The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Over the past few weeks, I feel I like I have been finding my voice. My thoughts are becoming clearer, I am able to articulate better and find it easier translating them to page (or screen). While there is much room for improvement (You can fit a herd of elephants in there), I feel like I have something of substance to share. In the back of mind, I am constructing a post titled In defense of Lucifier vs Sandman, (that is a rabbit hole in and of itself) and a desire to write about Hades (the video game) and several other indie games.

But here am I writing about a book which is incredibly hard to write about. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie, it is one of those books which has me wanting to shout about it from the mountain tops. But the ending and twist is so vital to the experience, I find myself shutting up.

If you want my spoiler filled review, you can check out it on GoodReads.

The mistake I made

Before I try to attempt the impossible, I want to warn others about the mistake I committed. Skip the introduction if your book comes with one. I didn't skip the introduction and while the twist wasn't ruined, it did lessen the impact of it. In some ways, it enhanced my experience, but for sure, it is not the experience the author intended I have on my first reading.

I usually skip such things, but wanting to enjoy the book to the fullest, I did something out of character and I regret it.

What I enjoyed about the book (No Spoilers)

Agatha's strength here lies in how easily she can establish the cast. Every character is well fleshed out and done in such a nonchalant manner. By the end of the book, all of their actions were very much in line. That is as much as I will say about the characters.

Couple this with another strength of hers, sustaining or raising tension without the need for a big set piece, and I was hooked for the entirety.  She doesn't rely on gory deaths or over the top setups to create tense and somber atmosphere. Instead, she paces the mystery such that it compounds in complexities without ever getting out of hand. Adding, new details, angles and layers steadily but at the same time explaining and resolving some of the previous wrinkles. This kept me guessing as to who the murderer was. My need to know was in overdrive, and every time I tried to take a break, I found myself with the book in hand 5 mins later.

Seriously, I finished it in a day, and I am just starting to read again.

While my previous Christie book was a straight-up horror story, this one is more of a traditional whodunit. One of the way it differs from stories of this kind, in my opinion, is that there is a primary cast of suspects and a secondary cast whose main purpose is misdirection. And the book doesn't even try to hide the intent of this secondary cast. But as so frequently stated in the book, everyone here has a secret they desperately want hidden. And one of the major driving force is how the secrets of this secondary cast connects to the main mystery. When I reached the ending, I was able to appreciate the narrative and the Doylist reasoning for this secondary cast.

Conclusion

This is a masterful tale of secrets hidden and unraveling of it that works on both Watsonian and Doylist levels. Even goes on to blur the lines between them. This book certainly deserves a re-read, and I am pretty sure you would agree with me if you ever read this book. I also think this is one of the more divisive stories ever told. You will either love it or hate it, but no in between.

It has an evolving murder, mystery in spades and one of the wildest twists you will ever come across, seriously what are you waiting for?