Murder on the Orient Express

NOTE: This review contains no spoilers of the resolution of the book's crime. It does contain some very vague details about the end, I'll make sure to mark it.

I'm someone who has never read Agatha Christie, and only knew of her books and their content purely from cultural osmosis. I wouldn't even really consider myself much of a mystery aficionado. I've read a few here and there. I decided to read Murder on the Orient Express more out of curiosity than anything. I wanted a simple but still engaging read, and I wanted to check out this mystery classic for myself. So, I say this as someone who is coming in blind and ignorant, this was a very engaging read. I was surprised at how hooked I was, and how invested I was into the story. Now I can see why people hail Christie as such a staple of the series, and this makes me excited to read more books of hers.

Onto the book itself, there's one thing I want to reccommend to people who were in a similar boat as me and haven't read much of Christie: GO INTO THIS BOOK BLIND. I ruined the potential experience of reading “And Then There Were None” by her as well since my overly curious self decided it was a good idea to read the Wikipedia spoiler. This one I decided to do that, and it made a huge difference. Be very cautious when you even type this book into a search engine, because just the previews of the search results could potentially spoil it. Not knowing who the real perpetrator is and going along with the clues as the story progresses is what makes these books so good.

I really admired the coziness of this book. It made for a nice and comforting read. I feel it's a more recent trend of mystery books to have everything to evolve into a conspiracy or there to be an absolutely huge, story-shattering plot twist. Not that these are necessarily bad things, but there's something nice about reading a straight-forward mystery that stays within its confines. The crime takes place in one location (on a train) and has a concise and steady cast throughout the entire story. It's well-contained, and made it easier for me to follow along as well.

This is really one of those mysteries where you can't help but follow along as well. With the way it's written, the way the crime is laid out, and the way the characters and cast are handled, I actually started to mentally take my own notes and think about who I suspected the strongest. Of course, more clues get discovered and then your suspicions start to change...I especially appreciate how Poirot and his colleagues go over the case and details near the end. It's like a way to make a final guess before the final reveal. Seeing the reveal after reading through the entire crime and how it transpired was actually something of an experience. It's nice to feel how engaged I can get with this story!

Some minor hang-ups/complaints that I have: There's a ton of French, and I'm someone who struggles a lot with that language. If you're like me, it'd be good to have a translator open or something like that. Another thing is that this book was written in 1934, and as to be expected, it dates itself. It has a lot of casual racial stereotyping.

(Note: I talk about the ending here, but only vague details and nothing that spoils the story.)

I think the biggest shock for me was how abrupt the ending was. It ends pretty much right after the final reveal. I actually went to double-check to make sure if it was an edition thing or if my personal copy was just like that. I'm really surprised there was no epilogue, no kind of follow-up? Especially since I felt there would've been so much to explore and more closure after everything transpired. I've read in other places that since the crime was over and solved, there's no need to know any more than that. I disagree personally. While the biggest question of “whodunnit?” had been answered, there were a lot more smaller questions I had pop up about the aftermath. It gave me a slight feeling of dissatisfaction, but I guess it's mitigated by solving the crime.

(Done with ending discussion)

I can see why this book has pretty much cemented itself in Western culture. It's crazy to reflect on how this entire book is a trope that gets used in so many different pieces of media. How many times do you see the scenario of “crime happens on a small contained space (like a train) and everyone is a suspect who gets interviewed”? If you're new to mystery or want to check out a classic, I recommend “Murder on the Orient Express.” Even though it's the tenth in a series, you won't miss out on any kind of necessary previous information.