Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
Hercule Poirot is a Belgian detective, and famous for solving the most impossible crimes. He takes a break from solving crimes to travel on a cruise along the Nile river in Egypt. Among the people accompanying him is Linnet Ridgeway, a beautiful young lady on her honeymoon. Everything takes a turn for the worst when she is found shot in the head in her bedroom. Poirot is isolated in the middle of the Nile, with a man who confessed to him earlier, “I’d like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just pull the trigger,” he beings to uncover that not all the passengers are as they seem.
Agatha Christie is one of, if not the most famous mystery writer of all time. She is known for writing twisty whodunnit books with questionable characters and unsolvable crimes that will keep the reader and detective on their toes. Death on the Nile features her most famous detective, Hercule Poirot. Poirot is a character of his own, a little bit of a drama queen and smug at times, but occasionally he shows a softer side. Seeing Poirot on vacation is also comedic since he is generally a serious character. The other passengers on the boat are mostly unlikeable and stereotypical but as the story progresses more is revealed about each character. Unfortunately, since none of the characters appealed to me there wasn’t someone I was rooting for or hoping that that character didn’t commit the crime. Instead, I was actually hoping that certain characters did commit the murder because I disliked them so much. Overall, the characters on the boat were dynamic and entertaining, but I would never like to meet any of them in person.
In this book, the reader has the same clues as Poirot, so the reader can attempt at solving the crime as well. The captivating part of the plot is that the murder itself isn’t incredibly complicated at first glance, and in true Agatha Christie fashion the mystery becomes far more complicated as Poirot completes his investigation. The book is a slower book and the murder doesn’t occur until later on. However, I find that because of this, the reader can learn more about each character and form their own opinion of him or her.
As with most of her books, the investigation is based almost solely on the characters. Christie incorporates a character’s past into the present which makes the story far more interesting since each character has their own story. The book is fairly short, only 288 pages, so it is a quick read which keeps it from dragging on.
As far as Agatha Christie’s books go, this one of the better ones, and a great introduction to her writing. When reading Death on the Nile I travelled to Egypt while remaining in isolation at home. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, I would rate it a 9/10.