Sulari Gentill’s latest mystery thriller, Five Found Dead, delivers an intoxicating blend of classic Agatha Christie-style intrigue and contemporary psychological complexity. Set aboard the legendary Orient Express, this novel transforms the romantic nostalgia of luxury train travel into a claustrophobic nightmare where survival becomes the ultimate destination.
The story follows crime novelist Joe Penvale and his twin sister Meredith, a lawyer, as they board the Orient Express in Paris seeking respite after Joe’s grueling cancer treatment. What begins as a restorative journey quickly derails into a bloody investigation when they discover their neighboring cabin drenched in blood but mysteriously absent of its occupant. With no authorities to assist and a fabricated COVID outbreak keeping the train sealed, the siblings find themselves part of an unlikely detective squad tasked with unmasking a killer before they reach Paris.
Character Development: Depth Beyond the Surface
The Penvale Siblings: A Compelling Partnership
Gentill’s greatest strength lies in her character development, particularly with protagonists Joe and Meredith Penvale. Joe emerges as more than a typical mystery novelist protagonist – he’s a cancer survivor grappling with recovery, making him both vulnerable and observant. His medical knowledge becomes crucial to solving the mystery, particularly his understanding of chemotherapy side effects like fingerprint loss from capecitabine treatment.
Meredith serves as the perfect foil to her brother’s creative intuition with her lawyer’s analytical mind. Their sibling dynamic feels authentic, complete with banter, mutual support, and the occasional irritation that comes with family closeness. Gentill avoids the common pitfall of making amateur detectives unrealistically competent, instead showing how their different professional backgrounds complement each other in the investigation.
The Supporting Cast: A Gallery of Suspects
The ensemble cast reads like a who’s who of potential murderers and red herrings. From the charming French passenger Napoleon Duplantier to the seemingly innocent barman Frank, each character harbors secrets that slowly unravel throughout the journey. The Mayfield sisters – Clarice and Penelope – deserve special mention as perhaps the most expertly crafted antagonists in recent mystery fiction. Initially presented as harmless octogenarian bounty hunters pursuing a con man, their true nature emerges with chilling effectiveness.
Plot Analysis: A Masterclass in Misdirection
The Multi-Layered Mystery Structure
Gentill constructs a plot that operates on multiple levels of deception. The initial mystery of the missing passenger Gregory Harrington becomes entangled with a web of fraud, murder, and identity deception. The revelation that the COVID outbreak was fabricated as a distraction adds another layer of complexity that feels particularly resonant given recent global events.
The pacing demonstrates Gentill’s understanding of the classic mystery formula while subverting expectations. Rather than a single murder followed by investigation, the body count escalates steadily – stewards, passengers, and investigators all fall victim to a killer who seems to anticipate every move.
The Locked Room Element
The Orient Express setting creates a natural locked room mystery scenario, but Gentill uses this constraint creatively rather than merely replicatively. The train becomes both sanctuary and prison, with each carriage representing a different stage of revelation. The fabricated quarantine adds contemporary relevance while serving the plot’s need for isolation.
Writing Style and Atmosphere
Gentill’s Prose: Elegant and Accessible
Gentill’s writing style strikes an ideal balance between literary sophistication and page-turning accessibility. Her descriptions of the Orient Express capture both its luxury and its potential menace without becoming overly purple or indulgent. The train itself becomes a character, with its Art Nouveau details and midnight-blue carriages serving as both backdrop and metaphor for the story’s themes of surface beauty hiding darker truths.
The dialogue feels natural and character-appropriate, from Joe’s writerly observations to Meredith’s legal precision. The incorporation of multiple languages and accents never feels forced or stereotypical, instead adding authenticity to the international setting.
Atmospheric Tension Building
The atmosphere builds gradually from luxurious anticipation to claustrophobic dread. Gentill expertly uses the confined space to create mounting tension, with each meal service and passenger interaction carrying the potential for danger. The revelation scenes unfold with theatrical flair appropriate to the Orient Express setting, though they never feel overblown or artificial.
Themes and Social Commentary
Justice and Vigilantism
The novel explores complex questions about justice when official channels fail. The Mayfield sisters’ vigilante approach to retrieving stolen funds raises uncomfortable questions about when, if ever, taking the law into one’s own hands becomes justified. Their true nature as serial killers adds a dark twist to this theme, suggesting that those who claim moral authority often harbor the darkest secrets.
Appearance vs. Reality
Throughout the novel, characters aren’t what they initially seem. Frank the barman hides his true identity as the con man Hugh Blackwell, the Mayfields present themselves as elderly when they’re actually younger and deadly, and even the COVID outbreak proves to be an elaborate deception. This theme resonates particularly in our current era of social media personas and carefully crafted public images.
