This edition published 3rd March 2008 by Harper Collins. Originally published in 1927.
From the cover of the book:
A ruthless international cartel seeks world domination…Framed in the doorway of Poirot’s bedroom stood an uninvited guest, coated from head to foot in dust. The man’s gaunt face stared for a moment, then he swayed and fell.
Who was he? Was he suffering from shock or just exhaustion? Above all, what was the significance of the figure 4, scribbled over and over again on a sheet of paper?
Poirot finds himself plunged into a world of international intrigue, risking his life to uncover the truth about ‘Number Four’
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The Big Four is something of a strange beast when it comes to an Poirot mystery. The novel is made up of a series of previously published short stories Christie adapted into an expansive plot that pits her little Belgian detective against a secretive organisation hell-bent on world domination.
The novel begins with the arrival of Captain Hastings at Poirot's door. Hastings is back for a visit from the Argentine, where he now lives with his wife 'Cinderella' (of The Murder on the Links fame), and hopes to surprise his old friend. Overjoyed, and certainly startled, Poirot explains that coincidentally, he is just about to set off on a visit to South America, after being tempted by an enormous fee to undertake a case there. Their conversation is brought to an abrupt end by the appearance of a mysterious figure in Poirot's bedroom doorway, who collapses at their feet. They manage to elicit from the desperate man that he is on the run from an international crime cartel run by four powerful figures - Number 1, a shady Chinese character called Li Chan Yen, and his three unknown accomplices, Number 2, an American; Number 3, a Frenchwoman; and Number 3, a dangerous figure known as 'The Destroyer'.
Shortly afterwards, the desperate man is killed, and Poirot, realising the South American case was a ruse to get him out of the way, decides to put his efforts into finding out all he can about the Big Four and what they are up to. As the months tick by, much to Hastings' frustration, the pieces of the mystery about the dastardly aims of the organisation come together slowly, via enigmatic clues left behind at the scenes of seemingly unconnected cases in which Poirot can detect their interference. As the bodies pile up, and they find themselves in many a sticky situation, the identities of the Big Four are eventually established, and Christie engineers a quite brilliant, and very ambitious climax, involving some stunning subterfuge on Poirot's part... and the appearance of a face from Poirot's past, the charismatic Russian, Countess Vera Rossakoff.
There are lots of really interesting features about this unusual, and highly enjoyable mystery. I really have not read anything quite like it out of all the Poirot novels I have consumed in terms of structure, scope, and surprises. It combines individual cases of the kind Poirot can solve at the drop of the hat, via his knowledge of the 'psychologies', with an over-arching, international espionage story that he really has to tax himself to solve, and which is the usual province of Christie's fast paced, stand-alone adventures - and there is more than a little of the Sherlock Holmes here around some of the gripping happenings, duplicity, and locations.
This is a Christie I have not read before, and it is very different from the David Suchet adaptation which was my only prior knowledge of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed all the fun and games, and the way Hasting's openly expresses mystification and heartfelt feelings in the way only he can, through the cracking audio book narrated by Captain Hastings himself, Hugh Fraser.
The Big Four is my March pick for #ReadChristie2024 as a book written by Agatha Christie in the 1920s. Onwards to the 1930s next!
The Big Four is available to buy now in various formats.
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