It's impossible to not read this one in the shadow of And Then There Were None- so I won't try. There are some things that are done totally differently than that, some things that are shockingly similar. But even when there are similarities, there are ways that this book is distinctive- having

the customized murder methods be not based on the riddle but the actual weaknesses of the victims in resisting the murderer

is particularly interesting. The book relies on a lot of suspension of belief in terms of mechanisms and technical capability, and I think that there is one thing that the book portrays as a clue that I think is actually very nearly a plot hole-

the fact that only Hank is responded to by the invisible host is a clue that Hank is the only one who knows what the host will say, but it's also really conspicuous that most of the guests just DON'T talk to the invisible host despite it seeming like the rational thing to do, and I think that if they had it would have been much more obvious

, but also I want to point to

the murder method of Dr Reid being really clever- I was immediately suspicious of Hank, but I had no clue how it had been pulled off

. 

The ending was fascinating, and my first thought was "I have to assume this was made into a movie because it's like it was written for a Golden Age screen treatment- and it turns out that it WAS made into a movie, I have no idea of what quality. But  overall it was very dramatic and well done, though 

I don't think Hank thought his "have Peter write the confession letter" scheme through, because the letter's motives wouldn't have matched anything in Peter's life, if I recall correctly

. But it was very dramatic and it did leave me wonder what happens with

Peter and Jill, who each had such a financial stake in the other's death and are now the only two left standing

. 

The book prioritizes style over really foolproof mechanisms, and sometimes it a bit too melodramatic, but is a thoroughly fun read.