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    Power Play
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    Power Play
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    Power Play
    Ebook267 pages4 hours

    Power Play

    By Charlotte Stein

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMar 22, 2012
    ISBN9780007477692
    Unavailable
    Power Play
    Author

    Charlotte Stein

    Charlotte Stein has written over thirty short stories, novellas and novels. Her collection of short stories was named one of the best erotic romances of 2009 by Michelle Buonfiglio, and her first novel, Control, was recently called “…a non-stop crazy hot sex book”. When not writing non-stop crazy hot sex books, she can be found eating jelly turtles, watching terrible sitcoms and occasionally lusting after hunks. She lives in West Yorkshire with her husband and their imaginary dog.

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    Reviews for Power Play

    3.5/5

    514 ratings20 reviews

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    • 2/5
      In which Poirot and Mrs. Oliver pursue an unknown crime, and an unknown perpetrator, and the dreaded young generation.

      No good. It’s always interesting to see Poirot – whose liveliness in the ’20s and ’30s has naturally subsided – having to deal with the ‘modern generation’ but, unfortunately, Christie herself still seems to be dealing with them. As a result, "Third Girl" comes off as unaware and confused about itself. The nature of the mystery uses a number of plot elements from previous novels without every distinguishing it.

      The Suchet adaptation was passable, although far from the best, and that’s not surprising: very little happens in this novel, and what does happen is eminently forgettable. For Christie fans only.

      Poirot ranking: 34th out of 38.
    • 4/5
      I really did like it, up until the next to last chapter when M. Poirot was sitting in his chair "thinking"... That was boring as Christie liked to confuse her readers w/ Red Herrings.

      A young woman, Norma, is sharing a flat with two others, she is commonly known as "the third girl"... Her father has recently returned from South Africa w/ his new & younger wife, who has had mysterious bouts of gastritis whenever Norma visits.

      Norma is suffering from "madness" and delusions and goes to visit M. Poirot, saying that she believes that she has committed a murder, but abruptly leaves telling M. Poirot, that he is "too old" to help her.

      M. Poirot cadges an invitation to meet Norma's family via Mrs. Ariadne Oliver, who then also becomes involved in the mystery....

      Added into the mix is Norma's great uncle, who is known to M. Poirot from sensitive war "business" and may be missing some very important historical documents, the Uncle's secretary, Norma's boyfriend, Norma's two flat mates, & the upstairs neighbor who has fallen from her balcony to her death.....

      I caught on to a good part of the mystery & who done it. I didn't like or dislike the characters, but this was a good steady read.
    • 2/5
      This was not my favorite mystery by Agatha Christie. Poirot seemed to behave uncharacteristically, or not with his usual panache. It did have quite an interesting ending, and I was only partially correct in the conclusions I had come to by the end of the narrative.
    • 1/5

      I've never been much of a fan of Agatha Christie's work; this means that, unlike the case with most of her mystery-writing contemporaries, there are still quite a few of her books I haven't read. So, every once in a while, I treat myself to what would be a trip down Memory Lane were it not for the fact that, never having read the novel before, I don't have the memory in the first place.

      Third Girl is one of the later Poirot novels; as soon as I spotted the copyright date I knew not to expect too much, in that by this stage Christie was not as fully in command of all things as once she might have been (note my polished tact), and it seems that no one at Collins, her longstanding publisher, quite had the courage to tell her so. In fact, I noted only a single out-and-out plot howler (in one chapter Poirot recalls doing something that the preceding chapter's description tells us quite explicitly he did not do) and it doesn't impact anything else in the plot so doesn't matter. I think it was in At Bertram's Hotel, another late-order Christie novel, that one of these little forgetful glitches made the triumphantly revealed solution to the mystery in fact impossible. Third Girl, mercifully, doesn't suffer that problem; what it does suffer is a solution that depends on such a staggering implausibility as to leave one dumbstruck. No one expects Golden Age mysteries to bear more than a passing resemblance to real life; but at the same time you don't expect to be asked to accept something that quite simply couldn't happen in the world. In this instance, the artifice is that a young woman -- the "third girl" of the title -- has not noticed over a period of months that one of her two flatmates, both of them supposedly about her own age, is actually her hated stepmother with a wig on.

      Some of the events along the path that leads to this calamitous revelation are entertaining in a slight way, so the couple of days I spent with the book weren't entirely wasted. Hm. I'm probably just saying that because this is supposed to be the season of good will . . .

    • 3/5
      This is certainly not Agatha Christie's best book. Of course, that doesn't mean it's a bad story. Just not as entertaining as some of her other novels.

      First of all, probably because I was able to guess some solutions myself. Although they are unbelievable, they are not that difficult to guess. Especially when you know Christie's other books and tropes she likes. This is not a big problem but it takes some joy from the final reveal.

      Secondly, the whole story somehow didn't pull me in like some others. I can't really say why. But somehow I wasn't interested in this story that much. Several times I had the opportunity to read it quickly to the end if I devote some time to it and instead took up something else, read another book.

