Book Summary:
"Hercule Poirot is a private detective. He is summoned to London to solve a case and boards the Orient Express, securing a first class compartment, through his friend M. Bouc. Once aboard the train a passenger, who is traveling under the name of Rachett, asks him to make sure he survives through a possible attempt to end his life. Mr. Poirot refuses and soon after Rachett is murdered. While the train is stuck in a snow bank, M. Bouc asks Poirot to take on the case and find the murder.
When Poirot takes on the case he finds incriminating clues such as a pipe cleaner and a button from a Wagon Lit conductor uniform. These two make it seem as if Colonel Arbuthnot and Pierre Michel both took part in the murder. The description of the murder by the Greek doctor, Dr. Constantine, showed that Rachett had been stabbed repeatedly to a total of twelve times all with varying amount strength. Due to further investigation of the room Hercule Poirot finds a burnt piece of paper linking this murder to a crime, which had happened years ago in America. It was the Armstrong case, where a man named Cassetti had kidnapped and killed a baby leading to a string of deaths, including the baby's mother, father, and nursery maid.
Hercule Poirot questions all the people on the train and finds that the murder went into Rachett's room and killed the drugged man and snuck out through Mrs. Hubbards room and awakened her. Then he or she snuck into their room before the Matron was able to call for the Wagon Lit, Pierre Michel. Then he begins to notice certain factors relating the set of passengers to the people who took part in the Armstrong case. He suspicions are most aroused when Princess Dragomiroff claimed to be Sonia Armstrong's godmother and the close friend of Linda Arden. Despite the fact that some of his information is false because of the loyalties on the train, Poirot makes a valiant attempt to solve the mystery before the snow melts and it is left to the idiotic police.
My Review:
This is a very good murder mystery novel. It made me take a few steps back and think about the case, just as Poirot has done. Sure, there are a few things that pop out, for example, I thought it was very strange that all of these people were connected, and how they came to be on the same train is never explained. However, I must admit, the ending annoyed me because although it was very clear, and well thought out, its just not the ending you would have expected, as in, it wasn't just one person, and it feels like a sort of cop-out to me. All in all though, it is clear to see why Agatha Christie is one of the most beloved mystery authors of all time.
Review Summary:
Readability: 4.5/5
Characters: 3/5
Writing Style: 4/5
Total Pages: 336
Reading Time: 8 Hours
Would I recommend this book? Yes
Book Challenge Qualifications:
Back to the Classics Challenge 2017: A book by a woman author
Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge 2017: Book 1
No comments:
Post a Comment