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Plz Rate 'The Clocks'

sapphire_arisa 24 Mar 09 at 4:10 a.m. GMT

Hey everyone.

Please rate 'The Clocks'?

I'm wondering what you guys think about that one.

Thanks for your time!

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drdavid 26 Mar 09 at 6:10 p.m. GMT

This was the first AC book that I had new i.e. I bought it, or rather was given it for Christmas, the year it was published, 1963. I loved it then and it is still one of the books I most frequently revisit. It has a multi narrative which reflects its complex plot and Porot's presence is much more like a Marple book as he does all his solving in a consultation/passive manner. Indeed it is possible that originally it was not to be a Poirot novel but because of her contractual obligation AC may have been coerced into writing him in. Similarly this happened in The Hollow (Poirot does not appear in the play) where Poirot is almost a guest in the book.

I can highly recommend The Clocks as a thumping good read and Hugh Fraser's audiobook is one of the best.

Marc_Anton 27 Mar 09 at 7:46 a.m. GMT

It was not (one of) the first Christie books I read and by the time I came to it, I had already more or less found out how the Christie plotting works and how she pulls the wool over the reader's eyes. Still, I didn't find this one out, you need very careful reading or you miss out on the clues.

Of course, the plot is hokum but so are other Christie novels, you accept this or you move on to other writers. In this case: why did the murderer go through so much trouble? There is a lot of schlepping with a body going on and planting a corpse in someone else's living room reminds of The Body in the Library. There is a lot of smoke but when you look at it closer you think: "Mmm...when they kept it a bit simpler, they still would walk free!" But I guess that is the fun of this kind of crime novel, the puzzle is everything.

Still, it is highly entertaining. During the 1960s Christie was less strong in plotting (or at least: trying to discover new ways of disguising a murder and fooling the reader) but it is interesting how well she handled dialogue by that time  I guess her experience with many stage plays in the 1950s flowed over in her novels.

I find this novel more interesting than say, Third Girl. In fact, it reminds me a bit of Body in the Library: how a girl discovers a body by stumbling over it and then runs hysterically into the street reminds me of the opening scene of that novel. There is also a case of false identification. By the way, my copy has one of the best covers by Tom Adams.  

drdavid 27 Mar 09 at 8:55 p.m. GMT

I would be interested to know which Tom Adams cover for The Clocks you have, Marc. There is one with a curled hand, clock and bloodstain and I believe another used on the American edition of a variety of clocks. This latter was sold as an original painting in a Tom Adams sale, unfortunately way beyond my price range. I have always found of all the modern Christie covers (and the Westmacott books too) that the Adams covers are the most intriguing. I am also very fond of many of the early Pan British covers by an artist whose name escapes me for the present