Hickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie is not a children rhyme book as the title of the book suggest, well this is what I thought when I first time heard the name of the book. Later I came to know that Agatha Christie likes to name her books after the rhymes like One,Two Buckle my Shoe and Five Little Pigs. It is like many other Agatha Christie books a murder mystery from the Poirot series. 

So the story starts with petty thefts in a hostel on Hickory Road which is the home of  many students and professionals. But it take nasty turns into murder after murder as some malicious activities were taking place in the hostel. I really can’t go into the details of the plot with giving away the story. So I stop here write about my experience reading it.

The plot was very simple and mediocre. There was no nail biting thrill in the novel which will keep you at the edge of the chair and force you ransack your brain to guess the culprit. But yes the plot was unpredictable. It was difficult to guess what is in store and how the petty theft led to murders and who could possibly be involved.

There were many characters in the story and it was not easy to remember each one of them as their introduction was real brief and interrogation of each character by the police after the murder was rather boring to read. The interrogation will not make you sit back and think about the probable suspect. 

Poirot was hardly there in the action area. He just used to come in the scene to place a piece in the jigsaw puzzle and the mystery further deepens in the anticipation that a big secret is about to reveal. In fact there was a big secret revealed at the end but the author never explained any significance of it and it was just hushed up under the carpet. 

Also I seriously feel there should be some connection of the plot with the title of the book. May be rats could have some role to play in the plot which might have justify the title.

The Verdict:

It is a nicely written murder suspense novel and the plot was almost unpredictable but the wow factor was missing from the novel. It was not a fast paced thriller. Hickory Dickory Dock might not be the best of her novels but still if you are a fan then certainly don’t miss it.