Review: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This review is also found on Goodreads! :)
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Well…damn. I’ve finished this last Saturday evening, and I’m reeling until now. No wonder this is still considered one of Christie’s best, and remains to be controversial until now. This was truly superb and well-written. Each character was well developed. The flow of the story seems formal (as with Hercule Poirot), but in hindsight, it is a gripping narrative.

Of course, as with Christie's mysteries everyone will be a suspect, even until the end. And everyone will have secrets to hide which will revealed gradually. So naturally, at one point (a short one), I have correctly identified the murderer, but it only crossed my mind in haste. I quickly dismissed it, because it was absurd and it will take an incredible skill for story-telling on Christie’s part to make it work and fit. But she did. SHE. DID. In a brilliant manoeuvre, she turned the narrative drastically. The moment the murderer’s identity started to take a definitive shape—it was already towards the end as with whodunnit stories—I took a break and stared off at a distance. Shell-shocked, would be the correct term. The last chapter completely unraveled me.

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