A review by ed_moore
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

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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