Review: Murder on the Orient Express
I was surprised by how charmed I was by Murder on the Orient Express. I know Christie’s reputation and her work is popular enough that I know some of the plots, so I know what I’m getting into. At some point, admittedly late in the game, I realized “oh, this is the one where…”. And I still was more charmed than I can defend.
I just finished writing a review of The Thin Man where I lamented that I wasn’t lit up by Hammett a writer who does so many things I generally love in writing and here I am being charmed by Christie who is doing so many things I generally don’t love.
I feel like the characters are all comparatively thin. Stereotypes are doing a lot of lifting here. And the plot is contrived to make the puzzle. It seems like this should irk me to death.
But.
In the middle of a plot that at several points seems to scream “look: a clue”, Christie snuck several genuine clues right past me. In the midst of stereotypes who were sticking to the script remarkably well, she slipped one into another and caught me off guard. And when she has Poirot lead characters by the nose as if to say “I’m better at this than you think I am” I get the feeling she’s saying that to me as a reader about her writing. And she’s right.
She turns contrivances into comfort while never letting you take anything for granted. She moves her characters along the chessboard with finesse and panache. It’s all in the service of a puzzle, but the craftsmanship is so exquisite that it can’t help but charm.
Strongly Recommended.