The Big Four

A Hercule Poirot Mystery, Book 4

By: Agatha Christie

Narrated by: John Rayburn

This book is more a spy thriller than just a mystery as the exceptional Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, gets greatly involved in international intrigue and espionage. He attempts to defeat a ruthless cartel trying to dominate the world … in essence super criminals forming a cruel coalition. Poirot’s efforts include help from his closest friend, Captain Arthur Hastings, and also Inspector Japp of Scotland Yard. As we begin the tale, Hastings is just returning from a voyage at sea that he despises and is venting his displeasure as he looks forward to joining his friend. As we begin in this different manner, we will hear what he was thinking as his boat came in.

Other Christie/Poirot books here narrated by John Rayburn include The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and The Murder On the Links.

Originally published in 1927.

Public Domain (P)2023 John D. Rayburn

Horrible Performance

I couldn’t get through the story due to the performance being so bad. Don’t waste your time by starting this book.

Remember to sample!

Unfortunately, the narrator is not very convincing as a Belgium detective! Unable to finish! Prime example of not listening to the sample prior to purchase!

didn’t sample and wasn’t allowed to return

narrator quality is terrible, especially in comparison to the other poirot impressions on audible. i made the mistake of trusting that audible wouldnt have released something so badly done and did not sample before my purchase - would very much like to return

the story is good i think but it’s very hard to tell!

Good story, but the narrator is horrible. I have to be careful next time and not Select a story that he narrates.

I dislike the narrator. I enjoy the Pirots stories and always check to see if any new stories are out, bot not with this narrator.

Okay story, poor narrator choice.

The plot was okay, given when it was written; however, the choice of narrator, sorry to say, doesn't fit well with expected French/European accents.

Additionally, the editor failed to leave "pauses and breathes" between sentences and dialogue; this fact makes the voice work worse.

Literature's most celebrated plagiarist.

Considering Agatha Christie is a multi-billion dollar author, second only to Shakespeare, I have been very underwhelmed by her works. The characters have the development of stick figures and the plot lines are as dry as chalk board math problems. The cartoonish narration was the wrong approach imo. These stories are fun artifacts. Unless these novels are compiled into larger, more economical collections, I will probably leave them on the back burner.

I could finish, the narration was terrible and gave me headaches.

The story may have been amazing, but I didn’t hear any of it. I could listen for more than an hour. And Agatha Christie is one of my favorite authors. I listen to her books over and over again. But not this recording!!!

The Narrator is possibly the worst

Is there a way to block all books by narrator? I think it may be necessary to add that feature now..

SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THE RECORDING

I tried speeding it up and Just could NOT listen to it. Had to buy aNother copy of it with a different recording. It WAS BAD!!!!!

Love Agatha Christie reads BUT…

I read the poor reviews on the impossible to listen to narration but as I’d listened to all her other available works I decided to give this a try as it’s free. I’ve struggled to let it keep playing and now about 40 mins and a few days in I am giving up. The narrator’s voice is appalling and it sounds as though the whole thing is narrated by the whiny old farm dog in the Aristocats.