::READERS REVIEWS::

Amazingly Fas!!!! This book is one of Agatha\'s books where once you are in you stay in no matter what else you are thinking of I loved it so much.

Not Free SF Reader - A very glamorous train trip.

This time happens to have one Hercule Poirot involved to solve a somewhat surprising murder on board. Not the easiest thing to do - violently dispose of someone on a train full of people. Therefore the usual investigate need the help of the Belgian little grey cells. Definitely one of the better efforts.

great shape fast fast fast shipping!!!! Thanks - Book came in great shape and was shipped very quickly surprised when it arrived so soon!!! Thanks

The Murderer Who Got Away - "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" was not the first mystery novel by Agatha Christie but it was one of her most famous. Some criticized it for its novel ending. This book also has an unconventional ending that should surprise a reader. It is another variation on the "locked room" murder mystery which takes place on a sleeping car in Europe. Some of the comments reflect life in the 1930s. Hercule Poirot's visit to Syria may reflect the events of that era when it was part of the French Empire. Poirot's trip on the Orient Express finds it packed in the off-season. Then a passenger is found stabbed to death. Has anyone left the train? If not, the murderer is still aboard! Poirot is asked to investigate as the snowbound train is isolated from the authorities.

In Part II Poirot interviews all the people on the train. Could anyone be connected to the dead man? Seemingly not, unless Poirot can uncover any facts not disclosed by the passengers. Yet we know it had to be someone on this train. In Part III Poirot considers the testimony and poses Ten Questions about the murder. [Did you pick up any clue?] If any of the passengers have a connection to the murdered man could it explain the crime? In Chapter 9 Poirot assembles the passengers to explain his solution. [This was the common practice in many mystery novels.] Poirot offers two solutions. The first is that Ratchett's enemy entered the train at the station, stabbed him, then slipped away before the train left the station. Poirot explains the second solution to his audience of varied nationalities. Could such a fantastic plan be possible? The Director of the Wagon Lit company chooses the first solution and all the passengers agree. Case closed, the murderer was not found.

This clever story is one of Agatha Christie's best. The murderer of Roger Ackroyd was never tried. This story is an example of clever deductions by finding the undisclosed clues. The description of Ratchett as traveling armed tells about the right to keep and bear arms in Europe before the 1940s. One fault of Christie is her description of American citizens as "subjects". That hasn't been true since the War of 1775.

good deal - This used book was a great deal for my daughters summer reading. It was in good condition and showed up very quickly.

A bit dated, but still an amazing read - I picked up this book second-hand, and was it worth it. The version I have is an older version than I could find here, but same text. Either way, this book kept me reading until the end. Agatha Christie is definitely on my top five writers after that book.

The way the mystery is put together is extraordinary! If you have read any other Christie, you might not be as surprised, but if it your first Christie novel, you will be blown away. The cast of suspects was a classic, but the ending was amazing. The last piece of the puzzle slapped me in the face like my alarm clock.

I liked this book because it kept me reading until the last page. Also the way the demise of that unlucky person, and how he died was pretty amazing. Lastly, the background on the murdered was based on a real event, not to mention the train they were on is real too.

The Best - This is my favorite mystery book (and it was well made into my favorite mystery movie in the 1970's). It's a masterpiece. Unfortunately I can't fully explain why without giving away the ending--which I won't do. Very original, very powerful emotionally, with a very satisfying ending. It's the classic British drawing room murder mystery, and in spite of the fact that there's no "action" it's never dull. Think you're good at guessing who done it in "who dunnits?" I guarantee you'll never guess the murderer in this one. I never tire of reading it.

And get ahold of the movie version too; even Agathie Christie herself gave it thumbs up.

The Best - This is my favorite mystery book (and it was well made into my favorite mystery movie in the 1970's). It's a masterpiece. Unfortunately I can't fully explain why without giving away the ending--which I won't do. Very original, very powerful emotionally, with a very satisfying ending. It's the classic British drawing room murder mystery, and in spite of the fact that there's no "action" it's never dull. Think you're good at guessing who done it in "who dunnits?" I guarantee you'll never guess the murderer in this one. I never tire of reading it.

And get ahold of the movie version too; even Agathie Christie herself gave it thumbs up.

Good Choice - The book arrived within the scheduled arrival time and in good condition. I have no regrets from this purchase.

