Of course I was intrigued to read this due to the constant comparisons and contrasts to And Then There Were None. On top of that, when this book won the crossexaminingcrime's Reprint of the Year award in an upset over Till Death Do Us Part, my curiosity was further piqued. Was this book a forgotten GAD masterpiece which in turn inspired THE GAD masterpiece? Or was it a forgettable footnote in crime fiction history?

Well, it's not quite a masterpiece, but it's darn good, and its reprinting was worth it. The first chapter is reminiscent to ATTWN's beginning, with each of the eight main characters getting a telegram inviting them to the fateful penthouse - that is, after the anonymous killer is seen sending the telegraphs. What's different here is that each character suspects one of the others in turn of setting up the party. Perhaps one of them is justified in their reasoning...

There is quite a bit of exposition as we learn about the characters, their lives, jobs, and how they each hate one other person in the group (in this way we can compare this book to Marsh's Death and the Dancing Footman, which has a similar plot point.) The mysterious host begins to speak through some private radio station, and he won't stop anytime soon, unlike the voice on the record in ATTWN. Our host quickly tells everyone about a.) the dead man in the closet, b.) the drugged servants, c.) the several means of escape which have been blocked by the host in order to kill anyone who chickens out, and d.) his plans to kill each person one by one, in a way that exploits a part of each victim's hubris. Not long after, about 40-45% of the way into the book, our first victim leaves us in what may now be one of my favorite GAD deaths. It's suspenseful and the psychology behind the murder is quite fascinating, although how the host could be certain that it would go down this way is uncertain. That's my one problem with the murderer's method: although each murder perfectly capitalizes on the victim's hubris, there's always a small chance that the victim smarts up (in which case the host promises to, um, commit suicide in front of everybody) or that outside forces mess things up. But you know what, this is supposed to be suspenseful and fun, like a fair-play Saw, so I'll let Bristow and Manning get away with it.

And my goodness, do the bodies pile up quickly! I felt like I was just starting to understand these characters a bit more and BOOM! half of them are lying in the coffins our host has so generously provided. Before we know it, though, we have a (somewhat long-winded) solution given to us, and things slow down a bit. I'll once again cut our authors some slack, because after so much action you can only make a solution scene so interesting. But the penultimate chapter's end and the final chapter's beginning give on last moment of uncertainty, before the resolution ties things up nicely. I think that all of the murder methods were particularly clever, although I wish we were given a bit more time to figure out what happened before the host blabs about it. Actually, there is some space between the final murder (what number that is I won't spoil) and its explanation, and I actually figure out how the murderer did that one, but I still wasn't able to figure out who it was. The motive is neatly hidden, and how the killer prepared the whole "host" set-up is interesting. Throughout the book I also enjoyed the descriptions of the art-deco penthouse, and the remnants of the Jazz Age which seep the characters and their behaviors.

So overall, there are quite a few similarities between The Invisible Host and ATTWN; but each book has its own strengths and weaknesses (although ATTWN is much closer to being flawless). The moral aspect of TIH is based on general hubris, whereas ATTWN focuses much more closely on the guilt of un-provable murder. I'd recommend this as both as interesting nugget of GAD hstory and as a darn good book too. I'll have to watch the movie version now (called The Ninth Guest,) and see what I think of it!

Forse avevo troppe aspettative per questo libro! Dicono tutti che agatha christie abbia copiato la storia per i suoi 10 piccoli indiani! Mha….ci vuole veramente immaginazione per trovare un minimo di attinenza. Storia noiosa e decisamente assurda, con finale sconclusionato.

A very creepy but also very wordy sort of proto-"And Then There Were None." How does a novella with so much bonkers plot to get through still manage to be so verbose?
Eight people gather for a mysterious dinner party where no one appears as host. That is, until a weird voice starts speaking to them over the radio, inviting them to play a game of wits with death as the penalty. They will all, the voice predicts, be dead by morning.
It's somewhat of an interesting period piece... May be worth visiting if you're interested in fiction trends from the 1930s. But trying to read it for its own merits, I found it over-strained itself and didn't always play fair. The voice on the radio promises no tricks, but there are tricks all over the place.

This book has a similar plot to "And Then There Were None." It was written before that book and is rather contrived and unlikely. I suppose both stories are contrived and unlikely but Christie's book carries it off much better.