March Meetup: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

So I read and reviewed ATTWN last year and was excited for the Litwits to discuss this novel because I sort of expected it to be a hit! And it was. I don’t think a single member was too disappointed. That’s a huge win when you have a very diversified group of literary ladies.

Christie’s page-turning plot was no doubt a leading cause. We talked in depth of how intricately her narrative was plotted – what with all the characters and their layered pasts. Christie also takes great care in how she divulges all the twists and turns (of which there are many) to her readers – never letting them in on a secret too early. For this reason, her killer is next to impossible to suss out. In today’s far too often cookie-cutter mystery, Christie’s shocking reveals really set her among history’s elite whodunnit novelists.

We had fun delving into each character’s gritty back story and their particular reason for being selected among the doomed party. Whether or not they were actually to blame, how they lived with their culpability, and ultimately how crazy they had to have been. The psychological aspects of Christie’s story are so deliciously wrought with morality questions that it’s easy to understand why many readers and high schools across the nation deem her genre novels literary classics.

I think the only bit anyone didn’t agree on was the ending. Some loved Christie’s unveiling of the murderer through the novel’s last chapter – a letter from the actual killer. Others wished they had been left never knowing who was responsible. I was actually genuinely surprised at how many Litwits would have been satisfied without the killer’s identity being revealed!

So we Litwits highly recommend this or any other Christie novel for book clubs or individuals across the globe. We have some Christie aficionados among us who recommend The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and The Body in the Library. Happy Reading!

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And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

I can’t believe I’ve lived almost three decades and this is only my first run-in with Agatha Christie!  I feel so ashamed!  October seemed like the perfect time to remedy this tragedy and so I picked up And Then There Were None off the TBR shelf.  Such a fun theme read for the Halloween season!

The basic premise involves 10 seemingly random people brought together on Indian Island (a small island off the coast of England).  One by one, the guests begin to die and eventually surmise that the killing must be an inside job due to there being no one else on the island!  The remaining victims are in a race against time to discover the true killer if they are to survive to see the mainland again!  Brilliant.

I don’t know what else can possibly be said about Agatha Christie.  She met all my expectations and more.  Her tale was expertly crafted and I suspected every single character of being the murderer at some point.  And I can guarantee that once the full story is revealed everyone will be pleasantly surprised at how things went down.  Readers will also encounter some fantastically written characters, especially the strong female lead character of Vera – loved her!

And there is so much suspense!  I know a lot of readers might think this book rather tame as compared to modern day slasher flicks, but I honestly preferred reading certain parts of this novel in the daytime rather than the dark of night!  And I love slasher flicks, but well done suspense is timeless.

So if you need a very quick, delightfully spooky Halloween read – please consider And Then There Were None!  I almost want to go back and read it again now knowing the details uncovered at the end of the story.  I can’t wait to read another Christie novel to see how well her other novels stand up to this winner.

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My first Agatha Christie!  Perhaps I should add more to my Classics Club List?