Murder on the Orient Express

By: Agatha Christie

Narrated by: Dan Stevens

Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's Summary

"The murderer is with us - on the train now..."

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. One of his fellow passengers must be 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....

©1934 Agatha Christie Limited (P)2013 HarperCollinsPublishers

My first Christie

What a great book to start with from such an accomplished writer. Really fun read and one that goes down quick. As much as I love mysteries and thrillers and I had never attempted a Christie book. But at the recommendation of my grandfather and with the new movie coming out I figured why not and it did not disappoint. The performance was also really from the audible side of things. I will be diving into more soon.

25 of 26 people found this review helpful

Masterful Performance!

Would you listen to Murder on the Orient Express again? Why?

I will definitely listen again. This was already my second visit to the story in the past year, I am a Christy and Poirot fan through and through. This particular story is a favorite, and this version was wonderfully narrated.

What other book might you compare Murder on the Orient Express to and why?

The nearest I could get might have to be another Christy novel, starring Poirot, which I recently read: The Mystery of the Blue Train. Similar not just because of the author and in the train as crime scene, but that they are also two of the Poirot mysteries which lack Captain Hastings and are 3rd person narratives.

What about Dan Stevens’s performance did you like?

He was fantastic across the board I thought. I may have been predisposed to like him, having been one of his Downton Abbey fans, primarily I do love his voice. But I am constantly dissapointed by narrators I like when they fail to adopt an appropriate voice for the opposite gender, or are imprecise or inconsistent in voicing multiple characters. And if ever there were a test of skills, it is this book - since it is mostly conversation and interviews with characters who range the whole spectrum: male and female, and all classes and several different nationalities. He managed them wonderfully, slipping effortlessly and precisely from one to the other consistently, and there are no fewer than 16 characters. I am beyond impressed, and he has found in me a devoted listener to whatever book he elects to lend his soothing voice to in the future. I have already bought the other Christy novel narrated by him which is currently available on Audible, and I hope there will be many more to come.

49 of 53 people found this review helpful

It Was A Dark and Stormy Night In The Calais Coach

How do you solve a murder that occurred in a sleeper car aboard a snowbound train, when no one could have entered or exited without leaving footprints in the snow, and everyone had an alibi supported by one or more unrelated passengers? No spoilers here, but unless you've seen the excellent and star-studded 1974 film (for which the incomparable Ingrid Bergman won a well-deserved Oscar), you'll be enthralled by Christie's ingenious (if somewhat implausible, at least in real life) solution.

Dan Stevens provides competent narration, with my only two complaints being that his Hercule Poirot speaks too softly and gently (if you've seen and loved the film, as I have, you'll find yourself longing for Albert Finney's energetic, vigorous and entertaining portrayal of the quirky Belgian detective with his humorous pride in his mustaches and his very justified reliance on the dependability of his "little grey cells"), and that sometimes his rate of speech is too slow, requiring 1.25 speed to get as rapidly as Poirot's grey matter to the thrilling exposition.

Highly recommended for mystery lovers, whether you've seen the film or not. If you have, your enjoyment will be that much greater. If you haven't, you'll want to get it and watch it right away!

14 of 17 people found this review helpful

The impossible cannot have happened.

"The impossible cannot have happened, therefore the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances.”
― Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express

I wanted to read this because the movie* was coming out and I had never read the book and didn't want this classic to be defined in my brain by the movie. It was OK. I had to keep telling myself that some of the conventions and tropes she used, she probably INVENTED, so there is that. I also enjoyed how she subverted the whole form of the locked-room mystery form. She blew it to hell (about as much as I can say without giving the ending away to whoever on this planet doesn't know how it ends). But the prose was mediocre and the characters floated between bland/conventional and cut-outs. Again, it wasn't bad, just not a genre I spend a lot of time with. If I'm reading detective novels, it is a different type entirely.

* The movie was also good without being exceptional.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

Loved it

Amazing. Agatha Christie is the greatest novelist in history. Excited to compare the new movie to this book.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Love it love it love it

I love it when Dan Stevens narrates anything, but to have him narrate such a childhood favorite, and so impeccably well is just a treat. I love it whenever Stevens does an accent, and he gets to run the gamut here. Such an entertaining and easy listen! Highly recommended.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Now I know why it's a famous book!

Would you consider the audio edition of Murder on the Orient Express to be better than the print version?

Probably. Dan Stevens does give each of the characters a distinctive voice, and there are a lot of characters to keep straight. He's really pretty good at this.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I quite liked the Princess Dragomiroff, an ugly old aristocratic woman with a deep, toady voice and a dry sense of humor.

Which character – as performed by Dan Stevens – was your favorite?

I quite liked the Princess Dragomiroff, an ugly old aristocratic woman with a deep, toady voice and a dry sense of humor.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I recommend listening to it in just a couple of sittings, yes. Partly that's because it's a potboiler, but also it's because the murder investigation is pretty complex, and it will make the most sense if you've got it all in your head at once.

Any additional comments?

This is a brilliant story. It almost has the cleverness and brevity you would expect from a short story, but it's long enough that there's a lot to it. It's hard to get started because there are so many characters you feel obliged to keep straight, and you don't know at first what's important and what isn't. But if you can push through the first hour or so, the rest of it is relaxing and rewarding. I'll remember this one.

9 of 12 people found this review helpful

Amazing! You MUST find out the end!

This is a classic and I’m sure needs no recommendations but, like many mysteries, the plot twist at the end of this was phenomenal! I had no idea what i was missing out on all these years. I much enjoyed the performance as well. Dan Stevens takes on the difficult task of giving 5-10 different accents, with even more personalities, and does so wonderfully and with humor. This added to the effect of the performance! Definitely give this book a read or listen.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Agatha Christie is amazing

I would never have guessed. I love Agatha Christie and her twists! Wow just wow

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

outstanding

Benedict Cumberbatch once said about Dan Stevens 'if you think you know him, just you wait'. Hats off to Dan for this marvellous listening adventure. As we all know him to be humble he would probably say, as he often does, 'there you go'. 😁

1 of 1 people found this review helpful