And Then There Were None is famous author Agatha Christie’s best-selling novel; it is also the world’s best-selling mystery book to this date. It was first published in 1939 in the UK with the title Ten Little N*ggers, named after the children’s rhyme that was widely popular in Europe for being played in blackface minstrel shows. However, for its US edition in 1940, the title was changed to And Then There Were None and has been published with that same title ever since.
This book practically invented plot twists. If you’re a sucker for secrets, mystery, and murder, then this is the book for you.
Ten people, eight of them strangers to each other, find themselves stranded on a small, isolated island off the coast of England. They are each lured there under false pretenses by the mysterious U.N. Owen, a character that only exists by name. These people could not be more different from one another, but they each have one thing in common: they are all guilty of committing murder but have been allowed to walk free.
During dinner on the first night of their stay, a gramophone eerily begins to play a recording that accuses each of them of having a hand in killing someone, detailing their individual crimes and stating that they have each eluded justice. After their darkest secrets are uncovered, people start to die, one by one, as described in the nursery rhyme called “Ten Little Soldiers” that hangs in a frame on the walls of each of their rooms. It soon becomes clear that the murderer is among them, but who could it be?
This book had me gasping for breath between chapters, it’s such a rollercoaster! Its pages contain many delicious twists and turns– I guarantee that you will devour it in search of answers. Agatha Christie successfully grabs your attention from the very first sentence and holds it throughout the entire story. She guides you through the mystery, points you towards clues but lets you solve the mystery yourself. She’ll have you thinking you know the answer, only to prove you wrong and leave you dumbfounded but intrigued to know more.