This shaky foundation throws the classic crime drama format into disarray.
While the central protagonist of the book is driven by a noble desire to prevent further deaths, Sewell’s incarnation is somewhat amoral, following the clues for more selfish motives. What transpires is two hours of dread and tormenting inner demons led by Sewell’s remarkably complex performance. Following in the footsteps of his ill-fated lovers, Easterbrook finds himself drawn to the group, out of both self-preservation and morbid curiosity. The other members of this unlucky group are deceased, and linked to The Pale Horse, an eerie psychic institution run by three women in the little town of Much Deeping, Surrey.
The infamous list comes to play when Mark’s name is found on it, and when questioned, he feigns ignorance about Thomasina Tuckerton featuring also – the girl he so unceremoniously left to rot. As he wakes up to discover his glamorous lover (Poppy Gilbert) dead beside him, he leaves her behind, alerting no-one. We find Easterbrook (the ever intense Rufus Sewell) mourning the death of his first wife Delphine (Georgina Campbell) and cheating on his second wife Hermia (Kaya Scoledario). Sarah Phelps takes the skeleton of The Pale Horse’s plot, the Shakespearean spectre of three witches and – with her trademark love of maximum macabre – runs wild. It’s an exciting ride that leads its rational protagonist into believing in dark magic but like Christie’s quieter classics, it also has a quirky village backdrop, romance along the way, and a few fun appearances from her caricature, Ariadne Oliver. Through more random occurrences and upper-class acquaintances, Mark Easterbrook, a bored historian, finds himself connecting the dots between the mysterious deaths on the list.
It’s lucky he was in the habit of doing so due to holes in his coat pockets, otherwise his murderer may have cut off the only paper trail of an ominous organisation. Having attended a dying woman, a priest is found murdered with a list of names hidden in his shoe.
With this ominous title origin, Agatha Christie’s novel The Pale Horse may surprise in its lightness. “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.” – Revelation 6:8 0 ‘The Pale Horse’ Fuses a Quaint Agatha Christie with her Darker Work Image: BBC.
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