The Big Four

De: Agatha Christie

Narrado por: Jonathan Waters

Agatha Christie’s The Big Four: a tale of international intrigue and espionage.

When an unexpected visitor bursts into Hercule Poirot's home and collapses onto the floor, the atmosphere becomes charged with intrigue. The only clue to his purpose is the repetition of Poirot's name and address, accompanied by the insistent scribbling of the number four. Gradually, the man regains consciousness and begins to divulge information about an insidious international crime syndicate known as "the Big Four".

But the man dies soon after Poirot and Hastings go off on the trail of the Big Four.

Intrigued by the visitor's revelation, Poirot delves deeper into the matter and soon uncovers the startling truth. The Big Four has ingeniously devised a revolutionary form of wireless energy capable of focusing an immensely powerful beam on any desired target. The implications of such a weapon are both staggering and ominous.

Listeners who enjoyed The Murder of Roger Ackroyd will also love The Big Four, a detective story perfect for fans of spy fiction mysteries. Through a series of short stories, Agatha Christie delivers a story full of suspense that will keep you listening all the way to a totally unexpected ending.

Will they be able to unravel the web of deception?

©2023 Montgomery Providence Publishing (P)2023 Montgomery Providence Publishing

A Departure from the Usual Fare

This story was originally published as 12 short stories for “The Sketch” magazine and latter cobbled together with an over arching plot based upon a cabal of “The Big Four” (4) uber villains bent on world domination … with the elusive Number Four (4) being an English master of disguise showing up in most of the stories. The other three (3) are a Chinese master mind, a French scientist and an American tycoon. Considering these were written at a time when the author was struggling to write, these were actually pretty good … if you are not a stickler for how Poirot was previously portrayed (the style here is less criminal detective and more international espionage similar to the famous Sherlock vs Moriarty matchup) … or if you don’t particularly like short stories (I actually find these classic detective stories well suited for the short story format). The benefit of the short format is that each part almost stands on its own with just the conspiracy of The Big Four tying it all together … the disadvantage is that there is very little discernible plot movement until the very end which feels a little forced and not really all that clever … making this story a fairly average classic (not her best work) that is actually made much better with the solid audible narration.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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I love Poirot!

I always love Agatha Christie's Novels and the narrator does a fantastic job bringing this book to life making the story even more enjoyable.

Wonderful Plot

In this tale, Agatha Christie spins a tale of intrigue with Mr. M. Perot. Exquisitely good!