Not something you would want to sink into for several hours at a time, extremely depressing and sad. And frustrating because I realised I had just read an edition which didn't include all the material.

After re-visiting a couple of my favorite Christie mysteries over the past couple of months, I've noticed that my favorite stories are those that are less formulaic. Don't get me wrong, I tend to like most novels and Christie is the only author that I go back to when I need cozy entertainment with a dash of murder, but some stories have that special something that makes them stand out from the crowd.

Orient Express starts out conventionally enough: Poirot travels aboard the luxury train Orient Express among an eclectic group of people, when a snowdrift halts the journey. A person is murdered, Poirot begins to solve the crime. Pretty standard, right? It's when the case starts to appear impossible to solve, even more impossible than usual, that it changes tracks. Not only is the solution extremely unusual for Christie, but what happens after that can feel incomprehensible at first. I admit that the ending is a bit abrupt, but in a way it's just perfect. It doesn't leave you hanging, but it still leaves you with questions about injustice. What would you have done?

I believe the case is technically solvable, because everything you need to know is revealed when you shadow Poirot. In practice, though, it's astounding how Christie can throw clues at your face and you still wonder what the hell is going on!

This is also the story that inspired the Orient Express board game. I couldn't tell you how many hours I've spent roaming around the train and trying to figure out the murderer. The amount of cases combined with the difficulty level, and the fact that I only play it every couple of years, ensures that I can play the cases over and over again without remembering the solutions or details. Sometimes I "play" it alone by just reading the cards and leaving out the dice throwing part. Maybe this Christmas is the perfect time for board games again?

I've always found that Christie's massive diversions from her usual murder mysteries haven't worked for me. There's something about her "cozy" style that doesn't mix too well with spy thrillers. Destination Unknown was a quick read but also strangely boring and difficult to pick up again.

None of the characters stood out, either, but I always focus on the plot and mystery the most in Christie's books, so that's not really an issue for me. I'm happy to report that this time I also had no problems getting swept into the story right away (which can be a problem with some of her slower books; rare, but possible). The story overall just left me cold.

The ending had a bit of a double plot twist going on, but I wasn't that impressed. Sad to say, but I found the whole novel predictable. Maybe Christie gave too many or too obvious clues? Or is it just that her clues don't work in this kind of environment?