And Then There Were None [Paperback]

Agatha Christie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1991

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. A killer stalks a group of ten total strangers on an isolated island off the Devon coast, in a suspenseful story of murder and retribution, set to a sinister nursery rhyme.

--This text refers to the School & Library Binding edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Considered the best mystery novel ever written by many readers, And Then There Were None is the story of 10 strangers, each lured to Indian Island by a mysterious host. Once his guests have arrived, the host accuses each person of murder. Unable to leave the island, the guests begin to share their darkest secrets--until they begin to die. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

‘Agatha Christie’s masterpiece.’Spectator‘One of the very best, most genuinely bewildering Christies.’Observer‘The most astonishingly impudent, ingenious and altogether successful mystery story since The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.’Daily Herald‘One of the most ingenious thrillers in many a day.’Time Magazine‘There is no doubt that this is a highly ingenious jigsaw by a master of puzzling.’Books‘There is no cheating; the reader is just bamboozled in a straightforward way from first to last… The most colossal achievement of a colossal career. The book must rank with Mrs Christie’s previous best – on the top notch of detection.’New Statesman‘The whole thing is utterly impossible and utterly fascinating. It is the most baffling mystery Agatha Christie has ever written.’New York Times --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Pocket Books (Mm) (August 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067170608X
• ISBN-13: 978-0671706081
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (693 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,190,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Agatha Christie was born in 1890 and created the detective Hercule Poirot in her debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920). She achieved wide popularity with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) and produced a total of eighty novels and short-story collections over six decades.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

91 of 98 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic Thriller!, March 31, 2002

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: And Then There Were None (Mass Market Paperback)

Agatha Christie's AND THEN THERE WERE NONE should be very close to the top of any mystery fan's "must read list." The novel concerns a group of ten previously unacquainted people who are lured via various pretexts to Indian Island, a resort home off the coast of Devon--and are promptly accused by their unseen host of having escaped punishment for past crimes. Cut off from the world and fighting rising panic, they scramble to unmask the killer even as their number is reduced in macabre accordance with the "Ten Little Indians" nursey rhyme displayed in rooms throughout the house.

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!

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Dark Christie, August 28, 2002

By 

sweetmolly (RICHMOND, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: And Then There Were None (Mass Market Paperback)

Dame Agatha makes a jarring departure in this grim and intricate tale. There is no sleuth, the pace is fast, frenzied and breathless, and rather than "types," she takes pains with characterizations. The body count is high, and the mode of death frequently untidy. "And Then There Were None" is among the most favored of Christie's books. It has gone through a few title changes; I knew it as "Ten Little Indians," and before that it had even a more politically incorrect title. Be forewarned, Ms. Christie is neither enlightened nor tolerant. Some of the passages and references are bigoted and might offend some readers.

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!

54 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps one of the greatest mysteries ever written, March 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: And Then There Were None (Paperback)

Set on an isolated island without contact of the outside civilization, Agatha Christie's novel And Then There Were None is the story of tem strangers invited to an island by a mysterious host.

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...