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"But what you don't seem to realize is that [no spoilers!] is mad! And a madman has all the advantages on his side. He's twice as cunning as any one sane can be."
And Then There Were None, p. 213
The Sum of It:
We were so happy to see so many of our Instagram friends are huge fans of our latest read, And Then There Were None. Our summary this week will be fairly brief, because, to be quite honest, you really have to read this book and it is best read if you've avoided spoilers! So, in a sentence: And Then There Were None follows a group of ten strangers as their weekend getaway (for various reasons) to a posh mansion on a secluded island turns terrifying when guests start dying one by one…in ways that eerily follow an ominous poem framed on the wall about "ten little soldier boys"…
The YOA Treatment:
We dare say, if you are going to read ONE Agatha Christie novel, this is the one to read. It has been hailed by fans and critics alike as Agatha Christie's best novel, and we can certainly see why. Even Agatha Christie herself wrote in her Autobiography of how proud she was of the work she put into ATTWN, and its final result:
I had written this book because it was so difficult to do that the idea had fascinated me. Ten people had to die without it becoming ridiculous or the murderer being obvious. I wrote the book after a tremendous amount of planning, and I was pleased with what I had made of it. It was clear, straightforward, baffling, and yet had a perfectly reasonable explanation; in fact it had to have an epilogue in order to explain it. It was well received and reviewed, but the person who was really pleased with it was myself, for I knew better than any critic how difficult it had been.
This mystery is so engrossing that we've had several friends report that they finished it in just a day or two. Since we have both read this one before, and recently watched the awesome new adaptation of it from the the BBC/Lifetime, some of the initial confusion and amazement at the mystery's resolution wasn't there for us in this reading, but we certainly can't help but admire the deft crafting of characters, atmosphere, and straight up #TERROR in this short novel.
One of our favorite things about recommending this book to folks who are new to Agatha is that it's a great hook. People get a great feel for how fun it can be to devour one of her brilliant mysteries, and what a truly fantastic writer she really is. Several folks have already asked for a list of other Agatha books they should track down and add to their summer reading list, which we are so pumped about, since bringing more converts into the Agatha fold was the whole goal of our project here at the Year of Agatha! Incidentally, if you or someone you know is looking for a short list of Agatha's to get started with, take a gander at our first quarter favorites! Soon we'll be updating the blog with our second quarter favorites as well.
- A. & E.
