Vacation Mystery
Vacation Mystery
Aidan Sacco
Murder on the Orient Express
By Agatha Christie
“And now a passenger lies dead in his berth- stabbed”( Christie 48). As a murder has been committed on the express train, Poirot tries his best to find clues to solve this crime. Will the killer be caught or will they escape the crime scene uncaught?
Murder on the Orient Express is a fictional novel written about a terrible murder that occurred on what was supposed to be a relaxing train ride through Europe. I have only read about halfway through so I am not sure as to how the book exactly ends. The story begins as detective Poirot boards the train ready to vacation for a few days through Europe. The next day as Poirot and his friend M. Bouc are in the diner eating lunch, Poirot notices two men who are also seated near him. The two men happen to go by the name Hector MacQueen and Ratchett. As the dining car slowly empties out Ratchett approaches Poirot, “I want you to take on a job for me”(Christie 35). Ratchett explains to Poirot that he has a very rich man, and he has enemies because of it. He offers to pay Poirot a very large amount of money for him to keep Ratchett safe. Poirott declines the offer and leaves the cart while telling Ratchett he doesn't like his face. The next day at around 8:45 am Poirot gets up to stretch his legs and get a breath of fresh air outside. He then comes back inside and the conductor tells him that his luggage has been moved down to compartment number 1. As Poirot moves down to the new compartment he realizes he is right across from Ratchett. A lady named Ms. Hubbard who is staying right next to Ratchett tells Poirot she is scared because she heard him trying to open the door to her room. After Poirot wishes Ms. Hubbard goodnight he goes back to his room and falls asleep after a few hours. During the middle of the night Poirot is awoken by a loud cry and assumes that the train has stopped at a station. As Poirot tries to go back to bed he is not able to fall asleep due to the odd silence of the train not moving. He calls in the conductor for some water and is informed the train had hit a snow bank and may be stuck there for several days. Poirot does not worry about this but instead goes back to bed. In the morning Poirot notices the train is still stopped because of the snow bank as he is making his way to the dining cart for breakfast. Many of the guests are gathered in the cart and very anxious because their schedules may be delayed due to this very unfortunate event. After breakfast, Poirot is called down to his cabin by M. Bouc who tells Poirot that Ratchett was murdered knowing he did not kill himself because he was stabbed 10-15 times. In the crime scene the window of the room is left open as if the murderer had escaped through there but there seems to be no tracks in the snow meaning they escaped a different way. Poirot decides to start his investigation by interviewing MacQueen. MacQueen explained that, “He had just had a row with his secretary. He offered me the job and I took it. I was at a loose-end and glad to find a well paid job”(Christie 56). MacQueen stated that he was working for Poirot and had the job for about a year now. A doctor comes into the crime scene and investigates the room and body. He realizes the stabs were made with the left and right hand of the killer because they are quite different from each other. On the ground is also seen a handkerchief and pipe cleaner. More information is found out about Ratchett as Poirot realizes his real name was Casetti and he was actually involved in a kidnapping. As Poirot found out this information he went on to interview MacQueen again and got some very valuable information. MacQueen tells him the last person he saw the night of the murder was a lady in a silk robe passing by, who was never seen again. After hearing this information could Poirot have a better idea as to who the murderer was?
I have only read about half of this book but it has been a very interesting read. I am usually reading a different genre of books but I decided to give this classic mystery a chance and it ended up going pretty well and I may even start reading more mystery books. Reading each chapter I was always eager to keep on going because I was quite curious as to who the murderer was. I was also a big fan of the way the author created Poirot's personality in the book. He was never worried nor did he let anything get to his head. I think the reason he seemed like such a good and experienced detective was the fact that he stayed calm in every situation. Poirot also never gave up or even took a break from his detective work. I think this shows a message to the reader that to be good at something you have to be dedicated and determined and also keep a working mindset. Looking back I don’t think there were that many points where I thought it was boring or uninteresting. I also loved how the author was never off topic or started to get into detail with something that is not very important or related to the plot and theme of the book. This quality made the book even better because it made the story less hard to understand while reading on. The setting of the book is on a train that is traveling through Europe. I think it was a good idea by Agatha Christie to have the story take place on an express because I have never really heard of a murder while aboard a train. This made me very interested as to what happened after I took a glimpse of the title, Murder on the Orient Express. Since I still have not read the full book, I still do not know who the murderer is or if they even ended up finding them. But in the end this has been a pretty interesting book to read.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is in highschool or older. It may not interest anyone who is younger but you can still try it out. If you are a big mystery type of person then you would like this book because this novel is based off of a mystery. But even if you were never really a big fan of mysteries like me, it would be a good experience to try something new for a change. This book is the perfect length as it is not too short nor too long. One thing I must say is that if you are looking for an exciting beginning right off the bat this is not the book for you. This book may seem to start off a bit slow at the start but you just have to keep reading. In the end if you are looking for something a bit different than your usual read, this would be a great book to pick up and start reading.
