Book Review: Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None.”
4/5 stars (no spoilers)
I first decided to read this book after learning that Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None is one of the best-selling crime novels of all time, with 100 million copies sold worldwide. I’ve never had a good experience with mystery novels and really wanted to understand their appeal. I wanted something that actually held my attention and a story that made me want to be the detective. This book delivered. Not only did this book deliver, but it also transported me to a place I’m glad I’ll never have to go again.
This book was deeply moving and disturbing. After finishing it late at night, I was so haunted by the final deaths that I actually lost sleep and was left with an eery uneasiness I had a hard time coping with. I had to watch several episodes of Netflix’s “Schitt’s Creek” just to take my mind off of it in order to sleep. I was not able to write this review until almost a year later, after reading some boringly shallow young adult fiction. It was then realized how much I enjoyed this book.
The story follows a string of characters in the third-person perspective, who receive letters to travel to a remote island for various reasons. Upon arrival on the island, the characters find themselves stranded with no way off the island and no way to communicate for their rescue. One by one they start dying. As tension and paranoia grow, the characters must investigate what they have in common, other than the unknown “Mr. Owen” who sent their invitations. One by one as they die, the climax builds until the killer is finally revealed, and his/her intentions are revealed.
This is an adult book for mature readers only. It explores the deep human emotions of guilt and despair. I would compare this to what I’ve heard about Stephen King’s “Pet Semetary,” which has been said to be the most disturbing book in existence in regards to human emotion. Invoking feelings of shock and terror, this book shook me to my core so much that I would consider it a horror novel as well as a murder mystery. It’s not horror in the sense of gruesomeness, but the way Agatha Christie’s characters experience their deepest and darkest fears and secrets. One character, in particular, has a past so dark I felt the pain, guilt, and trauma of it eating away at me as if I’d lived it myself. Agatha Christie slowly pulls back the layers of each character to their core, until the descent into madness is almost too much to bear.
Although the underlying theme of this book is justice, from a mental health perspective what struck me more was the deep melancholy of sin that each character can’t escape. The characters are stranded on an island, but the symbolism of that reflects their pasts that imprison them, and that they must confront. This book emphasizes the need for humans to seek forgiveness and redemption within themselves. Even when faced with a choice to live and escape, what drives a character to choose death over life made me contemplate the seriousness and complicated truth of suicide many people can’t live to regret.
I’m glad I read this book, as I was deeply moved, shocked, and even changed by this book. This book, in its own strange way, was fun in the way a horror film is to those who like horror films. It has all the elements of a good mystery, namely, I highly doubt you’ll ever guess the killer. I recommend it to anyone wanting to read a captivatingly horrific novel, but do NOT recommend it for anyone unable to confront their own emotions of guilt and regret. I don’t recommend this book if you are triggered by themes of suicide.
Get it here: https://amzn.to/345mdom
