Title: Death on the Nile
Author: Agatha Christie
Published by: HarperCollins
Published on: 1937
Pages: 373
'Love can be a very frightening thing.' 'That is why most great love stories are tragedies.'
Chapter 30
I have always wanted to release this review along with the movie release. However, with the later always being pushed back, along with the revelation on a certain actor's, uhm, meal preference, I decided to just post this anyways.
The story opens by introducing our 3 main characters -- aside from Poirot, of course: Linnet Ridgeway, Jacqueline de Bellefort, and Simon Doyle. Linnet was a beautiful, elegant, sophisticated heiress whose best friend, Jacqueline, was engaged to be married to Simon. The lovers were poor, though, and Jacqueline planned to ask Linnet for help so they could save some money for the wedding. The prologue literally closed with Linnet making eyes at Simon.
Lo, and behold! A few months later, Linnet indeed married Simon instead. Jacqueline turned into this bitter ex-girlfriend/stalker who went everywhere the pair was going. Didn't help that they were on a honeymoon, she was still there.
This is where Hercule Poirot came into the picture. On a cruise ship on the river Nile, intending to go on a vacation, he was approached by Linnet who asked for his help to stop Jacqueline from doing whatever it was she was doing. In exchange, she would give him a fair payment. Poirot refused the offer, but nevertheless tried to talk some sense into Jacqueline. They had quite an ominous conversation that neither Poirot nor readers could seem to shake off.
But when there was a murder attempt on Linnet and someone did die, Poirot would have to stop being on vacation and find out who the murderer is. Who from the other fifteen passengers on that ship would it be? And how did Jacqueline and Simon react to this?
EGGLYSIS
This might not be my favourite Poirot book, but it is still sharp. I think I understand why Kenneth Branagh decided to adapt this shortly after Murder on the Orient Express, which was also billed with A-listers. It has a more or less similar structure: a murder happening in a public transportation where the killer seemed to vanish out of thin air. The only difference is that Death on the Nile feels a lot more melodramatic, what with the love triangle and all.
I love the reveal of the culprits. I personally think it's quite obvious, though Agatha tried to give her readers red herring every few pages or so. The ending was also fitting with the whole melodrama/soap opera thing. So, yeah.
Overall, Death on the Nile...
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