Letter Essay #6

          I recently finished reading a 322-page book called Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie. Murder on the Orient Express Recently came out as a movie on November 10th, 2017. Agatha Christie Also wrote 75 other books, including, And then there were none, Death on the Nile, and The ABC Murders. I chose to read this book because my friend recommended it to me. At first, I was just going to watch the movie but I decided to read the book first. I’m glad that I did this because after I finish the book I watched the movie and I liked the fact that I knew the ending.  I could see the details leading up to the ending all being put together in the movie without having to read certain parts of the book again.

 

         Murder on the Orient Express follows a famous, detective named Hercule Poirot. You read about Hercule trying to figure out who murdered an American man named Ratchett.  you hear Hercule interview each of the passengers on the train and tries to figure out the murder yourself. Even though you uncover clues along the way the ending is still a surprise.

 

         I liked that the author included descriptions of the characters in the first few pages of the book. For example, when she described Poirot she wrote, The Belgian sleuth illustrates the efficiency of his methods when he comes face-to-face with a murderer on an international express. I liked this because when I was reading the book and a name came up and I didn’t remember who they were or they were a new character I could flip back to the first couple of pages and read a short description.

 

         I was surprised when in the book Ratchet asked Hercule to be his bodyguard. This surprised me because Agatha Christie described his as malevolent, which means having or showing a wish to do evil to others. I thought that meant people would be more scared of him he was of them. This also made me think later in the book that he knew he would get killed by someone on the train or after he got off.

 

         This book reminded me of another book that I read called Pie by Sarah Weeks. Even though Pie is not about a murder, it is about a girl who needs to solve a mystery. In the book, Alice needs to find out the pie crust recipe. This relates to Murder on the Orient Express because both books have details that uncovered throughout the book and the author put in other subtle hints about the mystery so you could try to figure it out too.

 

          There is also a certain passage from the book that interests me.

“The expression on M. Bouc’s Face gave him, as you would have expressed it, seriously to think. It was clear that something as the common had happened.

 

“What has occurred?” he asked.

 

“You may as well ask that. First the snow- the stoppage. And now-”

 

He paused-and a sort of strangled gasp came from the Wagon Lit conductor.

 

“And now what?’

 

“And Now a passenger lies dead in his birth- stabbed.” (page.49)

 

         This Passage interested me because you knew that there was going to be a murder but it was still surprising the way the author introduced it in the book. Leading up to one of the characters announcing a passenger is dead they build up the suspense by giving the characters certain dialogue and actions that don’t give you all the information so you question what is about to happen. I rate Murder on the Orient Express a 10 out of 10.

 

Sincerely,

Nicole

Trailer to the 2017 movie below.