Murder on the Orient Express

Book: Murder on the Orient Express

Author: Agatha Christie

Format: Hardback

Published: 1934

On a cold winter’s night, the Orient Express comes to a halt, the train tracks covered in snow. By morning all seems well…until a body is discovered in a locked room. 12 suspects, all with alibis, all without motive, and all save one without so much as a connection to the victim. Even Hercule Poirot, the great French detective, will have his work cut out on this case.

I honestly should not have liked this book as much as I did. Perhaps it was because I was hearing David Suchet’s (who played Poirot in the movies) voice in my head. Perhaps it was the fun I was having with the varying accents (once again in my head). I have no idea. All I know is that I was unable to put this book down. I found the plot very intriguing, and loved all the twists and turns, and was overall well written. I only have two caveats, though for some they may be enough to deter. First, there were a fair number of phrases spoken in French, without translation (though it was easy enough to get the gist of what the characters were saying.) Second, while the plot is interesting, a lot of the story gets repetitious. The inspectors interview the suspects, get all the stories, they discuss all the stories that you have already read through, and then you get to hear the theories all played out…all while they are sitting in the dining room. As I said, I have no idea why I was unable to put this down, as the repetition should have been enough to drive my inner ADD squirrel crazy, and yet did not.

Overall, I give this book a 4. If you can get past the long repetitive scenes, it really is worth it, if for nothing else than the incredibly brilliant twist at the end.