MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS
US title: MURDER IN THE CALAIS COACH
UK publication: 1934 (Collins)
US publication: 1934 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Hercule Poirot
Genre: Novel
Plot summary and comments: 1 Murder is committed in one of the sleeping compartments on the Istanbul-Calais coach of the famous Orient Express train; almost the entire action takes place in that coach and in the restaurant car following. Poirot is returning on the train from Syria (where he has just solved a crime for the French government), and when the train is forced to halt in Yugoslavia by a snowstorm just after the murder, Poirot is prevailed upon by the railway director, M. Bouc, to investigate. The murder victim is an American businessman named Ratchett. The suspects are an international collection of travellers: Mrs. Hubbard, a loquacious American; the Princess Dragomiroff, an exotic Russian travelling with her maid; the Count and Countess Andrenyi, Hungarian diplomat and wife; Mary Debenham, an English governess; the British Colonel Arbuthnot, returning from India; Greta Ohlsson, a Swedish missionary, and a few others---many of whom are not what they seem. Poirot's final solution is among the most audacious of Christie's plots (in fact, he puts forward two theories and allows M. Bouc to choose between them). A well-known film was made of the story in 1974, at the time the most profitable British film ever made.
::READERS REVIEWS::
"A crime has just been committed, and it is up to Agatha Christie's renowned detective, Mr. Poirot, to solve this one. This time the victim is a passenger on the Orient Express, a famouse early twentieth century passenger train. By coincidence, Mr. Poirot ia also traveling on the Orient Express, and quickly takes on the task of finding the killer. His task, however, is not an easy one, because, as he digs deeper into the case, he finds some suspicous information concerning the victim and his fellow passengers. The Murder on the Orient Express is one of Agatha Christie's truely excellent novels. Agatha Christie uses her innate talent for writing to develop some wonderful characters. My favorite, Mr. Poirot, has such class and intelligenge. He uses his charm to his advantage in solving the case. The reason I enjoyed this book so much is, it was written so that I could speculate on who committed the crime, however when the criminal was revealed to me I was in shock. The case seemed so complicated, yet it was really quite simple. I am very much looking forward to reading more of Agatha Christie's work."
"This is the first Agatha Christie book that I have ever read and believe me, it really made me wanna read much more. The beginning started off a little slow, but as soon as I got to the end of the first chapter, I was hooked. The basic plot is that a murder has occurred on a train filled with strangers. It feels terrible to know that you will be stuck on a train for at least 2 days(this is because of a snow storm) on the same train as a murderer. The victim is an American kidnapper, so detective Hercule Poirot tries his best to question all the passengers, trying to find someone who is involved with the kidnapping case. The end is very unexpected, but I wasn't too happy with it. Overall, I suggest that anyone who loves mysteries and suspense read it soon!!!!!!!-Reviewed by Preethi"
"Of all the agatha christie books that i have read( all three of them...) i have to say, that murder on the orient express had that most outstanding, unsuspectable ending, in any book i have ever read. I just gave this book to my dad to read, once i was done, i am sure he likes it just as much as i did. There are many twist and turns to this book which makes chritie the best of them all."
"In Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie does a phenomenal job at gluing the eyes of the reader to the pages of her book. This "who dunnit?" is about a detective, Hercule Poirot who is on a train when an infamous mobster is murdered. Poirot takes the case and is determined to catch the killer. Everyone on the train is a suspect. Christie's work is brimming with imagery and details that keep the reader captivated. She draws a meticulous picture in the reader's mind of each character by portraying the appearance, personality, and voice through her book. For example, one of the characters is a fat Italian man who has a thick accent and has a habit of gesticulating with his toothpick after he has removed it from his mouth. Many of the expressions and words that she selected are so humorous, I found myself smiling every few minutes. However, I did not like the fact that she uses French expressions in the story. Who knows what, "Voilа ce qui est embetant," means? I did not have the slightest clue what was being said. Another aspect of the book I didn't like was the fact that many of the clues in the story were written in italics and were easy to point out. This made the story seem rather predictable to an extent. However, one would have never guessed the surprise ending. Although thecrime story was ingeniously thought out, I didn't think the structure of the book was. Each chapter was dedicated in interviewing a certain passenger on the train. I found it tedious boring because I anticipated what would happen in the next chapter. Despite this, each chapter leaves the reader hanging and lures him or her to read ahead. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to read mystery books that aren't too scary or violent. This is a murder mystery that will not give the reader nightmares! I also think that people who are entertained by humor will enjoy this book. However, those who like reading books that just get down to the vital facts, skipping over details and imagery will not find this book very fascinating. I urge everyone to try to experience the book because I truly believe that Agatha Christie has done a praise worthy job on it. As said in the end of the book, "I made one fantastic suggestion.""
"Murder on the Orient Express is a very exciting book with a really unexpected ending. Hercule Poirot (the main character) solves yet another puzzling crime.
The story takes place on the unusually crowded Orient Express (A prestigious Euroean train), which is forced to stop practically in the middle of nowhere because of a snow storm, and nobody can get in or out of it, again, because of the storm.
On the train, in the Calais coach, where the murder was commited are some very unusual characters: A big Italian man; The killed man's valet; The killed man's secretary; A Russian princess; A count and a countess; A detective undercover, who pretends he is a dealer of typewriter ribbons; A loud American woman; Hercule Poirot, Monsieur Bouc, and Dr. Constantine; And some more unusual characters.
The murder is commited sometime in the night, and on the next day, Hercule Poirot, Monsieur Bouc (Poirot's friend, and manager of the train company), and Dr. Constantine (another one of Poirot's friends) start questioning the suspects (in this case, everybody) and looking for evidence. They know that the killer is very clever, and still on board.
When I got this book I thought, well, I'm just going to read about the evidence and stuff like that, and that will be all. Well, it wasn't. The first part of the book (first 50 pages) really isn't very interesting even though I enjoyed it very much. But after page 50, you will not be able to take your eyes off of it. I stayed up until two o'clock in the morning and read all 200 pages in one night, because I said to myself "I won't be able to go to sleep until I know who the killer is."
::YOUR OPINION::
