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Agatha Christie was already famous when AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (also known under the title TEN LITTLE INDIANS) was published--but this book put her career well over the top: nothing like it had seen before, it proved a sensation, and writers and film-makers continue to use Christie's basic idea to this very day. Some critics argue the novel is mechanical rather than organic, but I say if this is mechanical, let's have more of it! It is truly a can't-put-it-down, non-stop read, a spectacular turn by the genre's single most celebrated author.
The success of the novel inspired Christie to adapt it for the stage, where it was a tremendous success, and there have been several film versions (most notably the 1940s Rene Clair-directed AND THEN THERE WERE NONE) over the years. If you know the story only from stage and film versions, however, you are in for a surprise. Christie felt the novel's conclusion did not translate well to the stage, so she re-wrote it--and most film versions follow the stage script, not the novel. But whether you've seen the play and films or not, get ready for a shock!
A group of ten strangers is invited or hired for a long weekend on Indian Island, a mile off the Devon coast. It is somewhat improbable that these ten would all accept such a vague invitation from a host they do not know to a place they have never seen before, but each for his or her own reasons accepts. They include a doctor, a games mistress, a soldier of fortune, a rich playboy, a retired policeman, a judge, a spinster, a retired general and a married couple who are to be the servants. They arrive on a bleak rocky island to a completely modern house with all the amenities. The fires are welcoming, there is an ample supply of food, the servants are impeccable, but their host is absent. In each of the bedrooms, the Ten Little Indians nursery rhyme is posted on a prominent wall. It begins:
"Ten Little Indian boys went out to dine;
One choked his little self, and then there were nine.---
Drinks are served, and one guest chokes, turns blue and falls over dead. The tension builds, the fright of the stranded people is palpable as one by one, they are picked off, each in accordance with the nursery rhyme. As the number of victims increase, the survivors' suspicions of each other reach a frantic pitch. In an epilogue, the police arrive and find them all dead. Who is the murderer who has to be among the victims?
"And Then There Were None" is told in short choppy chapters that build suspense and tension. I would call this Christie's one and only thriller. None of the characters are even likable and once again (see "ABC Murders"), Christie toys with the idea of the serial killer long before such an animal was even heard of. She is a good profiler too! This is an excellent story, and the author is miles ahead of you at all times, If you can figure out "who" and "how" before she lays it out for you, you deserve the Sleuth of the Year Award!
The book starts out with an introduction to the Ten characters. Although this is effective in telling the characters, it is also boring and does not catch your attention right away. But as soon as the guests arrive on Indian Island, this boredom disperses and an exciting thriller breaks through. What is also exciting about this novel is you have no idea who is committing these strange murders.
The first night these people are at the house they are greeted with an eerie voice that accuses them of murders that were committed but were never convicted of in the past. When the guests arrive there is no trace of U.N. Owen, but as the guests start to die this mysterious figure reveals his ugly face.
This book shows fear in peoples conciences, the guilt that lies within, and the hate among strangers. Anyone who wants to read a suspenseful murder mystery, and wamts to stay on the end of their seats, should read this wicked novel of horror and fear...