Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie, is a mystery about Hercule Poirot, a Belgian detective, on a crowded Orient Express. While he is on the train, Mr. Ratchett is murdered. The train had previously run into a snow drift, so the murderer was still on board. There are many interesting clues such as a broken watch, a handkerchief, and a button, but the clues seem to lead nowhere. However, Poirot is suddenly struck with a surprising fact: there were multiple murderers, all of whom have a serious gripe against Ratchett.
An impossible murder case, this book will make readers dumbstruck when the mystery is unravelled. It is a wonderful book for people who are up for a challenging mystery.
-Reviewed by JunHyung, grade 7.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie
Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie, is a mystery about Hercule Poirot, a Belgian detective, on a crowded Orient Express. While he is on the train, Mr. Ratchett is murdered. The train had previously run into a snow drift, so the murderer was still on board. There are many interesting clues such as a broken watch, a handkerchief, and a button, but the clues seem to lead nowhere. However, Poirot is suddenly struck with a surprising fact: there were multiple murderers, all of whom have a serious gripe against Ratchett.
An impossible murder case, this book will make readers dumbstruck when the mystery is unravelled. It is a wonderful book for people who are up for a challenging mystery.
-Reviewed by JunHyung, grade 7.
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Murder on the Orient Express begins with Hercule Poirot boarding a train, at his friend M. Bouc's, a Compagnie Internationale des Wagons Lits representative, request. A wealthy man by the name of M. Ratchett tells Poirot that his life is in danger and if Poirot would protect him he would be paid a large sum of money. That night Mr. Rathcett gets stabbed 12 times. One of the women on board the train later finds the bloody knife used to stab Ratchett in her purse and says that she felt someone was in her compartment. The night of Mr. Ratchett's murder there was a snow storm which means if anyone had left the train there would be footsteps in the snow. Since there were no trace of the murderer in the snow everyone knew that the murderer was on the train. There were 15 people on board the train, not counting the conductors and Mr. Ratchett. On the train are Mary Debenham, Colonel Arbuthnot, Hector Mcqueen, Antonio Foscarelli, Edward Henry Masterman, Cyrus Hardman, Princess Dragomiroff, Greta Ohlsson, Mrs. Hubbard, Hildegarde Schmidt, Dr. Constantine, Pierre Michel, and Count and Countess Andrenyi. When investigating Mr. Ratchett's body and compartment Dr. Constantine makes the discovery that two people have stabbed the victim, since some blows have been done by the left hand and others by the right. Another discovery that is made is Mr. Poirot finds a letter (that was supposed to be destroyed by the murderer) regarding the Armstrong case. The Armstrong case is about a wealthy couple, Colonel Armstrong and his wife, that had a baby daughter named Daisy Armstrong. Daisy Armstrong was kidnapped and the kidnapper had asked for 200,000 dollars to return the child. After Daisy's parents had paid the 200,000 dollars, they found their daughters dead body. During this time Mrs. Armstrong was pregnant and because of this tragedy she died while giving birth to her dead, premature baby. Colonel Armstrong later shot himself and during the investigation to find the kidnapper they suspected Daisy's governess. The governess later committed suicide and after her death was it discovered that she was innocent. After finding this letter Mr. Poirot knew that Mr. Ratchett was actually Mr. Casetti, Daisy Armstrog's kidnapper. The marveling mystery continues with Mr. Hercule Poirot trying to solve the case of Mr. Ratchett's murder.
This book is one of the best mystery books I've ever read (along with And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie). It is so unpredictable which I love, I mean who would want to read a book that they can predict what's gonna happen. I really loved the ending, because I really never thought that the book would have ended that way. Some other reasons I loved this book so much is because it can happen and it has happened. I love how Agatha Christie taught her readers that what we do at a young age will forever haunt us, and we should think twice before we do something. Honestly, there is nothing about this book that I disliked or that I would have changed, it is just perfect. I recommend everyone to read this book, it really is one of the best books ever written.
Reviewed by A.J., Grade 10
Grandview Library
Murder on the Orient Express is a mystery book written by Agatha Christie. Hercule Poirot, a detective, is traveling to London by train to solve a case. He switches from train to train and arrives on the Orient Express. At night, Hercule hears a scream, and in the morning he finds out an American passenger was murdered, stabbed twelve times. The train is caught in a snowstorm, so it is obvious the killer is still on board. Will Hercule solve this mystery?
Overall, I enjoyed this novel. It was suspenseful at times and very interesting. The characters are all different and entertaining. I like the author Agatha Christie because her mysteries are full of twists and turns; it is impossible to guess who the killer is. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy the mystery genre and I would give it an 8 out of 10.
Reviewed by Rebecca S., Grade 10
Glendale Central Library
Hercule Poirot is a private detective that boards the Orient Express. Because it is very full, he must board second-class. Yet he finds an extremely intriguing mystery. After a good nights sleep, Poirot wakes up to the murder of a certain Mr. Ratchett, an unpleasant man that Poirot had taken note of the other day. With a bit more investigation it turn out that Ratchett is actually a man named Cassetti, an extremely infamous criminal. Casseti was part of an extremely well-known crime of ransom called the Armstrong case, where he received the money and then killed the girl he kidnapped afterwards. Poirot decides to crack the case, and starts to investigate every person in the cabin. Strangely, every person in the train seems to be connected to the Armstrong case, and all have a possible motive. Poirot must weed out the criminal before the train reaches its destination.
As the only other Agatha Christie book I've read along with 'And Then There Were None', I think that the two are very distinct, but I just have to say that 'Murder on the Orient Express is the lesser of the two. I feel that none of the characters other than Poirot and a couple of passengers were properly developed, and the mystery itself is not very tense. The person who died was a horrible murderer, so you can't really even feel that mad at the culprit. The reveal was very lackluster to me, since once we got all the investigations, the outcome was pretty obvious. Maybe I have weird tastes, because other people who read this book with me really enjoyed it, so I would still recommend it to anyone who's willing, I just personally didn't like it,
Reviewed by Abraham, Grade 9
Brand Library & Art Center
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