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A review by eesh25
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
5.0
This is my first Agatha Christie book and, I've heard, it's the author's best one. I can definitely see why. The plot is fairly simple. Ten people are, for one reason or another, invited to a large house on an island. To them, they're going for a job or to meet or friend or something similarly harmless. But soon after they arrive, they find their host absent and one by one, they all start to get killed. So... they're trapped on an island with someone who wants to kill them. Fun, right?
That, on its own, is brilliant because it makes for the perfect gothic-esque setting for a mystery, even though the mansion isn't gothic. Further, the author creates a lot of tension via all the suspicion, paranoia—even lack of sanity, in some cases—and how helpless the characters are to stop the series of events taking place. And that atmosphere just gets thicker with every chapter, as more and more people are killed. It's so well done, it had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.
But what impressed me the most, personally, was how well the author handled all the characters and their individual arcs and personalities.
I'm not sure if I've said this before, but I suck at character names; so much that, after reading a 300 page novel, I sometimes have to look up the name of the main character for the review. So going into this book, I was understandably afraid that I would spend the entire time in confusion over who was who because we were introduced to almost ten friggin' people in the first chapter. Thankfully, I was able to distinguish them easily after only a few chapters.
First, the author didn't use similar, sounding or looking, names. Second, she gave them all simple but distinct backstories, personalities and voices, which she reinforced with every scene. Still, I'm not a hundred percent certain how the author got me to remember who everyone was. It only matters that she did, and it was a miracle, just about.
Also, the mystery is so well done. Not only did I not see the end coming (at all) but it also really engaged the reader with various clues, dropping in just enough hints that even as the end was shocking, it clicked. I loved the atmosphere that the mystery created in the book. So much that, when we got an explanation that cut through it, I was almost disappointed. Not that I could've done without the explanation. No way, that would've driven me nuts. But maybe a part of me wanted to be driven nuts?
Whatever the case, this was a great book and I highly recommend it. Very much looking forward to reading more by the author.
That, on its own, is brilliant because it makes for the perfect gothic-esque setting for a mystery, even though the mansion isn't gothic. Further, the author creates a lot of tension via all the suspicion, paranoia—even lack of sanity, in some cases—and how helpless the characters are to stop the series of events taking place. And that atmosphere just gets thicker with every chapter, as more and more people are killed. It's so well done, it had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.
But what impressed me the most, personally, was how well the author handled all the characters and their individual arcs and personalities.
I'm not sure if I've said this before, but I suck at character names; so much that, after reading a 300 page novel, I sometimes have to look up the name of the main character for the review. So going into this book, I was understandably afraid that I would spend the entire time in confusion over who was who because we were introduced to almost ten friggin' people in the first chapter. Thankfully, I was able to distinguish them easily after only a few chapters.
First, the author didn't use similar, sounding or looking, names. Second, she gave them all simple but distinct backstories, personalities and voices, which she reinforced with every scene. Still, I'm not a hundred percent certain how the author got me to remember who everyone was. It only matters that she did, and it was a miracle, just about.
Also, the mystery is so well done. Not only did I not see the end coming (at all) but it also really engaged the reader with various clues, dropping in just enough hints that even as the end was shocking, it clicked. I loved the atmosphere that the mystery created in the book. So much that, when we got an explanation that cut through it, I was almost disappointed. Not that I could've done without the explanation. No way, that would've driven me nuts. But maybe a part of me wanted to be driven nuts?
Whatever the case, this was a great book and I highly recommend it. Very much looking forward to reading more by the author.