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

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

4.25

Technically, this novel was executed extremely well. Christie masterfully made use of tone, atmosphere, foreshadowing, themes, motifs, and point of view to keep the reader interested in what would happen next. The idea of a central rhyme mirroring the events is brilliant and makes the events very creepy. Additionally, Christie succeeds at making many of the characters extremely unlikeable, but still adds a some backstory and depth. However, I couldn't help but feel the ending reveal didn't quite hit for me. I felt like the explanation, though kind of expected, I had a general idea of. For me, there had been many clues to point to the final answer, and I felt the explanation seemed that the murderer's job was too easy (see*). Finally, this being my second Christie book, I can't help but notice that she tends towards a couple common themes that she gravitates towards a lot, which made the premise a little less interesting for me. In both this novel and Murder on the Orient Express, Christie discusses the idea of evaded justice being served and questions how people justify their crimes. However, I still found the ideas that Christie discussed extremely fascinating, with the added theme of human desperation when threatened. 

SPOILER*
Once I knew that all the people on the island were going to die, I guessed that one of the people on the island must be the murderer, posed as U.N. Owens, but would somehow die themself. Also, Wargrave had been high on my suspicious list from the beginning. First, the idea of judgment, both in the terms of religion and law, was repeatedly discussed and for me, point to Justice Wargrave as suspicious. Second, as soon as people started dying, Wargrave immediately took the lead and treated the investigation like hearing testament in court, pointing out to me that he was up to something