      I think it's a good book to read on the go or on the beach, when there is a lot going on around us and we are not fully focused on the book, or when we do not want something overly complicated. It's quite a nice story that, despite my problems, can be read easily and quickly.
    • 3/5
      Poirot !
      Enough said.
      Love this lil Belgian man.
      Read in 2008.
    • 1/5
      An aging, dithering Christie, writing about an aging, dithering Poirot. She's trying to throw in all sorts of "modern" stuff -- psychiatry and drugs -- and she's out of her depth. He's stitting around and missing connections. I didn't enjoy this one much.
    • 4/5
      Intriguing Christie mystery with Inspector Poirot investigating. Good plot. I liked the ending. It seems cocky Poirot got put in his place a little.
    • 4/5
      From the moment he meets her, the young girl strikes Hercule Poirot as peculiar. In fact, everything about her - from her tousled appearance to her perplexed stare - seems too strange; downright abnormal to him. Yet it's her vague confession to a murder she's not even entirely sure she committed that really throws the little Belgian detective for a loop. In all his years, Monsieur Poirot has never encountered such an unusual child.The mystery becomes even darker and more complicated when he finds out that the odd little duck has suddenly flown the proverbial coop. What's more: No one knows where she may have gone, nor does anyone seem to care that she's missing. So, the question is: Just what's her secret? No one's talking. But Monsieur Poirot suspects that the answer is going to be a killer...Over the past several years, I've actually read a total of eight of Agatha Christie's books - this is the fourth book that I have read in her Hercule Poirot Series. In my opinion, this was certainly an enjoyable read for me, but still incredibly intricate and confusing in parts. This perhaps wasn't Agatha Christie's best book in my opinion, but in typical Agatha Christie style; I was completely in the dark when it came to revealing the 'who-done-it' moment in the story. Overall, I would give this book a B+!
    • 3/5
      Not one of her best for sure, it felt so all over the place! I enjoyed, in a masochistic kind of way I suppose, the constant reminder that the profession of detective is falling into oblivion by the time she writes this (the late 60s) and that probably means that Poirot is going to have to let go at some point. It was interesting to think about the decline of the profession and of Poirot's reputation (nobody from the younger generation has heard of him in this book, and he's described as 'old' by a younger character) but it made me really sad. I'm not sure I want to reach the end.
    • 3/5
      Feb. 2021 reread:While the basis of the plot was ingenious, Christie's comments about life in the mid-1960s England felt dated and, to be frank, somewhat of the disgruntled elder who disliked the culture & attitudes of the youth of the time. But on the plus side, I always enjoy when Ariadne Oliver is a major character.
    • 5/5
      I've been a Christie fan since 8th grade and have read them all so many times that I always remember whodunit. Nevertheless, I find them a relaxing and enjoyable read when I'm taking a break from more weighty fiction.This book features two of my favorites- Hercules Poirot and Ariadne Oliver. When a young girl comes to see Poirot and confesses she might have committed a murder before running out claiming he was too old to help her, Poirot is on the case. As he tracks down the identity of the girl and searches for a death that might fit the bill, Mrs. Oliver add bits and pieces of important information that help him solve the case. The final solution is one I never saw coming (the first time I read the book at least)- a very satisfying mystery indeed!
    • 3/5
      An average mystery but with an above average writer. A book I had actually read before but hadnt realized it.
    • 3/5
      It's the mid-sixties and girls have become so independent these days. Young Norma has a flashy boyfriend her father and stepmother don't approve of, but as Norma is rarely under their roof, there isn't a lot they can do about it. Norma has moved into a London flat with two other girls, oh, and she has bouts of forgetfulness where she ends up in possession of a weapon of some kind or other and can't recall what has occurred. Must be all those drugs.Christie has created a complex mystery here for Poirot, along with mystery writing friend Mrs. Oliver, to figure out. It's difficult for two reasons: no one is sure if there has been a crime committed until well into the story and this is one of the few books in which Christie doesn't give the reader pertinent information until the crime is solved. Still a good read, but hearing Poirot talking about mods or rockers and counter-culture drugs is sort of...weird?
    • 4/5
      Not airtight, but still a nice zippy sleight-of-hand trick. Made all the better by Poirot's pearl-clutching at The Youngs and (rare) display of overt frustration. SHOW US MORE FLESH, MORE BLOOD, POIROT-BOT.
    • 3/5
      Although some of the loose ends don't bear thinking about this is an enjoyable romp through swinging London with Herculre Poirot and Ariadne Oliver. Christie is playful with putting her pre-war detective into a modern world - "you're too old" from the third girl of the title opens the novel, but by the end Poirots knowledge of the universality of human nature wins through. MUCH better than the butchered TV version.
    • 4/5
      Poirot's breakfast is interrupted one morning by a young girl who thinks she has committed a murder - she then runs away because Poirot is too old to understand. This book is clearly set in the early 60s with the beatnicks and the 'peacocks' and the generation gap. But Poirot, ably assisted by Mrs Oliver, sets out to discover just who this girl is and just who she might have murdered. Interesting plot where once again Christie explores one of her main theme of identity - to say any more would give the plot away.
    • 3/5
      I have mixed feelings about this book. The plot was pretty complex and hard to figure out, and I was surprised by the ending, all of which I love. I enjoy most Christie novels because they are "cozy" mysteries. However, this one was not so cozy. Usually the people in her books act very differently from people today. They act like ladies and gentlemen, with old fashioned manners and style of dress, and are concerned about things like honor and reputation. This novel dealt with young people doing drugs, having affairs, and dressing in the grunge style, and there was a bit of espionage. So while it was entertaining, it was not much of an escape for me.
    • 3/5
      This very late Poirot novel isn't Christie's best. Poirot is visited by a discombombulated-looking girl who blurts out her belief that she's committed a murder, but then runs off. Poirot teams with Ariadne Oliver to track down both the girl, and the truth. The plot here wanders, and although Third Girl clocks in at just 220 pages or so, there's an uncomfortable amount of padding. Christie manages to tie it all together in her inimitable way, but there are so many other great Poirot novels I'd recommend this one only to Christie aficianados.
    • 3/5
      This Christie is one of the later ones and does not have quite so much sleek sophistication and style as do her earlier works. This one seems more ordinary and approachable - one that is middle class rather than upper class. In any case, it's great fun with all the usual hidden identities and connections that you couldn't possibly see coming.