A review by ashleylm
Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie
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.)