Library's review
How often does a book or movie that has become a cultural touchstone over the years actually live up to the hype once you have a chance to read or watch it? Not very often, it seems, but this classic Agatha Christie whodunit did all that and more for me.
How long have I been familiar with the
But for all of my familiarity with the concept of Christie's masterwork, I knew very little about the particulars. I knew there was a murder (well, duh, it's in the title) but I didn't know either whodunit or who was dun. And that fact kept me reading long past my bedtime two nights in a row until I finally got through the denouement and sighed with happy satisfaction. It might be an exaggeration to say Dame Christie never disappoints (I've not yet worked my way through her entire oeuvre) but she certainly doesn't here.
How long have I been familiar with the
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existence and the idea of Murder on the Orient Express? It feels like my whole life, but surely there must have been a few years there at the beginning when the little Belgian detective with the egg-shaped head and the funny moustaches had not entered my consciousness. Certainly, Christie's novel has taken such hold of the cultural zeitgeist that there have been homages of the literary ([The Woman on the Orient Express], [All Quiet on the Orient Express]), cinematic (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the Orient Express), musical (Swingin' on the Orient Express) and theatrical ('Mozart's "Abduction" on the Orient Express').But for all of my familiarity with the concept of Christie's masterwork, I knew very little about the particulars. I knew there was a murder (well, duh, it's in the title) but I didn't know either whodunit or who was dun. And that fact kept me reading long past my bedtime two nights in a row until I finally got through the denouement and sighed with happy satisfaction. It might be an exaggeration to say Dame Christie never disappoints (I've not yet worked my way through her entire oeuvre) but she certainly doesn't here.
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Description
Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Without a shred of doubt, one of his fellow passengers is the murderer. Isolated by the storm, detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer among a dozen of the dead man's enemies, before the murderer decides to strike again.
Media reviews
The book is filled with entertaining and descriptive events that will leave readers anticipating more.
Lecturalia
Estambul, pleno invierno. Poirot decide tomar el Orient Express que en esta época suele hacer su recorrido prácticamente vacío. Pero aquel día, el tren va lleno y sólo gracias a una buena amiga consigue una litera en el coche-cama. A la mañana siguiente se despierta, descubre que una tormenta
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de nieve ha obligado a detener el tren y que un americano, llamado Ratcher, ha sido apuñalado salvajemente. Aparentemente nadie ha entrado ni ha salido del coche-cama. El asesino, sin duda, es alguno de los ocupantes entre los que se encuentra una altiva princesa rusa y una institutriz inglesa. Show Less
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Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1934-01-01