The book is broken up in a very interesting way. Or maybe it's just my copy version of it. It seems to dumb down the story a bit. I also have to admit that I don't care too much for Hercule Poirot. He seems extremely full of himself. All-in-all it was an ok read. Not great but not bad either. ( )

Ahh, the genesis of the whodunit. Excellent. I loved the ‘cast of characters’ table at the beginning and how it was divided into the victim and suspects and everybody else. The story is brought to us in precise vignettes with titles that explain exactly what will be presented to us within it – The Evidence of the Italian and The Identity of Mary Debenham. I’ve only ever seen this done by Christie although perhaps others have as well. Within each chapter we have a little vignette with no more information than Poirot is able to gather directly from conversation with each person. Absolutely great. Now we know as much as he. But my little gray cells are not nearly as adroit.

I also loved the idea of an expanded locked room mystery. And to have traveled in this way would have been so interesting. The first and second-class compartments were interesting, too – first is private, second gets you a bunkmate. Each person was sort of forced to interact with everyone else in a way that we don’t really have now.

Of course each of those people in this story was a caricature and not a well-rounded character (although many of them hated Americans - just wait 10 years or so and see if you like us then). But since this was in the days before we all needed deep characters in more than just the sneaky ‘we know there’s secretly more to this person than meets the eye’ way. Here we get no backstory, no inner monologues, no personal vignettes aside from the ones involving Poirot directly. Very refreshing and I enjoyed it immensely.

It was very interesting watching Poirot pull the facts out of tiny clues and slips. All the evidence was presented to me, but no way could I figure it out. I knew it though and didn’t expect to read a story that had to let me solve some stuff in order to feel good about me and subsequently it and continue to read to the end. It was spare and methodical and I need more Poirot in my life. ( )