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Towards Zero: Complete & Unabridged | 
 enlarge | Author: Agatha Christie
Creator: Hugh Fraser
Publisher: HarperCollins Audio
Category: Book
List Price: £14.99
Buy New: £4.99
You Save: £10.00 (67%)
New (10) Used (6) from £4.00
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 274329
Format: Audiobook
Media: Audio Cassette
Edition: Unabridged
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4 x 1.3
ISBN: 0007170440
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780007170449
ASIN: 0007170440
Publication Date: May 20, 2004
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Towards Zero "Book" v Towards Zero "TV Adaptation" August 16, 2008
Joanne D'Arcy (Portsmouth, UK)
I picked up this book to read because I had recently seen the ITV adaptation of MARPLE (2008). I knew Miss Marple was not in the book, so wanted to see how true to the book they had been.
Agatha Christie is a competent story teller who weaves the criminal with the ordinary everyday descriptions of places, buildings, areas and people. She does not fail here. The set up for what appears to be a very cut and dry case of murder by person or persons unknown starts from the very beginning.
The introduction of Mr Treves and his tale of a previous case immediately has the reader on edge. This tale is repeated later to reiterate some point, when Mr Treves takes an invitation for dinner at Gull's Point, the setting for the murder. All gathered at Gull's Point have a connection there from the past and the present, through marriage and family.
Once the murder has been committed, the appearance of Superintendent Battle leads us to follow him as the clues are discovered and the anomalies that he cannot put his finger on lead us all towards `zero hour' - when we discover with the other guests and residents of Gull's Point the real perpetrator of the crime and the motive.
Not having read any other Agatha Christie's with Superintendent Battle in, I sensed I was missing some of his back story but this was a mere oversight on my point. I will endeavour to rectify this.
In comparison to the television version, the character Mr MacWhirter has been taken out to enable to slot in Miss Marple's role. This character was an odd diversion within the book, another story completely alien. However as the story progressed, MacWhirter had his own motive for being in the area, his presence is then justified. The TV adaptation stuck true to the characters of Kay Strange, Mary Aldin and Ted Latimer and with some poetic licence there were some slight adjustments to the endings, but in the main I found it was fairly true to the book as it could be when slotting in another one of Christie's infamous detectives, Miss Marple. The book uses the insider knowledge of Hercule Poirot as a reference marker.
If I had read the book first then watched the programme I may have found it was an insult to what is a very good book. Nonetheless I enjoyed both 'versions' but for me the book (and any book) will always outshine any TV/Film adaptation of it.
 An overlooked classic April 9, 2007
C. Knowles (Sheffield, England)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I have been a Christie fan for 35 years, and I agree with the previous reviewer. To my mind this is one of the best books she ever wrote. Perhaps because it does not feature Poirot or Marple it never really seems to get the attention it deserves. Christie is often criticised for being Plot Plot Plot and precious little atmosphere. It is suggested that creating a convincing atmosphere is beyond her. Well this is the book which disproves that theory. You could cut the atmosphere in this one with a knife. From the word go a strange, menacing, almost dreamlike aura hangs over this book. It is, apart from a (very) tangenital similarity to 'Murder Is Easy' in terms of motivation, quite unlike anything else she wrote. It seems to be one of those Christies that readers come to half-heartedly once they have exhausted the Poirots and Marples but I would place it pretty high on her list of classic titles, in fact I am not sure that I wouldn't place it at number one!
One of Christie's vey best. July 16, 2006
M. Elliott (Mansfield, UK)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Towards Zero is one of Agatha Christie's very best books. The characterisation is excellent with lots of well drawn rounded characters. The setting of the cornish coast in September is also very atmospeheric.
However this book is so good as Christie places the main murder late on in the book viewing, as is the case,murder being the end of a series of events rather than the start.
The solution is totally unexpected but if you look back through the book and the characters it is the only possible solution that would work.
A true classic
 Towards Zero November 3, 2005
Rich (UK)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Disappointing. Christie sets up an interesting plot but fails to do anything with it. The book feels as if it's all beginning but no middle. When the murders come they feel tacked on.A real letdown. A good idea wasted due to lack of development.
 More twists and turns than a maze! March 4, 2004
Suzanne Moore (England)
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
This is story features one of Agatha Christie's lesser known detectives, Superintendent Battle who is in five of Agatha Christie's novels. Althought this story starts off slowly it builds up pace after the first dead body turns up. Christie manages to build up the suspense and distrust. After the first death is put down to a bad heart you know that there is more to it than is being said. As you make your way to the end the story is filled with red herrings and twists so that when I finally got to the reason behind the murder I was totally surprised. The Motive behind the murder has to be one of Agatha Christie's most evil and most impressive. And even though it's not one of the best Agatha Christie it is one to be read again!
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