Book Review of 'And Then There Were None'

 BOOK- AND THEN THERE WERE NONE

AUTHOR- AGATHA CHRISTIE

PAGES-250

BLURB:
Ten strangers are invited to Soldier Island, an isolated rock off the Devon coast. Cut off from the mainland, with their generous host mysteriously absent, they are each accused of a terrible crime.

Then one of the party dies suddenly, and they realize there may be a murderer in their midst-  a murderer who might strike again… and again…

And all the time, copies of a macabre nursery rhyme hang in each room, a nursery rhyme with an omen of death for all ten of them.

MY TAKE ON THE BOOK:
This is the first time I have read Agatha Christie’s book and damn, it was so engrossing that I bet you on it. It is a book on Murder, thriller and crime and to my surprise I was fascinated by the way the murder occurred one after another. The book leaves a hint. And all you need is to catch hold of that particular hint.

The beginning of the book is confusing since the author introduced all the characters in one go (one after another). But, I assure you that once you get into it, you will have a clear picture of who is who.

Moving on to the title, as the title suggests, ‘And then there were none’ it actually means there were no one at the end. With the title on my mind, before reading this book, I knew it was about crime and murder (all of Agatha Christie’s books are about crime only) and the way the author crafted the story, it deserves a big applause.

The story begins with ten strangers being invited to Devon through letters by U.N.Owen, whom none of them actually knew (I wonder why they went there if they actually didn’t know the person who invited them?). The name of those ten strangers were-
Mr. Justice Wargrave, Vera Claythorne, Philip Lombard, Miss Emily Brent, General Mcarthur, Dr. Armstrong, Mr. Blore,  Martson, Mr. Rogers and Mrs. Rogers.

There was a comfortable replete silence when the gramophone interrupted into it. There was a gramophone recording which was played in the house after the dinner. Into that silence came the revelations that the voice made. Which was-

“Ladies and gentlemen! Silence please!
You are charged with the following indictments:
Edward George Armstrong, that you did upon the 14th day of March, 1925, cause the death of Louisa Mary Clees.
Emily Caroline Brent, that upon the 5th of November, 1931, you were responsible for the death of Beatrice Taylor.
William Henry Blore, that you brought about the death of James Stephen Landor on October 10th, 1928.
Vera Eliazabeth Claythorne, that on the 11th day of August 1935, you killed Cyril Odilvie Hamilton.
Philip Lombard, that upon a date in February 1932, you were guilty of the death of twenty-one men, members of an East African tribe.
John Gordon Macarthur, that on the 4th of January, 1917, you deliberately sent your wife’s lover, Arthur Richmond, to his death.
Anthony James Marston, that upon the 14th day of November last, you were guilty of John and Lucy Combes.
Thomas Rogers and Ethel Rogers, that on the 6th of May 1929, you brought about the death of Jennifer Brandy.
Lawrence John Wargrave, that upon the 10th day of June 1930 you were guilty of the murder of Edward Seton.”

The house turned into grave silence. Everyone became shocked to hear the revelation of their crime.
Although each one of them were pretending that they never committed any crime, deep inside them they knew that they were guilty.

To add more to it, two people died that night itself. The house was filled with terror and suspicion to who was doing that, and for what cause. Justice Wargrave being the modest and best in making decisions, being a judge who served for years in the court, took the charge of the situation and told everyone to keep themselves on guard and also to not trust anyone.

The whole story sums up in this nursery rhyme. (Though I liked the rhyme but something in it was creepy like just the way it sounds)
If you are clever enough you will know what I mean.

‘Ten little soldier boys went out to dine;
One choked his little self and then there were Nine.

Nine little soldier boys sat up very late;
One overslept himself and then there were Eight.

Eight little soldier boys travelling in Devon;
One said he’d stay there and then there were Seven.

Seven little soldier boys chopping up sticks;
One chopped himself in halves and then there were Six.

Six little soldier boys playing with a hive;
A bumble bee stung one and then there were Five.

Five little soldier boys going in for law;
One got in Chancery and then there were Four.

Four little soldier boys going out to sea;
A red herring swallowed one and then there were Three.

Three little soldier boys walking in the Zoo;
A big bear hugged one and then there were Two.

Two little soldier boys sitting in the sun;
One got frizzled up and then there was One.

One little soldier boy left all alone;
He went and hanged himself and then there were None.’

This rhyme is the exact way how the murderer plans the conviction. And it’s quite terrifying when you know what’s going to happen and then you have no control to stop it. (Imagine being one of them and facing the situations they are. Imagine watching your mates murdered one after another. Imagine yourself being the last one to survive. It’s terrific isn’t it?)

And there’s a strange thing that the strangers in the Island noticed. They had ten china clay soldiers in the middle of their dining table when they have reached the place and each time somebody died, one of the figures either disappeared or broke or happened to vanished elsewhere.

This book is just a total suspense. You won’t understand what’s happening. When you think one of them is a murderer, the next morning you find him dead. The moment you think everyone is doing well, someone starts feeling unwell. You actually can’t really predict anything. But you can make a vague guess at least (the thing I did. Although you might be wrong but there’s nothing wrong in making a guess right?)

It’s quite interesting to unveil the whole murder thing. To conceal who the mastermind was. What more can you think if the last person in the island dies? Who actually did all the murders when none of them were murderers?

When you reach the nearest end of the book, you will know who it is. Did you ever throw a bottle into a river or sea or anything thinking someday a person will find it and read your confession? (Actually I did once ( and I don’t think anyone ever got it. May be the paper inside it decomposed already, who knows if there was a leak in the bottle? I used to see that in movies and that’s where the idea came to me to throw my confession like that into water) this was the main revelation of the story.

The story comes to an end with the confession found enclosing in a bottle sealing it and casting into the waves. With this hitherto unsolved mystery of murder came to an end. The bottle was found by a Fishing Trawler who sent the document to the Scotland Yard.

The murderer planned a skilful and tactful way of laying out a trap for the 10 strangers who came to Soldier Island. The document was duly signed by Lawrence Wargrave, which marks that he was the one who convicted the murders in the island. And after going through the end of the story you will know that there weren’t just ten people in Soldier Island. It was eleven, who was the murderer. Along with it, what’s more interesting is that, the murderer killed himself after he threw the bottle with the message in the sea.

The mystery remained unsolved. But with the discovery of the message in the bottle, the unanswered and unsolved mystery got its answer.

This book is the perfect crime thriller if you are looking for one, just grasp it and start your journey with the ten strangers in an island.

Overall rating- 4.5/5

P.S.- What comes to your mind when you think of a book with the title, ‘And Then There Were None?’