And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie - Book Review

By
Adonis Monahan
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10

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8

10

And Then There Were None

One of the greatest crime thriller novels in history was created by Agatha Christie in 1939. Although it was a simple and short read, it still ranks high in the crime novels genre and is considered by many of Christie’s fans as her best work.

Though she wrote many detective stories about her most loved characters Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, they don’t make an appearance in this novel. However, she manages to make the plot more interesting than anything she wrote before, with the psychological thriller, crime, and horror you can spot immediately.

These aspects probably reflect some of the events in Christie’s life, especially that one time she disappeared for 11 days and when they found her, it turned out that she was suffering from amnesia and was living in a hotel under a false name!

The plotting of the murders in the novels is a testament to her genius, but what made the story really compelling is the thrilling setting and the eerie tone. Like most of her stories, this book starts with introducing a huge amount of characters that it might be hard for readers to follow up with.

Each character has its own unique story and although this information is intriguing, it can be difficult to follow up with all their stories, especially in the dinner scene where you get to know a bit about the characters’ criminal past.

Book Details

Title: And Then There Were None

Format: Hardcover

Author: Agatha Christie

Language : English

Publisher : HarperCollins

ISBN: 0008328927

Some people like the rich introductions offered by Christie, but it can be confusing for many readers at the beginning especially that it gets easier to understand once these characters begin to voice out their minds, which gives a chance for emotional attachment.

The 10 strangers are invited to stay in the house of one, Mr. Owen, a mysterious rich man who the guests don’t actually get to see upon arriving at Soldiers Island. They, then take their respective rooms, and at their first dinner in the house, a recording starts playing, which accuses each one of them of a certain crime.

The characters turn out to be guilty of these crimes; thus, the voice in the recording promises justice accordingly. The guests start dying in a similar fashion to ten little soldier boys described in a poem that was hung in the guests’ room.

There were also 10 figurines on the dinner table, which begin to disappear one by one with each mysterious kill. Amidst the panic the characters were feeling all day waiting for their deaths, the murderer made a sound plan of killing all inhabitants of the island.

This book was well-written with every character backstory well done, which proves how much work Christie did to formulate an intricate story in just a mere 264 pages. The ending was satisfying, as you will be impressed by how did the murderer devise such a plan.

All in all, the book deserves a solid 8 out of 10, with only one flaw remains, the number of characters making it difficult to keep up with the book.