Book Review: "The Mousetrap" by Agatha Christie

Three blind mice. Three blind mice.

See how they run. See how they run.

They all ran after the farmer's wife,

Who cut their tails with a carving knife,

Did you ever see such a sight in your life

As three blind mice?

The Mousetrap is a book that was assigned as homework. I wasn't expecting it to be a play and, unfortunately, I am not a fan of reading them.

This is my first Agatha Christie's book and I consider this is a light start for me.

Monkswell Manor seems to be a wealthy infrastructure, but their old and worn furniture reveals its antique; the manor is clean, though, since a couple opens it as a new boarding house after receiving the building as an inheritance. Little did they know, their guests would be indeed peculiar: there's a character that looks like has problems while interacting with people, another that feels like an expert about the new business, and even another that comes from everywhere but belongs to nowhere.

During the guests' arrival, it is heard on the radio that a murderer is on the loose. The next day, after receiving a telephone call from the police, everyone in the manor becomes a suspect of two new future victims, an occurrence based on an eerie song, The Three Blind Mice. 

The development of the characters brings with them the clues and possible reasons why they could be the assassins since they have a curious familiarity with a case that involves three orphans (the mice) several years ago. No one knows each other enough to know who is guilty, so everyone must stay vigilant.

I think the story disappointed me because I knew who was the guilty one almost since the introduction of the character, I paid much more attention to details than usual because it was homework, boohoo! I mean, even the way they talk to each other revealed a little too much.

Even though the process of the story is very good, I was actually very engaged with the reading, the ending comes very fast, abrupt, giving you little time, not to comprehend, but not enough to believe why things come to be the way they are. It is as if there was no real closure. Maybe this needs to be seen or even being made as a novel, so it can have more background. 

AGATHA CHRISTIE was an English writer known for her sixty-six detective novels and fourteen short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play The Mousetrap,  as well as six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her contribution to literature.