swathi_narasimhan's review against another edition
4.0
Mesapotamia.... Arabs.... Turban.... This is what came into my mind before I started the book. I thought the book would not be my favourite somehow. But i was proved wrong. This book is almost like any other book of her with the murderer coming to light in the end, but the beauty lies in the method carried out for the murder.
Amy Leatheran, a nurse is hired by Dr Erich Leidner to take care of his wife Louise. She seems to have hallucinations. She appears to have married a Friedrick Bosner during her young days. He was found to be a german spy and and he dies some time later. Louise gets blackmailing letters whenever she gets romantically involved with a man. She fears it is the young brother of Friedrick who is sending those.
A week into their expedition, Louise is found dead in her room. He head is stuck with a blunt object. Hercule Poirot arrives and solves the baffling mystery.
The is a huge set of characters in this mystery and almost everyone seems to be a suspect. Who, why , how is revealed as the tale progresses.
Amy Leatheran, a nurse is hired by Dr Erich Leidner to take care of his wife Louise. She seems to have hallucinations. She appears to have married a Friedrick Bosner during her young days. He was found to be a german spy and and he dies some time later. Louise gets blackmailing letters whenever she gets romantically involved with a man. She fears it is the young brother of Friedrick who is sending those.
A week into their expedition, Louise is found dead in her room. He head is stuck with a blunt object. Hercule Poirot arrives and solves the baffling mystery.
The is a huge set of characters in this mystery and almost everyone seems to be a suspect. Who, why , how is revealed as the tale progresses.
lucija_p's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
3.75
soinap's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
ashleylm's review against another edition
3.0
Not her best, not her worst. The solution to the murder was ingenious on one hand, ludicrous on the other. (To be fair, I though it was only mildly ludicrous until I watched the TV Poirot adapation, and quickly realised "completely ludicrous.") I don't like spoilers, so let's just say "if he'd been merely a barista at her coffee shop, or university classmate, then sure, but as it stands in the book? Not a chance."
The characters were differentiated but not particularly exciting. My favourite thing about Murder on the Orient Express wasn't the clever plotting, it was the distinctive characterizations, from Princess Dragomiroff to Mrs. Hubbard. No one leaps off the page here.
(Note: I'm a writer myself, so suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. These aren't ratings of quality, just my subjective account of how much I liked them: 5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
The characters were differentiated but not particularly exciting. My favourite thing about Murder on the Orient Express wasn't the clever plotting, it was the distinctive characterizations, from Princess Dragomiroff to Mrs. Hubbard. No one leaps off the page here.
(Note: I'm a writer myself, so suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. These aren't ratings of quality, just my subjective account of how much I liked them: 5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
el_duderino_already_the_10th's review against another edition
3.0
Spoiler
I was hooked for the entirety of the book but God, the ending is dumb. I loved the setting. I like how Christie puts suspicion on every person. The woman has an art of writing beautiful red herrings. That much is granted but both her books I have read so far have incredulous endings but this one is much more ridiculous than Styles. The murder in Styles was brilliant; it was how the murderer was caught, which was ridiculous.Let's say, for the sake of argument, that yeah, somehow, I buy that a woman, supposedly a very smart one, marries the same person twice without realising it. But the method of murder?? What the fuck!! It was so dumb, it worked due to pure luck. There were so many ways it could have failed. In real life, it WOULD HAVE failed. I'm 100% certain about that.
1. What if the woman jerks her head backwards as a reflex action? The stone came from the roof. There's only one person on the roof. Caught red-handed.
2. What if the stone does land but she screams? Leatheran and Johnson rush to the room. The window is open and her corpse is lying in front of it. They don't see anyone leaving the room. So, it would be clear that she was attacked from the window which would make Leidner a prime suspect.
3. Even if she hadn't screamed but someone happened to visit her in the course of that hour, the possibility of the attack coming from the window would have been very strong.
4. Even if no one entered the room in that hour but what if she had bled profusely and all the area nearby the window was bloodstained? How would Leidner have cleared that up?
There are other loose ends as well, which I don't wanna get into. I enjoyed reading most of it but I feel cheated by the ending.
teadrinking_bibliophile's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
audrey01's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I love a good who done it! But my god, I was so stressed I just wanted to know and Damnnnnnnnnnn Agatha, you did not disappoint! One of these books where even if you try to guess, it’s just gonna go the complete opposite direction! And guess what… it did!