By Agatha Christie
“And now a passenger lies dead in his berth- stabbed”( Christie 48). As a murder has been committed on the express train, Poirot tries his best to find clues to solve this crime. Will the killer be caught or will they escape the crime scene uncaught?
Murder on the Orient Express is a fictional novel written about a terrible murder that occurred on what was supposed to be a relaxing train ride through Europe. I have only read about halfway through so I am not sure as to how the book exactly ends. The story begins as detective Poirot boards the train ready to vacation for a few days through Europe. The next day as Poirot and his friend M. Bouc are in the diner eating lunch, Poirot notices two men who are also seated near him. The two men happen to go by the name Hector MacQueen and Ratchett. As the dining car slowly empties out Ratchett approaches Poirot, “I want you to take on a job for me”(Christie 35). Ratchett explains to Poirot that he has a very rich man, and he has enemies because of it. He offers to pay Poirot a very large amount of money for him to keep Ratchett safe. Poirott declines the offer and leaves the cart while telling Ratchett he doesn't like his face. The next day at around 8:45 am Poirot gets up to stretch his legs and get a breath of fresh air outside. He then comes back inside and the conductor tells him that his luggage has been moved down to compartment number 1. As Poirot moves down to the new compartment he realizes he is right across from Ratchett. A lady named Ms. Hubbard who is staying right next to Ratchett tells Poirot she is scared because she heard him trying to open the door to her room. After Poirot wishes Ms. Hubbard goodnight he goes back to his room and falls asleep after a few hours. During the middle of the night Poirot is awoken by a loud cry and assumes that the train has stopped at a station. As Poirot tries to go back to bed he is not able to fall asleep due to the odd silence of the train not moving. He calls in the conductor for some water and is informed the train had hit a snow bank and may be stuck there for several days. Poirot does not worry about this but instead goes back to bed. In the morning Poirot notices the train is still stopped because of the snow bank as he is making his way to the dining cart for breakfast. Many of the guests are gathered in the cart and very anxious because their schedules may be delayed due to this very unfortunate event. After breakfast, Poirot is called down to his cabin by M. Bouc who tells Poirot that Ratchett was murdered knowing he did not kill himself because he was stabbed 10-15 times. In the crime scene the window of the room is left open as if the murderer had escaped through there but there seems to be no tracks in the snow meaning they escaped a different way. Poirot decides to start his investigation by interviewing MacQueen. MacQueen explained that, “He had just had a row with his secretary. He offered me the job and I took it. I was at a loose-end and glad to find a well paid job”(Christie 56). MacQueen stated that he was working for Poirot and had the job for about a year now. A doctor comes into the crime scene and investigates the room and body. He realizes the stabs were made with the left and right hand of the killer because they are quite different from each other. On the ground is also seen a handkerchief and pipe cleaner. More information is found out about Ratchett as Poirot realizes his real name was Casetti and he was actually involved in a kidnapping. As Poirot found out this information he went on to interview MacQueen again and got some very valuable information. MacQueen tells him the last person he saw the night of the murder was a lady in a silk robe passing by, who was never seen again. After hearing this information could Poirot have a better idea as to who the murderer was?
I have only read about half of this book but it has been a very interesting read. I am usually reading a different genre of books but I decided to give this classic mystery a chance and it ended up going pretty well and I may even start reading more mystery books. Reading each chapter I was always eager to keep on going because I was quite curious as to who the murderer was. I was also a big fan of the way the author created Poirot's personality in the book. He was never worried nor did he let anything get to his head. I think the reason he seemed like such a good and experienced detective was the fact that he stayed calm in every situation. Poirot also never gave up or even took a break from his detective work. I think this shows a message to the reader that to be good at something you have to be dedicated and determined and also keep a working mindset. Looking back I don’t think there were that many points where I thought it was boring or uninteresting. I also loved how the author was never off topic or started to get into detail with something that is not very important or related to the plot and theme of the book. This quality made the book even better because it made the story less hard to understand while reading on. The setting of the book is on a train that is traveling through Europe. I think it was a good idea by Agatha Christie to have the story take place on an express because I have never really heard of a murder while aboard a train. This made me very interested as to what happened after I took a glimpse of the title, Murder on the Orient Express. Since I still have not read the full book, I still do not know who the murderer is or if they even ended up finding them. But in the end this has been a pretty interesting book to read.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is in highschool or older. It may not interest anyone who is younger but you can still try it out. If you are a big mystery type of person then you would like this book because this novel is based off of a mystery. But even if you were never really a big fan of mysteries like me, it would be a good experience to try something new for a change. This book is the perfect length as it is not too short nor too long. One thing I must say is that if you are looking for an exciting beginning right off the bat this is not the book for you. This book may seem to start off a bit slow at the start but you just have to keep reading. In the end if you are looking for something a bit different than your usual read, this would be a great book to pick up and start reading.
Comments
Post a Comment