5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
And Then There Were 9, 8, 7, 6,..., March 5, 2011
As a fan of Agatha Christie's classic And Then There Were None (one of my favorite books of all time), I just had to get this book as soon as I heard about it. Similar set up where a group of people end up in one place and then before you know it, they start dying in mysterious ways. Well, since they are in a stranded location you know it has to be one of them, but WHO? Since a good number of the killings take place in locked rooms, the mystery just grows and grows.
I have to say, I could not put this book down. It is like watching a train wreck, but in a good way. Who's the next person to get knocked off? Why? And then it happens, and you are still surprised, and it's not the person you think it's going to be. It would make a great movie!
One really fun part of the book is that the typography helps you keep track of how many people are left alive as the countdown continues. I thought that was pretty clever and fun.
I completely recommend the book for a fun, suspenseful read. I think Agatha would be proud. P.S. Be sure to use the floor plans at the start of the book, they are really helpful.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun, Suspenseful Puzzler, March 17, 2011
In Eric Keith's NINE MAN'S MURDER, a bunch of people who graduated from a detective training agency 15 years earlier are called to their mentor's vacation home for what they assume is a reunion. As they arrive at the train station to prepare for the next leg of their journey up the mountaintop, you realize that these classmates are just like the graduating class of any high school or college. Back then there were rivalries and romances, love triangles, misunderstandings, inferiority and superiority complexes. I loved the way Keith has them all sort of dance around one another, keeping things "cool" on the surface while they're all dreading the reunion while at the same time having their own agendas for attending.
When they arrive, their host is nowhere to be found - and shortly thereafter the 'game' is announced. They'll be killed off one at a time until these certified detectives prove their mettle. What's interesting is - very few of them actually did follow private detection as a career (we have a D.A., a defrocked priest, a bodyguard for the Mob, a psych ward nurse, and so on) so their skills are a little rusty, needless to say! And then the murders start.
I guess it is a common enough set up, but what I LOVED about this book is the way that none of the characters do anything stupid. I mean, in those dumb movies and books, you often have some doofus investigating scary phenomena alone in the dark as if she is invincible, like Tippi Hedren opening that attic door in The Birds (duh). All of these characters have secrets, some quite dark,and good reasons for keeping them. The murders happen as they are being vigilant and purposely NOT doing anything stupid that would expose them to more danger. Which makes the plot all the more intense and suspenseful. It just gets better and better, and when the bodies start to fall I really couldn't put the book down.
A big thumbs up for this one. Plot is great, characters well motivated (not an INTENSE character study, just a focus on two of the core characters, so if you are looking for a quick-tongued heroine or a divorced cop with alcohol problems, it's not for you!), and it made me not want to put it down which is the best endorsement I can give. Also, it's absolutely a great book to share with younger (teenage) readers, as it's not weighted down with profanity or adult situations. I've already shared it with my oldest (19) who shares my enthusiasm.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
If you're an Agatha Christie fan, this is a must!, March 31, 2011
This review is provided by Susan Ravagni, author of
I'm Just a Girl and reviewer for BookPleasures.
Eric Keith's Nine Man's Murder is a bold attempt at duplicating Agatha Christie's mystery, And Then There Were None (also called Ten Little Indians in the movie version).
Did he live up to the attempt? Synopsis and critique below.
Nine people are invited for a reunion at the isolated vacation home of their mentor, Damien Anderson. They are all part of the graduating class 15 years ago from Damien's detective training school.
When the guests arrive, Damien is not there. Only later do they discover his body, a sinister note, and their exit from the retreat (a bridge) is blown up. The note is taunting their abilities as investigators and explains that they are all going to be murdered one by one.
After searching the grounds and determining that the invited graduates are indeed the only inhabitants at the retreat, they work to solve the mystery. When the first of their classmates dies, they become increasingly concerned and suspicious of each other.
Each person has reasons to be a suspect. Secrets revealed, past love affairs gone wrong, dissolved business partnerships, jealousy, and resentments abound. Gideon Lane blames his classmates for the accident that left him wheelchair-bound. Reeve Argyle and Amanda Farrell are former lovers. Bryan West and Jonas Cruz had a detective agency together. Each grudge, each secret is tantalizingly inserted right at a point when you think you have it all figured out.
Integral to the story are a few subplots. 15 years ago the graduates were given a mystery to solve: what caused the tragic accident at a theatre set - the name of the play was Nine Man's Morris. Another subplot deals with mobster Antonio Capaldi: some are working on putting him behind bars and some have a `relationship' (wink, wink) with him. Do either of these situations factor into the stranded classmates' current plight?
One by one the classmates are picked off in one form or another. If you know Christie's And Then There Were None, you will anticipate that one of the victims isn't really dead. But who might that be? When another person is murdered, more than one person always inspects the body. It doesn't seem likely that anyone is fooled or in cahoots. In the end, one of the nine is left standing. But he is not the culprit. Suddenly there are two. Now three are still alive. Incredible! The complete story unfolds and the pieces all fit together. I dare you to figure it out ahead of time.
In one way it was a shame that I had read Christie's book. She was such a genius at building tension and creating mysteries. In her book, a note was left after every murder. It would contain a line from the nursery rhyme Ten Little Indians. For instance the first one was:
Ten little Indians went out to dine;
One choked his little self and then there were nine.
That person was poisoned to death. To make it even more sinister, a figurine, ten in all, that was placed on the dining room table would go missing. As each person died, another note was discovered and another figurine removed. There was something so diabolically malevolent about that, that you were almost afraid to think of the next line of the poem.
So while I loved Nine Man's Murder - the pacing was excellent, the character development well done - I did not see the mounting drama and tension that I was expecting since I couldn't help but equate Keith's book to Christie's. Also, I thought the people were a little too calm and collected, especially as the body continued to stack up. A normal person would be near hysteria (at least I would be).
The ending was great, though. I had kind of pegged one particular person as the murderer but couldn't figure out how they did it. The twist was masterful. Bravo!
I would recommend this book, even if you are a Christie fan or maybe because you are.
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