The book that I decided to review for this writing is Appointment With Death, by Agatha Christie. In this murder mystery, Dr. Sarah King encounters the Boynton family among a party of people during a vacation trip in Cairo, where she and her group tour around the city of Petra. The family, despite their reclusive nature, appears quite normal at first. That is until the sudden death of the Boynton matriarch, Old Lady Emily Boynton. It is only then that it comes to light that everyone within the Boynton family had resentments towards the old woman due to her controlling and abusive nature.
This launches into one of the key themes of the story: the nuance of justice. While the death of Mrs. Boynton is shocking to the family, they are essentially freed of her tyranny and able to pursue the future that they always wanted for themselves; however, justice demands that whoever murdered Mrs. Boynton is still subject to the law, regardless of their intentions, with the current suspect naturally lying within everyone in the tour group, namely those of the Boynton family. Conversely, one could argue that Mrs. Boynton’s cruel nature made her death deserved, leaving whoever killed Mrs. Boynton free of charge. It is through this position that Christie questions the validity of pursuing justice on an ethical scale, where the justification of ends and means dictates the ability of one to maintain their peace and conscience. The idea of moral justice and legal justice has been a long standing argument in terms of which one should precede the other, making this book an excellent portrayal of the dynamic overall. While the Boynton family is seen to be the group that could potentially lose their peace, the contender for justice is found to be Hercule Poirot, a character who famously appears throughout Christie’s works as the detective. He introduces a medium through which both moral and legal justice are appealed to, with him trying to identify the murderer while trying to cause as little damage to the family as possible.
Throughout this, the family as a whole continues to struggle under the influence of Mrs. Boynton’s oppression even after her death. This is another key theme that Christie imploys into her work: the concept of closure. Although it seems like the family is free following Mrs. Boynton’s death, the disconnect between the limited freedom they were able to enjoy when under Mrs. Boynton and the sudden liberty that the family is faced with leaves them at a loss. It is through this that Christie explores the active and resulting effects of psychological abuse, and how it cannot be simply cut off. This also serves as an underlying reiteration of the fact that every member of the Boynton family had some grounds to murder Mrs. Boynton.
When it comes to the story as a mystery, it excellently incorporates elements throughout the narrative such as red herrings, specifically in the context of unreliable narrators. This helps portray the humanity of the characters through the errors in their judgment along with the appeals they make to their internal biases. This maintains a level of wariness between the reader and characters, making it important for the validity of any and all statements to be scrutinized instead of simply accepting the information as fact.
One of Christie's strongest techniques is the use of omniscient narration and direct language in dialogue to allow the reader to observe several perspectives, and although one might assume solving the mystery becomes trivial with multiple perspectives, this is anything but the case. This narration style serves as a double edged sword since it helps flesh out the characters throughout the story, but it also buries a majority of the important information that leads to the solution. That being said, it goes without saying that a natural interest in mystery is somewhat in order for an individual to enjoy this story as with any mystery novel. A way that writers such as Christie often mitigate this requirement is by employing subplots that appeal to various readers such as romance and the previously mentioned psychological dynamics. However, if the story itself were only valued in terms of these secondhand elements rather than the overall story, enjoyment of the book would certainly wane. Even from the perspective of someone who enjoys mystery, the satisfaction of the solutions to a majority of Christie’s novels can sometimes be blindsided by how obscure the evidence connects together to reveal the culprit. Sometimes the hidden angle that Christie derives her mysteries from is refreshing and enjoyable, but in other cases it comes off as abrupt.
Overall, Appointment With Death is definitely a niche read when it comes to reader enjoyment. If you find yourself unable to sit down and analyze the story and characters, you may find yourself bored with this book. Otherwise, if you enjoy critical thinking and exploring ethical dilemmas then this book may be up your alley.
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