And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

 

Summary (from the publisher): "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?

Review: In this classic murder mystery, ten strangers are invited to an isolated island off the Devon coast. They learn that each has a guilty secret and one by one, they each turn up dead. Who is the murderer behind this bizarre and shocking event?

This was my first Agatha Christie, and I really only read it because 1) I am doing a 26 classics in 2026 challenge and this counts towards it and 2) one of my book clubs selected this book to discuss. I am not a big mystery person, so I don't think I am the ideal reader for this book. 

I do appreciate and acknowledge how significant Christie is an author for the genre. She laid the groundwork and set the stage for much of the mystery writing that was to come after her and really helped shape mystery writing in so many monumental and pivotal ways. My rating is a nod to this accomplishment. But if I'm being honest, if I were to rate this for my enjoyment of the book itself, it would probably only get two stars from me. 

This felt so formulaic and kitschy to me. I felt like I was reading the transcription of a board game being played. There are a lot of characters, so it was a little difficult to keep them all straight, especially on audio. This issue was exacerbated by the fact that the characterization is so minimal. Beyond a very brief description and then revelation of each guest's shameful secret, we get no real depth on a single person in this story. This obviously impacted by ability to connect with the characters to the point where I didn't really care when anyone died. This also just felt so implausible and hard to believe. 

I will say that this was amazing on audio. Dan Stevens, of Downton Abbey fame, narrates the book and does an excellent job at breathing life into the story. I don't know that I'll read another Agatha Christie but I'm glad I have read one just to see what it was all about. 

Stars: 3