And Then There Were None Classic Edition

by Agatha Christie

[brokentune]

“Enveloped in an aura of righteousness and unyielding principles, Miss Brent sat in her crowded third-class carriage and triumphed over its discomfort and its heat. Everyone made such a fuss over things nowadays! They wanted injections before they had teeth pulled— they took drugs if they couldn’t sleep— they wanted easy chairs and cushions and the girls allowed their figures to slop about anyhow and lay about half naked on the beaches in summer.”

It is difficult to review And Then There Were None without giving away the plot or the mystery. Suffice it to say that in typical fashion Christie assembles a group of colourful characters in a confined space and confronts them with a mystery to which there seems no logical solution.

What sets this novel apart from her other books is that each of the characters seems to have something lurk in their past – something that blemishes their character. So, whilst trying to solve the mystery of the main plot, Christie also tempts us to pass judgement on each of the characters we meet and assess whether they have been guilty of whatever it is that the narration implies they might have done.

Or have they done anything dubious at all?

If you’re looking for a dialogue-driven whodunnit with a barrel full of red herrings, you’re in for a treat.

“But no artist, I now realize, can be satisfied with art alone. There is a natural craving for recognition which cannot be gainsaid.”