Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Murder on the Orient Express

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie is the first book I have read featuring Hercule Poirot.

I have recently begun to enjoy reading murder mysteries and obviously needed to read one by one of the greatest authors of this genre. And it was brilliant, truly brilliant!

I really appreciated the way the story unfolds and how Poirot works with investigating the scene, questioning the suspects and evaluating the evidence and how the deductions he has made using only his "little grey cells" are laid out methodically, although the novel is in many ways is quite fantastical.

For a book originally published in 1934, there is a certain timeless quality to the story with the Orient Express still being the height of first class train travel. I enjoyed the twists and turns in the story and did not see the ending coming at all!

I borrowed a copy of this book from Taunton Library and listened to it on CloudLibrary. I read this for prompt 1, a locked room mystery, for the 52 Book Club Reading Challenge 2024.

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nolongerhuman_'s review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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p2rteltytar's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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the_clueless_tourist's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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squintyfarmer's review against another edition

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lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.0

I decided to read this book because I bought a poster with 100 books to read in your lifetime. This is the twentieth book on this list. I cannot believe I am twenty percent in on this journey. I thought I was going to struggle with this book with it being a classic, but it was very enjoyable.

This book is based on Hercule Poirot. He is traveling on the Orient Express and is approached by a desperate American named Ratchett. He is afraid that someone is going to kill him and goes to Poirot for help. Sadly, the next day Ratchett’s worst fears become reality, when he is found dead in his cabin, a victim of multiple stab wounds. With nothing but a scrap of paper to go on, Poirot must piece together Ratchett’s identity before he can find out which of his fellow passengers murdered him.

I will always love crime books and the mystery of figuring out who commit the crime. I think the mystery is enough to keep you hooked. I liked the fact that it is split into parts and it’s not a very big book, it feels like Poirot is sat next to you talking about the case and what his thoughts are. My favourite bits of any mystery book is when the penny finally drops and you know who commit the crime, which in this case happened at the end of the book which slightly annoyed me because I wanted to see if there was going to be any outcome and what was going to happen to the suspect after the case had been solved. I love Poirot, I think he was so level-headed and yet his brain was working a thousand miles a minute that the other detectives couldn’t keep up.

I was hoping for some action and some bad guys getting their ass kicked, but obviously with the setting on this book and everyone being so calm, it wasn’t like there was a need for anyone’s ass to be kicked. This book ended with me having questions regarding the suspects. I would like answers please, I would have liked for there to be multiple POVs with the killers talking and planning so that we knew what they were thinking, I just wanted to be inside their head during the final chapter.

I enjoyed this book and managed to finish it quite quickly. For my first book I read written by Agathe Christie, it has set my expectations pretty high for her next work that I might read.

Content Warnings

meyn's review against another edition

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adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced

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

5.0

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