Title: Murder on the Orient Express
Author: Agatha Christie
Genre: Mystery
Plot: Hercule Poirot is on his way home. With some help from his friend, Mr. Bouc, he finds bunk on the Orient Express. Everything changes when the train is delayed because of snow. Some time after, Poirot learns a passenger, Ratchet, has been murdered. Bouc begs Poirot to take the case. Poirot agrees and questions the passengers. Each passenger in the compartment has an alibi and generally confers on the time of death. But something in their alibis doesn’t add up. On top of everything, all of the passengers seem to have a connection to the murdered man. To shake things up even more, not even the dead man was who he said he was. Can Poirot solve the case? Is the murderer still on the train? Or did they find a way to escape?
Rating: 3.5 – a very logical telling of a mystery
Opinion: This was a lot more straightforward than I was expecting. It was more of ‘let’s get the facts first,’ then ‘oh look, a clue!’ then ‘we learn some more information.’ The last third of the book was when the twists and turns started. For most of the book, Poirot was gathering all the facts. It was kind of boring. Part of that was because I’d seen the movie a couple times before I read the book. Cheating, but I took the time to see how the book was different. The movie was pretty consistent with the book. Some of the characters had different ethnicities or different jobs. There was only one character who didn’t make it into the movie, but was absorbed into another character in the movie. I also noticed a few more clues in the book. The movie glossed over them, but it delved into the clues more. The other part of why it was a little boring was because it’s a different mystery style than what I’m used to. The style was from a different era, so I adapted quickly. I’m used to mysteries with more twists and turns throughout. This book is a classic, and I still enjoyed it. It’s great for anyone who enjoys mysteries and enjoyed the movie.
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