition, the famous "Christie twist" is here as well, but done in a satisfying way. When the conclusion is revealed - and then a double twist! - it feels earned.

Extremely good book that gets far too little praise.