And Then There Were None

I was familiar with the name Agatha Christie from an early age.  My Mom used to read her books voraciously and has probably read all of them at this point, some more than once.  I remember her checking out books with titles like Hallowe'en Party and The Mirror Crack'd from the Whitman Memorial Library, while I stocked up on The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew.

I didn't read my first Agatha Christie novel until the age of 22.  I started with The Pale Horse, one of relatively few titles in her oeuvre that does not feature Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple.  I liked the book a lot and soon after found myself engrossed in Murder On The Orient Express, which I knew to be one of her more famous titles.  This one had a shocking, clever ending, and I could definitely see what all the fuss was about.  There are some things that are just so good they will never go out of style: I Love Lucy, Beatles songs, The Wizard Of Oz, and Agatha Christie books among them.  You learn of them from an early age and grow up with an acute awareness of them.  It may take you years to investigate for yourself (I didn't watch an I Love Lucy rerun until I was 23), but when you do, you silently acknowledge that, yes, you understand what the fuss is about.

I was a mystery fan from a young age, so it's no surprise that I enjoyed Agatha Christie.  I went on to read several more of her titles over the next five years: The Mysterious Affair At Styles, The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd, Third Girl, and Why Didn't They Ask Evans?  I kept putting off Miss Marple, much as I have put off reading Anne Tyler's Dinner At The Homesick Restaurant, because I wanted to prolong the joy I just knew I would get from her.  Yes, I'm a geek.

Last week, I finally read And Then There Were None, which I bought in paperback last June (just goes to show how far behind my pile of "to be read books" I can get).  This is generally considered, along with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, to be Christie's finest novel, and it also holds the distinction of being the bestselling mystery novel in the history of the world.  It's hard to review a mystery, because you don't want to give away anytthing.  And this book, much like the movie The Sixth Sense, will surely never have the same impact after your first time reading it.  Most are familiar with the premise, as it has been copied and paid homage to multiple times in the decades since And Then There Were None was originally published: ten strangers are lured to an island, each of them holding a dark secret, and one by one they are offed in various fashions (some more gruesome than others).  So who is the killer among them?  You'll have to see for yourself.

Each time I read an Agatha Christie book, I am truly awed by the sheer genius of her mind.  I am thankful that I have so many of her books still awaiting.