And Then There Were None (Agatha Christie, St. Martin's Paperbacks, 275 pages, ISBN 0-312-97947-9, 1939) is one of the most thrilling murder mysteries available today, written by the world renowned mystery writer, Agatha Christie. Unlike some of her other books, it was fast paced, and none of the characters are really likable. Though the story is told in short and rather choppy chapters, that only adds to the suspense of the mystery.This mystery thriller begins by introducing eight of the ten 'guests' invited to Indian Island – and island shrouded by mysteries and rumors that is located a mile off of the Denvon coast. Some have been lured there by letters from their mysterious host, Mr. Owen, while others have been led to believe that they have been hired to do some work there. All that is known is that nobody has actually ever met their host, and the seemingly innocent guests have been singled out to go to a paid vacation on the island. All eight are transported to the island, and they meet the married butler and his wife, making up the ten.
In each of the guests rooms, they find a small, framed poem titled, 'Ten Little Indians." When dinner is served, they all notice ten little indian statues on the table, and as they left to go sit in the drawing room, a mysterious voice names all the guests and accuses them of different murders - crimes that the law cannot touch them for because they are impossible to prove, and they have all been brought to the island to pay for their various crimes. The voice ends by saying, "Prisoners at the bar, have you anything to say in your defence?" The guests begin denying the claims, but it is to late to save themselves, they have all been marked for death. One by one they begin to fall victim to the mysterious murderer, and with every murder, a little Indian figure disappears.
As the book progresses, the remaining characters realize that the people are dying with accordance to the little nursery poem that is in their room, and they soon realize that the murderer is one of the guests on the island. Despite the precautions that they made, they continue to fall victim to U.N. Owen, until none are left – an unsolved murder mystery. However within the book there are clues, clues which the murderer touches on in his letter admitting to his crimes in the epilogue. The killer claims in the letter : "From an early age I knew very strongly the lust to kill..." He continues to explain the different clues that he gave, which indicated to the fact that only one of the guests could logically be the killer. He ends by signing his name : Lawrence Wargrave.
This book, though intensely suspenseful and enthralling, did have one flaw that was noticeable from the very start. Most of the main characters were introduced thinking about the strange letters that they received inviting them to Indian island. This showed a little of their personality, but did not really give any facts that made the characters stand out. It was also done in a way that was rather boring, and discouraged readers to continue reading, and it became rather confusing. In one case in particular, as Vera Claythorne is introduced, she mentions somebody named 'Hugo', but it is not known at the time who this person is, and all it does is add confusion to the characters. At first, I thought it was the name of the killer, but it was eventually explained in the end that Hugo was the man Vera had loved.
Other than this minor flaw, this book will keep its readers at the end of their seats, and I would definitely recommend it to anybody 13 and older who is a fan of murder mysteries.
