And Then There Were None

by SparkNotes and Agatha Christie

Book Overview

Considered the best mystery novel ever written by many readers, And Then There Were None is the story of 10 strangers, each lured to Indian Island by a mysterious host. Once his guests have arrived,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1586634682
• ISBN13: 9781586634681
• Release Date: July 2002
• Publisher: Sparknotes
• Length: 72 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.2" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

And then there were few better than this.

Surely everyone in the world has read this book by now! Surely it tops the best-selling list of a best-selling author! Older readers may not recognize it by its current title, its original and a later replacement having been deemed too racist. Nothing racist, I hope, was picked up in my school English classes, where I used it to help develop pupils' appetite for reading. Agatha Christie's achievement is remarkable. She creates ten characters, all suspected of murder, who are lured to an island. She has them meet their deaths one by one as nominated in the nursery rhyme "Ten Little Indians" which is displayed in their rooms. She has each murder occur in a situation where almost all the other island guests might have had opportunity to commit it. As if devising all this were not enough, she also frequently takes us into the minds of the various characters - something that the whole nature of detective fiction usually prohibits. This construction is not only intricate but also compact; it is one of her shorter novels. Built on this scheme, the book must exclude Mrs Christie's regular sleuths, Poirot and Miss Marple. Instead, the dwindling number of island guests generate their own investigation. So here is a book that offers double the pleasure that murder mysteries provide. As well as challenging you to solve the mystery, it also amazes you that so ingenious a mystery could be contrived.

Very Dark Christie

Dame Agatha makes a jarring departure in this grim and intricate tale. There is no sleuth, the pace is fast, frenzied and breathless, and rather than "types," she takes pains with characterizations. The body count is high, and the mode of death frequently untidy. "And Then There Were None" is among the most favored of Christie's books. It has gone through a few title changes; I knew it as "Ten Little Indians," and before that it had even a more politically incorrect title. Be forewarned, Ms. Christie is neither enlightened nor tolerant. Some of the passages and references are bigoted and might offend some readers.A group of ten strangers is invited or hired for a long weekend on Indian Island, a mile off the Devon coast. It is somewhat improbable that these ten would all accept such a vague invitation from a host they do not know to a place they have never seen before, but each for his or her own reasons accepts. They include a doctor, a games mistress, a soldier of fortune, a rich playboy, a retired policeman, a judge, a spinster, a retired general and a married couple who are to be the servants. They arrive on a bleak rocky island to a completely modern house with all the amenities. The fires are welcoming, there is an ample supply of food, the servants are impeccable, but their host is absent. In each of the bedrooms, the Ten Little Indians nursery rhyme is posted on a prominent wall. It begins:"Ten Little Indian boys went out to dine;One choked his little self, and then there were nine.---Drinks are served, and one guest chokes, turns blue and falls over dead. The tension builds, the fright of the stranded people is palpable as one by one, they are picked off, each in accordance with the nursery rhyme. As the number of victims increase, the survivors' suspicions of each other reach a frantic pitch. In an epilogue, the police arrive and find them all dead. Who is the murderer who has to be among the victims?"And Then There Were None" is told in short choppy chapters that build suspense and tension. I would call this Christie's one and only thriller. None of the characters are even likable and once again (see "ABC Murders"), Christie toys with the idea of the serial killer long before such an animal was even heard of. She is a good profiler too! This is an excellent story, and the author is miles ahead of you at all times, If you can figure out "who" and "how" before she lays it out for you, you deserve the Sleuth of the Year Award!

A Classic Thriller!

Agatha Christie's AND THEN THERE WERE NONE should be very close to the top of any mystery fan's "must read list." The novel concerns a group of ten previously unacquainted people who are lured via various pretexts to Indian Island, a resort home off the coast of Devon--and are promptly accused by their unseen host of having escaped punishment for past crimes. Cut off from the world and fighting rising panic, they scramble to unmask the killer even as their number is reduced in macabre accordance with the "Ten Little Indians" nursey rhyme displayed in rooms throughout the house.Agatha Christie was already famous when AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (also known under the title TEN LITTLE INDIANS) was published--but this book put her career well over the top: nothing like it had seen before, it proved a sensation, and writers and film-makers continue to use Christie's basic idea to this very day. Some critics argue the novel is mechanical rather than organic, but I say if this is mechanical, let's have more of it! It is truly a can't-put-it-down, non-stop read, a spectacular turn by the genre's single most celebrated author.The success of the novel inspired Christie to adapt it for the stage, where it was a tremendous success, and there have been several film versions (most notably the 1940s Rene Clair-directed AND THEN THERE WERE NONE) over the years. If you know the story only from stage and film versions, however, you are in for a surprise. Christie felt the novel's conclusion did not translate well to the stage, so she re-wrote it--and most film versions follow the stage script, not the novel. But whether you've seen the play and films or not, get ready for a shock!

Wow! Who would have thought!

As I sat down to read this book the afternoon I received it in the mail, many questions passed through my mind. I had never read any of Agatha Christie's mystery novels, and I wondered, would I like this one? Looking down at the first page somehow I knew that I would.The first chapter sets the stage for the wonderful story to come, and every puzzle piece is set there for the finale.The book is brilliantly written, and masterly crafted by Agatha Christie. Now, do not sit down exspecting to solve this one, because that feat seems entirely impossible. I don't believe she gives enough clues for that to be done, however I guess there might be someone who figured it out.This novel was so good I could literally not put it down. I finished it in about 4 hours, and was very pleased at the end of the day.I highly recommend this book, even if you are not a fan of the mystery genre, because the book itself is a literary classic.I am pleased I decided to read this book because now I know I like Agatha Christie and will read more of her books, and I hope you do too.

Perhaps one of the greatest mysteries ever written

Set on an isolated island without contact of the outside civilization, Agatha Christie's novel And Then There Were None is the story of tem strangers invited to an island by a mysterious host.The book starts out with an introduction to the Ten characters. Although this is effective in telling the characters, it is also boring and does not catch your attention right away. But as soon as the guests arrive on Indian Island, this boredom disperses and an exciting thriller breaks through. What is also exciting about this novel is you have no idea who is committing these strange murders.The first night these people are at the house they are greeted with an eerie voice that accuses them of murders that were committed but were never convicted of in the past. When the guests arrive there is no trace of U.N. Owen, but as the guests start to die this mysterious figure reveals his ugly face.This book shows fear in peoples conciences, the guilt that lies within, and the hate among strangers. Anyone who wants to read a suspenseful murder mystery, and wamts to stay on the end of their seats, should read this wicked novel of horror and fear...