Pubblicato in Italia con il titolo Assassinio sull’Orient Express. Il celebre detective Hercule Poirot si trova sull’Orient Express quando viene trovato il corpo senza vita del miliardario americano Edward Ratchett. Ma il treno è bloccato da una tempesta di neve e tocca al famoso detective trovare il colpevole. E il prima possibile, perché l’assassino è proprio uno dei passeggeri.
After solving a mystery in Syria, famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is on his way back to England on the renowned Orient Express. On board there is a cast of characters from many nationalities who attract his attention, including an American millionaire, Edward Ratchett, who asks for the detective help in finding the person who wants to kill him. Hercule Poirot refuses to help him, sensing in the man a cruelty that makes him uncomfortable.
In the morning, Edward Ratchett is found dead with multiple stabs on the body. But a blizzard has blocked the train in the middle of nowhere so it falls on the famous detective the job of finding the killer because, as one of the characters affirm, “The murderer is with us – on the train now…”. Poirot questions all the passengers on board, but everyone has an alibi and no motive, and the case seems more complicated and absurd than he could ever imagine.
I first read this book a few years ago. It was my first novel by Agatha Christie and quickly it became my favorite. I decided to reread it in anticipation of a new movie version coming out next month and starring Johnny Depp, Kenneth Branagh, Judy Dench, and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Hercule Poirot is one of my favorite detectives in literature with his “little grey cells” and his methodological investigations. Nothing escapes him and every clue is described in details. The atmospheric setting of a train stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no communication and no place to go, is the perfect frame to this timeless mystery. It is unpredictable and twisty and I loved the ending because it surprised me and it was completely unexpected.
This book is a classic, very-well written, and captivating and I love to go back to it and reread it every once in a while, even if I know how it ends.
