Ten strangers brought together on an island by a mysterious
host known only as Mr. U.N. Owen. No boat. No
communication with the outside world. Ten strangers who
find out from a recording placed on a phonograph that they
are all accused of murder. So when the accused start being
killed, one by one, following the lines of an old nursery
rhyme, they all look like pretty good suspects. This re-
issue of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE is an excellent
introduction to Agatha Christie. It is one of those genius
mysteries where it is all but impossible to guess the
culprit, yet when it is revealed at the end, you see that
it could not have been done any other way.
The atmosphere on the island is charged with danger, as a
violent storm descends, but Mr. Owen's victims attempt to
carry on with a sense of civility, which begins to erode as
they each make their private guesses as to the identity of
the murderer. The characters are engaging, varied as they
are in circumstances and in levels of guilt, from the
couple hired as a cook and butler by Mr. Owen, who may have
killed an elderly former employer by withholding
medication, to Philip Lombard, a soldier of fortune who
remorselessly starved an entire African tribe when he stole
their food.
While this book was previously titled TEN LITTLE INDIANS,
in this edition the Indians in the nursery rhyme have
been changed to soldier boys, and the mysterious island's
name from Indian Island to Soldier Island. This was not
the first change made to this book to suit changing
sensibilities since it was first published in 1939. Plus,
Christie herself reworked the entire ending for the 1943
play edition, the same ending used in the 1945 film (which,
interestingly, uses Indians, rather than soldier boys).
This is Agatha Christie's most often adapted work. It gives
credit to the appeal of the story and the sheer brilliance
of the who-done-it that so many people worked to keep the
book relevant and available.
And Then There Were None The World's Bestselling Mystery
"Ten . . ." Ten strangers are lured to an isolated island
mansion off the Devon coast by a mysterious "U. N. Owen."
"Nine . . ." At dinner a recorded message accuses each of
them in turn of having a guilty secret, and by the end of
the night one of the guests is dead. "Eight . . ." Stranded
by a violent storm, and haunted by a nursery rhyme counting
down one by one . . . as one by one . . . they begin to die.
"Seven . . ." Which among them is the killer and will any of
them survive?
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy