Review: Murder on the Orient Express
“The murderer is with us—on the train now. . . .”
I haven’t read Agatha Christie in years, and with the re-make of Murder on the Orient Express, I decided to read the book before seeing the movie. (I still haven’t seen the movie, and I’m skeptical, because David Suchet will always be the best Hercule Poirot.) Murder on the Orient Express
As you can probably guess, the entire story takes place on a train, the Orient Express. Just after midnight, the train runs into a snowdrift and stops, stuck on the tracks. Within a few hours, one of the passengers is dead, stabbed multiple times inside his locked room. Poirot is called on to figure out who among the remaining passengers is the killer, and what their connection to the victim is.
Agatha Christie isn’t know as the Queen of Crime for nothing. The format of this book is so simple-it is set up in sections: the setting, the crime, the evidence, the resolution-but so effective. The reader gets to go through the entire crime-solving process right alongside Poirot, watching “the little grey cells of the mind” at work. It’s an incredibly satisfying way to read a mystery. It’s straightforward, with little twists and turns throughout, but not enough to become frustrating. (I also love seeing how Poirot’s counterparts, in this case M. Bouc, become exasperated by how fast Poirot’s mind works, and how he de-bunks every theory they have.) The story itself is so well written, and while some of the language is a little outdated, I think it still stands up to any modern day mystery.
If you’re looking for a suspenseful cozy mystery or a quick winter read, I highly recommend Murder on the Orient Express