Agatha Christie is widely held to be the best-selling mystery writer of all time, with her books having sold more than 2 billion copies worldwide, only behind Shakespeare and the Bible. As such, even I can’t really explain why I hadn’t read any of her work until now, perhaps most notably this novel, And Then There Were None, which has sold over 100 million copies on its own, making it the 7th best-selling book of all time in any language. Regardless, I’ve read it now and am happy to say that I found it thoroughly enjoyable.
8 strangers are invited to an isolated island estate by its new owners. Upon arrival, they are greeted by the household’s staff, then only consisting of a married couple, but the owners themselves are curiously absent. Nevertheless, the boat back to the mainland has departed for the day and dinner is about to be served, so they settle in to eat and get to know each other. Things quickly take a sinister turn, when one of the group suddenly drops dead after dinner and another body turns up the following morning. While these 2 deaths are both suspicious, they could be explained away, but when yet another member of the group dies in a manner that can only be described as murder, they all realize that someone is trying to kill them and they need to figure out who if they are to have any chance of survival.
The premise is pretty genius and while it isn’t played for scares, it marks it out as one of, if not the first slasher. Each chapter fills us in on the activities of every member of the party that’s still alive and keeps us guessing as to who the killer might be. The end reveal is so nearly impossible to guess that it almost feels like a cheat, but every piece of the puzzle ultimately fits while only minimally straining credulity.
Each of the characters has their own dark secret, most of which are spelled out fairly early, and none are particularly likable, but in an era that sees us make celebrities out of reality show “villains” this shouldn’t be a problem for most. There are some rather archaic views about minority groups expressed (though the most egregious were never included in any US editions), but they are fitting for people of the time and wouldn’t be that surprising coming from similarly distasteful people today.
As the list of possible suspects is whittled down one at a time, the intrigue and suspense only build and the pages fly by. I doubt many people will be able to figure out the solution outside of a lucky guess, but that doesn’t make it less enjoyable. Any mystery lover who hasn’t read this yet shouldn’t hesitate to pick it up, and those looking for some relatively tame thrills this spooky season might also want to give it a read. ★★★★
★★★★★ = Excellent | ★★★★ = Very Good | ★★★ = Good | ★★ = Fair | ★ = Poor
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Thank you for the review. And Then There Were None, also known as Ten Little Indians, was part of the ninth grade curriculum when I taught. I remember most of the students enjoyed it, found it very clever.
It is very cleverly constructed and a lot of fun.