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A review by twirl
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
5.0
Wow! Quite a memorable mystery, no wonder this has become one of the most best selling books of all time, as well as an inspiration for writers and adaptations.
The writing: Written from a distant 3rd party viewer which switches between all of the characters, there is little revealed about the characters besides their actions, dialogue, and the occasional internal thought. This made it hard for me to follow on occasion, since with ten characters there is lot going on and little personality displayed at first. Of course, this is logical as Christie writes in this specific way to keep certain things secret until they are revealed. More truths come to light as the reader learns about each of the characters, their characteristics revealed slowly as things unravel into chaos. I also came around to enjoy the heavy dialogue, it felt like a play or movie, even if it sometimes reminded me of what an Among Us meeting might sound like in the fourties’.
The ending: I had some suspicion that this would be a hard mystery to solve and that surely turned out to be true. I followed along in my notes as the many characters tried to piece together who was the perpetrator. As the investigators at the end said, it seemed impossible! Christie does a great job revealing lots of information, from internal thoughts, to reviews of what has occurred, even the riddle hinting at what might be the cause of the future deaths. However, the true mystery lies in what is not said. I think the many mysteries I have read made it become more obvious who it was towards the unveiling, but right up until the end I had no certain clue. I was positive that I would be frustrated with the solution but the truth is (while maybe unrealistic, though most fictional murder mystery novels are) the clues were all there, just in the form of unwritten words.
The verdict: I encourage you to read this and try your best to solve it before the final chapter. Once everyone is on the island and the stage is set, it is quite thrilling until the very end. While as I said, it was hard to follow in the beginning and I was disappointed to not have guessed the ending, I can’t give it any less than 5 stars for her ingenious work planning and writing the mystery out in such a way. Highly recommended.
The writing: Written from a distant 3rd party viewer which switches between all of the characters, there is little revealed about the characters besides their actions, dialogue, and the occasional internal thought. This made it hard for me to follow on occasion, since with ten characters there is lot going on and little personality displayed at first. Of course, this is logical as Christie writes in this specific way to keep certain things secret until they are revealed. More truths come to light as the reader learns about each of the characters, their characteristics revealed slowly as things unravel into chaos. I also came around to enjoy the heavy dialogue, it felt like a play or movie, even if it sometimes reminded me of what an Among Us meeting might sound like in the fourties’.
The ending: I had some suspicion that this would be a hard mystery to solve and that surely turned out to be true. I followed along in my notes as the many characters tried to piece together who was the perpetrator. As the investigators at the end said, it seemed impossible! Christie does a great job revealing lots of information, from internal thoughts, to reviews of what has occurred, even the riddle hinting at what might be the cause of the future deaths. However, the true mystery lies in what is not said. I think the many mysteries I have read made it become more obvious who it was towards the unveiling, but right up until the end I had no certain clue. I was positive that I would be frustrated with the solution but the truth is (while maybe unrealistic, though most fictional murder mystery novels are) the clues were all there, just in the form of unwritten words.
The verdict: I encourage you to read this and try your best to solve it before the final chapter. Once everyone is on the island and the stage is set, it is quite thrilling until the very end. While as I said, it was hard to follow in the beginning and I was disappointed to not have guessed the ending, I can’t give it any less than 5 stars for her ingenious work planning and writing the mystery out in such a way. Highly recommended.