And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie

And Then There Were None is a murder mystery story by Agatha Christie. The novel centers around 10 main characters that are invited to "Indian Island", on false pretences of meeting old friends. Vera Claythorne, Dr. Armstrong, Justice Wargrave, Phillip Lombard, Tony Marston, William Blore, Emily Brent, Mr. and Mrs. Rogers are the main characters in this story. Although Mr./Mrs. Rogers are the butler and butler’s wife respectively, they still play a role in the tail.

The story has many strange word games; a poem called Ten Little Indians describes each of the characters deaths throughout the novel, while 10 statues are on a table in the mansion where the characters stay. After each character dies, one statue is removed.

Christie let’s us look into the minds of most of the characters early on, letting us think that each of them could be the killer because of their shady pasts. Marston is the first to die, a supposed suicide. Each character is responsible for a murder in some way, for example Dr. Armstrong felt guilty about drinking heavily on the job, possibly causing a death.

In a sway from conventional detective stories, Christie decides to confuse the reader instead of letting us try to solve the case. Each character is murdered in accordance with the Ten Little Indians poem, the last person, Vera, left to kill herself by a suggestive noose placement. The novel ends leaving the reader with no idea to who the real killer is.

In the epilogue we learn that Justice Wargrave faked his own death and orchestrated all of the killings from a piece of paper in a bottle found by a fisherman. He explains that he had an urge to kill and went into law because he could channel it being a judge. He wanted to find a way to punish those who had killed but not been convicted or tried. It also says that Wargrave will commit suicide on the island, but make it look like he was shot to confuse the police.

I enjoyed this novel because Christie has a superb description of each of the characters, and I identified with each one throughout the book and was very surprised at the final cliffhanger. Christie does not explain who has killed the people until the epilogue, and Justice Wargrave's character portrait is very sinister. Christie has written an excellent mystery novel, connecting the plot lines seamlessly, for a fluid read.