A review by mrtvavrana
Murder On The Christmas Express by Alexandra Benedict

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.5

 

After reading The Christmas Murder Game in 2023, I honestly had no expectations for Murder on the Christmas Express. I pretty much only read it because I needed something “festive.”.

I have to admit that I was clueless as to who the killer was up until the very end. I am usually amazing at deducing it from the story, but this time that “big killer reveal” did not make any sense to me. The premise was pretty good, and the story was enjoyable, but it was very choppy, and I felt like the entire story was way too dark. I thought this would be more cosy and more Agatha Christie-like. Instead we got a very poorly executed dark thriller. And it has very little to do with Christmas.

The characters were boring and very annoying. I think Benedict spent way too much time on describing and introducing the characters instead of putting that space towards making the story and mystery more complex. I think that was a pity, because this novel had a lot of potential.

Now, I have not noticed any trigger warnings or warnings whatsoever, but this book contains quite graphic descriptions of rape, abuse, and domestic violence; there are mentions of stalking and descriptions of traumatic birth. Definitely not what I had expected to find in this book.

The ending was very underwhelming, and the murder cover-up was, again, poorly executed. This book is definitely not worth it.

I genuinely hoped to see some difference and growth in the author's writing, but I feel like this book was even worse than The Christmas Murder Game.