2015 Reading Challenge: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

I figured I was going to read the book list out of order, just because of time restraints and availability at the library. So my first 2015 Reading Challenge book was And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. It fit under the "mystery or thriller" category. One week into the year, one book down! I'm doing great so far!

I could have chosen a much scarier "mystery or thriller," but after being a bit traumatized by Stephen King and Dean Koontz and Michael Crichton, I decided to take it easy and just choose something by Agatha Christie.

I can't believe this was my first time reading one of her books. I've heard about Agatha Christie for years (especially in my literature classes, and in one of my favorite episodes of "Doctor Who"), but I had no idea how many books she'd written and how highly acclaimed they were.

I don't know if this is still true, what with J.K. Rowling in the picture, but Christie is listed as the best-selling novelist of all time in the Guinness Book of World Records. Only Shakespeare and the Bible top her book sales. And Then There Were None is her best-selling novel ever (and the world's best-selling mystery book EVER), but I didn't know that beforehand. I just picked it at random. What good intuition I have.

Anyways, having read my first Agatha Christie novel, I can see the appeal of her books. And Then There Were None was first published in 1939 so the writing and dialogue are old-fashioned, but they still sound really good. It's hard to explain. I guess what I mean is that even though the words the characters used were archaic and formal, the way Christie wrote them still made them sound like casual, natural speech.

The story is about ten people who are lured to an island under false pretenses and are murdered one by one by an invisible, impossible assailant. They're positive that they're alone on the island, so it must be one of them killing the others, but it's impossible to tell who the murderer is. Each character is given plenty of background and distinctive attitudes. Each one has been accused of murder and is suspected of evading justice. Some pasts seem shadier than others, but just when you're sure you know who the culprit is, that person is killed. It's a brilliant "locked room" mystery, where you just cannot figure out how the murderer is pulling it off without getting caught.

The mystery kept me tearing through the pages with a desperate hunger for answers. I could have fit this one under the "book you can read in a day" category. Christie is called "The Queen of Mystery," and she totally deserves the title.

In fact, the facts aren't revealed until the very last page, just when you're about to tear your hair out in frustration. But it was worth the trip.

I was about to write about how Christie's writing uses a ton of tropes that I've been taught not to use (like tons of adverbs, internal dialogue, and third person omniscient point of view), but then I realized that those writing choices are probably taboo now because they've been so overused because Agatha Christie used them so well. I wouldn't be surprised in the least to learn that everyone's been copying her style to the point of ruining the tropes for writers and readers ever since.

I'm rambling, but I really don't know what else to say without ruining the story for you. I'm just excited to read more of her stories because this was a really fun locked room mystery that gets you thinking about the moral implications of a murderer targeting suspected murderers.

And this is why I'm glad I'm doing this 2015 Reading Challenge. It's already introduced me to a writer and writing style that I probably wouldn't have naturally turned to. Now I have dozens more Agatha Christie books I'm excited to read someday.