A review by bluejayreads
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Despite going through a phase in high school where I mainly read classics, this is the first Agatha Christie book I've read. My husband highly recommended Murder on the Orient Express, but that one had a waiting list at the library. And Then There Were None, however, was available. I discovered after finishing it that this is the world's best-selling mystery and sixth-best-selling book of all time (per Wikipedia). I am absolutely not surprised. 

The story starts with eight different characters separately approaching Soldier Island. All have received requests or invitations on varying pretexts to visit the island on August 8, and so they are doing so. Upon arrival, the butler announces that their mysterious hosts have been held up but he has received instructions to go on as usual in the meantime. So the butler and his wife serve the eight guests dinner. After dinner, an unknown voice accuses all ten people - the butler and his wife as well as the eight guests - of murder. And then one of them is dead. 

Isolated on tiny Soldier Island, plagued by a killer picking them off one by one, and haunted by a nursery rhyme about "Ten Little Soldier Boys" that the murderer seems to be using as a prescription for each death, the characters slowly begin to crack under the stress of repeated deaths. Whoever is doing this doesn't intend to let anyone leave the island alive. And with the lack of places to hide on the small, rocky bit of land, the only logical conclusion is that one of their number is the killer. 

The plot was fairly straightforward - the nursery rhyme is repeated multiple times, and each death follows the rhyme in sequence as the ten characters die one by one - but the real interest came in the question of which of the ten is the murderer. You would have to be a lot more observant and better at guessing plots than me to figure out who it is, and it took me completely by surprise. I can't even say anything about the characters without giving too much away, and the less you know about this one going in, the better (don't read any of the plot or character information from the Wikipedia article I linked). 

Agatha Christie is known for her twist endings, and this was absolutely a twist. It's a quick read (the audiobook is only six hours), a great workout for your plot-puzzling muscles (I promise you won't guess the answers to the mystery), and highly entertaining. I absolutely recommend it. 
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