And Then There Were None; Agatha Christie
Harper Collins
And Then There Were None is an Agatha Christie mystery about ten people, all strangers to one another, who have received an invitation to spend time on a remote island
(Indian Island). The details are vague,
but each of them is lured to the island with promises of just the vacation they needed
or an employment opportunity. All of those invited are anxious to escape their
past and decide to accept the invitation. The invitees do not even know who
will be hosting them once they arrive.
Each of
the ten guests has somewhat of a dark past and the crime they committed has
gone unpunished. At dinner shortly after their arrival, a mysterious recording
plays announcing the dark deeds each guest has supposedly committed. Soon, one
by one they begin to die off. It appears that they have been invited to the
Island to pay for their crimes.
I had
mixed feelings about this story. I really disliked the beginning when all of
the guests were being introduced. The writing seemed very choppy and I felt
like I needed a flow chart to track the guests and what was being said about
them if I was ever going to be able to put the pieces together. It’s obvious from the beginning that all of
the guests are going to end up dead, but how they would die and who would be
next, was what made me want to hang in there instead of jump ship after my
rocky start.
I did
like the way AC made each of the guests
look like they could have been the murderer at one point or another. The remote
island setting, the grand old house, all added to the build of tension as the
mystery progressed. The ending was not what I was expecting either, but I did
like the manner in which details of the murders were revealed.
A quick and pretty clever mystery, I thought this was a decent read, but I think overall
I was still a bit disappointed.
3.5/5
stars
(purchase)
I have to say I enjoyed this one so much
ReplyDeleteI've only read a few Agatha Christie, I've read this one and I liked it.
ReplyDeleteI've only read one AC book - Murder on the Orient Express - but I felt pretty much the same way you did about this one.
ReplyDeleteWe usually like her books.
ReplyDeleteI really loved this one but part of it I think is because the first time I read it I was a kid and I reread it enough that the jumpiness doesn't bother me. It's too bad you didn't enjoy it though. Have you tried any of the Miss Marple books or Christie's short story collections? You might like those better.
ReplyDeleteI loved this one. It was also my very first Christie novel and I read it when I was young. I wonder if I would love it as much now.
ReplyDelete