This story is nonsense, but unintentionally funny nonsense - To her credit, Agatha Christie surprised me with the solution to this locked room murder mystery, but in my defense, that's because the solution was entirely nonsensical.

Without getting into any spoilers, this mystery novel has its good points. There is a certain 1930s charm to it, especially with a "ripped from the headlines" subplot about a thinly disguised Lindbergh Baby story, and an assumption that every woman on the train wears a "dressing gown" to bed, and an assumed knowledge of how servants are expected to behave in the estate of a wealthy family. There is some (unintentional?) humor as characters pat themselves on the back for how socioeconomically diverse the train's passenger list is.. before they (And Christie as narrator) proceed to show condescending contempt for the second-class passengers and Italians. And Christie's portrayal of Americans is great (for example, an American man wears a loud suit, smacks his gum, and says "OK" a lot, although at least a little of this is revealed to be an intentional misdirection on his part). I spent most of the book frustrated that some of the second-tier investigator characters weren't noticing some of the big obvious clues, but Christie surprised me when Poirot got around to explaining the meaning of the clues.


**MILD SPOILER ALERT**


The solution to the mystery, though, is simply nonsensical and unfair to the reader. It is clever and brings an element of artistic/moral satisfaction, but it just doesn't correspond to human behavior at all. However, I am intrigued by the almost postmodern way the solution challenges a reader's presumptions about mystery stories and presents almost an epistemological crisis (how do we know what we know? We presume that the murderer is lying, but I think we implicitly trust at least a little of what other suspects say, especially when we see confirmation, and Christie rocks us with an ending based on layer upon layer of lies and manipulation.). I can't exactly recommend this book, as the ending is too frustrating and the characters are too unbelievable along the way, but I find myself intrigued by the (I think) unintended philosophical challenges...

Not Christie's Best - Let me start by saying I love Agatha Christie. And Then There Were None is my favorite book of all time. That's why I was a bit disappointed to slog through reading one of her most famous books, Murder on the Orient Express.

The mystery itself is a good one, the old room locked from the inside conundrum, and the solution at the end was good and the explanation of clues satisfying, but I found the story telling itself to be very tedious. It's a seemingly endless recitation of interviewing everyone on the train, then searching everyone's luggage, then interviewing everyone again and again. It was very tedious to sit through multiple interviews with every single person of interests on the train.

Part of what I, and most people, enjoy about a mystery is trying to guess "who done it." But the large number of characters and red herrings in the story, and the amount of time spent on them, made me give up trying to figure out the puzzle and what to just skip to the last chapter so it would be over with.

All in all, its still a Christie novel so that makes it a good one, but I'll never read it again.

amazinnnnnnnnn

GOOD STORY TO READ

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Mystery of the Sloppy Editing - When I download a free text for my Kindle, and I encounter a typo, I understand that it was proofread by volunteers, and that it's all part of the deal. But I paid for this book, and the number of typos in it was astounding. The most common error I found was in spacing -- words run together -- but I also found errors in punctuation. There was one place where the first half of a sentence was missing altogether.

The publishers would not, presumably, put up with this kind of sloppy editing in a print version. What makes them think it's OK to put out an electronic version with this many errors?

A classic murder mystery - This is a classic murder mystery, and the details are well known to readers, i.e., a man murdered on a train trapped by a snowstorm. I watched a film adaptation on PBS. It is an excellent story that keeps you guessing to the end about people's identities and motives. The film ended with Poirot facing a moral dilemma, and as he walks off you are not entirely sure what he has done. Well written and well acted.

The perfect place to start - - This is the perfect place to start if you intend to read murder mystery books with any regularity. The story has been done in plays and movies and on TV for decades but it is only in reading it that you catch the early clues and nuances of the characters. Your knowledge is broadened to the allure of foreign languages and refined mannerisms of different nationalities.

"Murder on the Orient Express" is an easy read. The foreign expressions are brief and easily researched if one wishes to translate them. The descriptions of clothing, appearance, and behavior are easily visualized and not a hindrance to the flow and enjoyment of the narrative. Certainly I would recommend this book to eighth grade readers and up. Murder is a serious crime and in reading this story young readers become acquainted with the deductive and methodical system of reasoning. Education is advanced when "Murder on the Orient Express" is required reading in class.