Survivor’s Guilt and Recovery
Joe’s cancer journey adds emotional weight to the story beyond the mystery elements. His relationship with recovery – both physical and psychological – provides a deeper character motivation than simple curiosity about crime. The way his medical experience becomes integral to solving the mystery feels organic rather than contrived.
Technical Craft: Mystery Writing Excellence
Fair Play Detection
Gentill plays fair with readers, providing all necessary clues while still maintaining surprise. The revelation about cancer treatment affecting fingerprints and Frank’s clumsiness stemming from chemotherapy side effects are properly foreshadowed without being obvious. The multiple identity deceptions are handled skillfully, with each revelation feeling earned rather than pulled from thin air.
Red Herrings and Misdirection
The misdirection works effectively without feeling manipulative. Napoleon Duplantier’s suspicious behavior has logical explanations, while the various passengers’ secrets serve to obscure the truth without creating false complexity. The COVID outbreak subplot provides excellent cover for the real conspiracy while adding contemporary relevance.
Critical Assessment: Strengths and Weaknesses
What Works Brilliantly
The characterization stands out as exceptional, particularly the complex relationship between appearance and reality in seemingly innocent characters. The Orient Express setting is utilized to its full potential without becoming a mere tourist brochure. The integration of contemporary themes with classic mystery structure creates a story that feels both timeless and current.
The resolution satisfies on multiple levels – the mystery is solved logically, the characters receive appropriate consequences, and the emotional journeys reach meaningful conclusions. The revelation of the Mayfield sisters as serial killers is both shocking and retrospectively inevitable.
Areas for Improvement
Occasionally, the investigation sequences feel slightly rushed, with some character motivations requiring more development. The sheer number of secrets and deceptions, while impressive, sometimes threatens to overwhelm the central narrative thread. A few minor characters serve primarily as red herrings without sufficient development to make their misdirection fully effective.
The COVID subplot, while topical, occasionally feels forced rather than organic to the story. Some readers may find the coincidence of multiple criminals aboard the same train journey stretching credibility.
Literary Context and Comparisons
Standing in the Christie Tradition
Five Found Dead clearly pays homage to Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express while establishing its own identity. Gentill avoids simple pastiche, instead using Christie’s framework to explore contemporary themes. The multiple perpetrator reveal echoes Christie’s classic while adding psychological complexity that reflects modern understanding of criminal behavior.
Contemporary Mystery Standards
Within the current mystery landscape, Gentill’s work stands out for its literary quality and emotional depth. Unlike many contemporary thrillers that rely on shock value or unreliable narrators, Five Found Dead builds tension through character development and logical plot progression.
Similar Recommendations for Mystery Enthusiasts
Readers who enjoy Five Found Dead should consider:
- Lucy Foley’s The Guest List – Similar ensemble cast mystery with multiple secrets
- Ruth Ware’s The Woman in Cabin 10 – Confined setting mystery with psychological depth
- Simone St. James’s The Sun Down Motel – Atmospheric mystery with dark secrets
- Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series – Character-driven mysteries with literary quality
- Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series – Psychological depth in mystery fiction
- Kate Morton’s The Clockmaker’s Daughter – Multi-timeline mystery with rich characterization
- Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express – The obvious classical companion
- Anthony Horowitz’s Magpie Murders – Meta-fictional mystery with literary complexity
Author’s Previous Works Context
Gentill’s extensive Rowland Sinclair series and standalone novels like The Woman in the Library and After She Wrote Him demonstrate her consistent ability to blend literary quality with mystery plotting. Five Found Dead represents a culmination of her skills, combining the historical setting expertise from the Sinclair series with the meta-fictional elements of her standalone works.
Her experience with the historical mystery genre serves her well in capturing the Orient Express atmosphere, while her previous explorations of moral ambiguity in crime fiction add depth to the contemporary characters.
Final Verdict: A Journey Worth Taking
Five Found Dead succeeds brilliantly as both homage and innovation in the mystery genre. Gentill has crafted a story that honors the classical tradition while addressing contemporary concerns about justice, identity, and survival. The Orient Express setting provides more than mere glamorous backdrop – it becomes integral to the story’s themes and structure.
This novel will satisfy multiple reader types: mystery purists will appreciate the fair play detection and logical resolution, while literary fiction readers will find depth in the character development and thematic exploration. The accessible prose style ensures that the story never becomes bogged down in either excessive description or overly complex plotting.
For those seeking intelligent entertainment that respects both the reader’s intelligence and the genre’s traditions, Five Found Dead delivers a first-class experience. Like the Orient Express itself, this novel represents luxury travel for the mind – a journey that proves as rewarding as the destination.
The book earns its place among the finest contemporary mysteries, proving that the classical mystery format still has much to offer modern readers when handled with Gentill’s skill and imagination. All aboard for this murderous journey – just watch your fellow passengers carefully.