Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Published by Berkley on January 1, 2000 (originally 1934)
245 pages.
my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Goodreads avg: 4.16
Spoiler-free Review
What more can a mystery addict desire than a much-loathed murder victim found aboard the luxurious Orient Express with multiple stab wounds, thirteen likely suspects, an incomparably brilliant detective in Hercule Poirot, and the most ingenious crime ever conceived?
I’ll be honest — I was a little nervous going into this book. Classics (this is kind of a classic, right?) tend to be hit or miss for me, and mostly miss. I just find the writing so difficult to get into. Luckily for me, Agatha Christie truly is a master of the mystery genre.
The story did start off pretty slow for me, but I loved how witty and sarcastic Poirot was. I found myself cackling at his commentary more than once. I actually sent most of my friends a picture of this line:
Poirot rose. “If you forgive me for being personal — I do not like your face, M. Ratchett,” he said.
And with that he left the restaurant car.
My biggest issue was probably the number of characters. I lost track of everyone almost immediately and got extremely lost trying to figure out who was who. To be fair, there is a list at the beginning of the book, but I didn’t want to keep flipping back and forth or taking notes.
Things picked up a lot toward the end and I flew through the pages, eager to find out who the killer was. The finale honestly blew me away. Obviously I can’t say anything without giving away spoilers, but Agatha Christie did an incredible job of pulling it all together. It helps that Poirot has a flair for the dramatic.
I would definitely recommend this book to someone who is interested in reading something by Christie, or anyone interested in solving the Murder on the Orient Express!
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(Cover and blurb courtesy of Goodreads.)
Sarah Ames-Foley 
I have similar problems with Agatha Christie. I love her plots, but it’s often hard to keep track of all the characters. As someone who has read many of Christie’s books, I’d be the first to admit that the mystery part of her novels is amazing but her characters often blend together. Great post! I really enjoy hearing what others think of Christie’s writing.
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I’m glad it’s not just me! She’s great at weaving things together, but I don’t want to have to make flash cards to keep track of everyone, haha.
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Great review! I totally agree that the number of characters in this was excessive. I’d highly recommend the Murder of Roger Ackroyd or Sparkling Cyanide, the characters were much easier to keep track of. And Then There Were None is my favorite Christie but there are a lot of characters in that too… I think it’s easier to keep them straight than in Orient Express, but tbh it may just be because I’d seen the tv adaptation first.
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Ooo, thanks for the recs! I’ll def have to check those out 🙂
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