Death on the Nile - Review

Author: Agatha Christie

Genre: Mystery

Format: Paperback

Pages: 354

I love the Hercule Poirot series and not just the books. I've seen the movies and binged watch the BBC Series. In fact, it's the actor from the series I see now when a book another book in the series. I have yet to finish the entire series yet, but I was excited when the book club I'd joined on Instagram announced this as one of their first books! I had originally read Death on the Nile back in high school, and for the life of me, I couldn't exactly remember what happened to Linnet Doyle, or even who had done the thing. So I was excited to see if I could jog my memory of how the whole mystery unfolds, or if I could solve it before the end of the book.

Spoiler alert: neither of things happened. 

Death on the Nile takes place after Hercule Poirot has officially retired from being a detective, but of course, murder finds him anyway. Even when he is on holiday trying to relax and take in the wonders of the Nile. 

What I like about this book is that we get a bit of background on all the characters before we even get to Egypt. This way outside of a few characters who join in the middle, I felt like a grasp of who was who. Even who was a little shifty and up to no good. I also really like that Poirot has interacted with most of the "suspects" before the murder even takes place. Having the ideas that he's already formed about these individuals affects how he sees the crime unfolding. And, also adds to the twist and turns in places as Poirot weeds what might have happened, to what did happen. 

I also really like that we got an idea of what kind of person our victims were, especially the main victim, Linnet. It allows the reader to start looking out the cast of characters and make assumptions as Poirot and Race unfold the mystery. My theories definitely blew up in my face during the last fifty pages or so. Though one of them was headed in the right direction, honestly I never would have gotten here. Because who would have thought of that! WHO?!

Agatha Christie, clearly. This is why she is the legend she is today. That ending was crazy, but people do weird things for money. And, deadly things.

Personally, I thought the pacing of the book was really was good. I read this book in chunks throughout my work week. It's an easy book to pick up and put down. I never felt like I needed to backtrack at any point because I forgot anything. Even with so many people I was able to keep them all clear as they came and went with the story. Once the murder happens and things start to unravel, the book becomes hard to put down. Because at that point I want to know if I'm right, if I'm wrong, who's the man Race is after, and about a hundred other questions that came along through the first half of the book.

It's a solid murder mystery that's engaging from beginning to end. I'm rarely let down by Christie as an author, and even less by Hercule Poirot's stories!

Also, can we talk about how this is probably the best movie poster book cover version you could ask for? It's not any of the actors, just a photo of the boat on the Nile. I wouldn't have known it was the movie poster version if it hadn't told me. 

HAPPY READING!!