Reviews with content warning for Violence - Asesinato en el Orient Express

Agatha Christie’s ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ follows Christie’s detective Poriot as he attempts to deduce which of the 12 passengers trapped in the carriages of the Orient Express due to heavy snow murdered the upper class American Mr Ratchett. It was a murder mystery full of seemingly obvious red herrings and planted clues, asking the reader to question the relevance of much of it, and where every passenger seems to have a sound alibi. From the start of the book, the classic murder mystery twist was unexpected (and I was so confident knowing how twists typically worked that I had deduced a suspect and such individual remained unchanged for at least two thirds of the book), whereas come the final third, pre-twist it became quite clear.

Though cleverly crafted, there were many elements in the deduction that I didn’t enjoy so much, such as the focus on nationality and whether someone from such country is ‘that type’ being the go-to evidence in deciding the identity of the murderer. Christie stereotyped many individuals by nationality and even in the solution did not challenge them. This being a successful means of cracking a murder case seemed highly unrealistic. There was also a lot of French dotted throughout the novel, it being the born language of the detective Poriot, whereas my ignorance in not knowing any French left me just trying to guess Poriot’s remarks at some points, and though these had no effect on the plot it was a minor frustration, I can only blame myself for such however.

‘Murder on the Orient Express’ was somehow both a surprising and obvious murder mystery, with glaring issues but all in all deserving of its legacy as one of the most well known crime novels in literature. I can’t claim that I didn’t enjoy it despite its flaws.

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m4rtt4's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I first read this book 6 years ago in middle school, it was my first Christie and I absolutely loved it. The reading experience was nice this time as well, as I didn't remember the ending at all — but dare I say, this time I was disappointed by it. The build-up was compelling, but I like it when murder mysteries offer me all the clues to try to solve the mystery myself, and this story unfortunately failed at that, as much of the crucial information was only blurted out by Poirot in the very end. This time I also picked up more racist undertones that annoyed me, such as "Englishmen don't use knives because they are civilized" etc. Overall not a bad reading experience, but I was a bit let down.

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rushh's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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777elia's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I didn’t solve the murder but the plot twists we’re very interesting and I couldn’t put this book down

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leosaki's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Hercule Poirot, stop thirsting over your murder suspects challenge (impossible)
Also congrats to Agatha Christie for having a more diverse cast and progressive storytelling IN THE 30S than almost anything until like 5 years ago

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seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review against another edition

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emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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sarahsbestreads's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I loved this book. The ending was predictable towards the end, but I had no idea when starting. Very shocking and overall an amazing murder mystery.

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