Reviews with content warning for Blood - Death on the Nile

Look at the moon up there. You see her very plainly, don't you? She's very real. But if the sun were to shine you wouldn't be able to see her at all. It was rather like that. I was the moon...

World renowned detective Hercule Poirot travels to the Nile on vacation but he won't find much rest on the pleasure cuise when a wealthy young socialite is murdered and everyone has a motive, some more compelling than others.

Content Warnings

hanarama's review against another edition

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mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

The Good:

Well constructed mystery
Plenty of twists

The Bad:

Racism (reflective of the period)
Sometimes clues are forgettable

You Might Like this if You Like:

Police procedurals
Detective fiction
True crime

Agatha Christie is one of my go-to authors when I need a break from world-building heavy fantasies and sci-fi. There's something so simple and enjoyable about just taking in clues and following a clever detective along in a murder mystery.

The mystery feels solvable, and by that, I mean that I feel as though the reader could solve it if they consider all of the clues. This might be hard though as some clues are breezed by in the narrative, so it can be hard to keep them all in mind. And the solution does still feel like a twist when Hercule Poirot explains it all at the end.

My biggest issue with Christie is the occasional racist depictions of characters of color. This is particularly notable with mysteries that take place outside of Europe. So unfortunately, this book has a couple of racist depictions of Egyptians and Nubians. The main characters are also all wealthy white people.

Content Warnings

bookscoffeehayley's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

CW: murder, death, suicide, blood

This was my fourth Agatha Christie book and third Hercule Poirot. I really enjoyed this classic murder mystery! This book has been on my list for a long time, as I’ve slowly been making my way through Christie’s Poirot series! I also read this for one of the June picks for @brokebitchxbookclub and to complete the “water on the cover” prompt for #BooksCoffeeBingo!

I have yet to read an Agatha Christie novel that I do not enjoy. There is a reason why she’s the Queen of Mystery! I love the Hercule Poirot series and find Poirot such a quirky, fun character!

Death on the Nile is one of the ‘staple’ Poirot cases, but for me, it started a little slow. There were also a lot of characters that are introduced and it was a bit overwhelming. I alternated between the audio and a physical copy of the story which made the many characters a bit difficult to keep track of.

I love Christie’s writing and I’m always left bamboozled by the whodunnit at the end! I pride myself in generally being able to guess the murderer in mysteries/thrillers, but have yet to figure out them in a Christie novel!

Definitely recommend Agatha Christie to any mystery lovers out there, and definitely starting with her Hercule Poirot series!

Content Warnings

hilarylouise's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

caribbeangirlreading's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

This is my second attempt to read an Agatha Christie book. The first one was a 1-star / DNF affair. This one will get two stars because I actually finished the book because: (1) I want to be ready for book club discussion and (2) I want to compare it to the adaptation coming out February, 2022. I'm going to assume that A.C., being a woman of her time and place, is just as racist, sexist, xenophobic and jingoistic in all of her books. In addition, this book, which is supposedly one of her top 10, is not all that. I understand that there are books that are plot driven, but the characters in this book are so full of stereotypes and clichés you might hurt yourself with all the eye-rolling. The murder doesn't even happen until half-way through the book and then we spend the next 150 pages going back and forth with Poirot about about all his different theories. I guess these theories are supposed to be "plot twists" but after a while I just wanted to scream at Poirot to just get over himself, put us all out of our misery, and tell us whodunnit. When that finally happens, I was so over this book that the unveiling of the mystery was actually anti-climatic.

Content Warnings

maddiewas's review against another edition

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adventurous funny fast-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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