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

Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

91 reviews

24carrotgay's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

agatha christie is a genius. i had seen the movie a couple of years ago and loved it, but the book was still an emotional mystery with twists and turns in every direction. this was my first poirot book, and certainly not my last!

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mitta_girl452's review against another edition

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challenging informative lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I did not originally plan on reading this book. I borrowed it from the library I volunteer at as part of their 'Blind Date with a Book' event and was told by the Librarian that is was a great read.
And it was!
I was surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did, but I found it very timeless and intriguing, and I had no clue as to 'who dunnit' until the very end!
This book is classic for a reason, with an interesting cast of characters and a deadly mystery.
One thing I would like to note though, is that this book is quite short, and in retrospect, I think I would have liked to see more from the characters, especially the train passengers. I know very little about them after having read the book, and I think I would have enjoyed a deeper dive into each suspects thoughts and motives.
Regardless, this book was a delightfully fun read, and I would definitely recommend it to friends.

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marianasreading's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective 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? No

3.5

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ed_moore's review against another edition

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dark 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

4.25

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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jess_tries2read's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

This was a fast read that was perfect for a sick day.

I'd never read an Agatha Christie novel until today, and shame on me! It was a great murder mystery, but without being overly grotesque and macabre.

I watched the movie from 1974 last night, and Poirot cracked me up. I had to read the book. He doesn't disappoint in the books, either!

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bookfann's review against another edition

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mysterious

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? No

4.0

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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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fluffyfox's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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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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your_geekygf's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This book started strong and slowed down a bit in the middle. Almost all of the characters are foreign so there is a lot of French sprinkled in and the writing style is very olde tyme. Some of the meaning could be lost in this.

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