Flipping Through Pages #11 - Sad Cypress ( A Book Review)

Life, whatever else it might be, is not reasonable.

And so starts an intriguing tale of mystery as we see a heiress on the stand for murder – with all fingers pointed at her save one voice that asks Poirot to save her.

As usual, Christie gives just enough of a clue to let you in on the secret, but in the end just like the murderer, Poirot foils you with his clever touch. It’s an interesting framing choice to make Poirot fit into the narrative rather than him setting it – we start off in the courtroom, the case is set against the accused and then Poirot must cross question all of the stakeholders to find what is true and what is not.

This ensures we get a clear bird’s eye view into opinions, and that is where Poirot hunts, for the lapses in words. As he mentions, the lies often tell more than the truth.

It’s hard to not spoil the resolution, where I do have a slight concern, if we discuss it but we get a wonderful idea of how love especially plays into the aristocratic lifestyle – and how much damaging it can be to people involved.

While I am intrigued by the framing device used, I felt it was a bit restrictive and monotonous as if reading a case file. Obviously, Poirot’s presence ensures the story never lacks that glint of witty repertoire through our favourite moustached detective, but the characters themselves fail to hold our attention.

While I wasn’t a proper fan of the resolution, I still loved how he tied it to the core theme of lies being the true power centers of a detective’s investigation – and the tragedy of a person caught in a game beyond her understanding. 

So, I give it a 6.5 out of 10.

+Poirot is a beast of epic detective proportions here
+The English aristocratic setting is intriguing
+Themes were worthy to ponder on

-The resolution felt a bit contrived

-The flow of the book became too rigid, as if reading a case book