Book Review: Murder on the Orient Express

I have a quick book review for you all today. I was in between books and decided to read my first Agatha Christie mystery, Murder on the Orient Express. I had never read anything by Agatha Christie before but since she is/was one of the most famous mystery writers I thought it was about time I read one.

Murder on the Orient Express follows Christie’s Belgian detective Hercule Poirot as he investigates a murder that takes place on the Orient Express (self-explanatory) while aboard the sleeper train. So what did I think of it? I thought it was a charming detective novel, but I found it a bit boring to be honest. Maybe it’s because it was written in 1934 and literature has changed since then? Of course, then you can say classics like Shakespeare or one of my personal favorites, Jane Austen, wouldn’t be entertaining today which would be wrong in my opinion. Maybe it’s just mystery novels that don’t translate as well over time? Anyway, I think what was boring about it is that there wasn’t a lot going on. The murder happens off page and the novel is basically Poirot calling passengers in one at a time to interview them and give their accounts of where they were that night, where their cabin is, what they heard and saw etc. Then at the end, Poirot gathers all the passengers together and tells them what he has discovered and reveals the killer. All very straight forward. There are no clues planted for readers to be able to guess what they think happened or who the killer is. She really doesn’t give anything, which is okay, but for me I like to get engrossed in a novel and interact with it in terms of trying to figure it out on my own or at least make predictions.

Perhaps I’ve gotten spoiled with today’s intricately woven stories and twists and turns a la Gone Girl that I find a novel primarily consisting of interviews and asking people to sign their name so he can find out if they’re right or left handed is a bit too slow for me.

With that being said, I don’t regret reading the novel. It was an easy and quick read and I would read another Agatha Christie novel just to give another one a try. If you have any recommendations please comment below!