EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club discussion

Kim wrote: "This was my first Agatha Christie and really first true mystery I've ever read. Wasn't sure she would be my cup of tea but it's a classic and after watching the Great American Read program last yea..."

Correct, Kim, at first he faked his death with the help of the doctor and then after everyone was dead he shot himself in the head in a way that the gun would fly out of the room. That way it would look like murder, not suicide (I guess if the police had checked his hands they would've found some gunpowder residue on it?)

I was fairly underwhelmed by the ending. The way it was laid out, it was dependent on enough information not provided to the reader that it could literally have been anyone. While Agatha never explicitly stated the judge was dead, there's no way to tell when to start being skeptical about the book's statements. You should be able to take the narrator at their word and still be surprised -- if not, the twist at the end is that you were dumb enough to read an entire book written by an unreliable author.
The judge fakes his death. Okay -- but we have no motive to believe that wasn't possible for the others. I don't recall the narrator ever declaring any of the characters dead -- it was only voiced in dialogue. We have descriptions of very dead people, so they ought to be very dead people. When you cheat the reader, it's never clever, because there's no evidence you couldn't have cheated elsewhere.
Basically, you finish the book, and you realize: I was never intended to figure this out. Agatha could have written any of a thousand endings to the story, because she didn't give a pair of fetid dingoes kidneys how she layered the clues -- it was a fun read, but it wasn't a mystery. Perhaps there's an intended moral to the story, but it wasn't that one that took a whole book to hide. It could've been anyone, even their personalities weren't uniquely predisposed to the murder, it took the tried and true "one of them's a perfectly discreet psycho" route.
To add insult to injury, the whole event was pretty poorly planned -- the judge just found a bunch of random criminals, tossed them on an island, and killed them. Not particularly witty. The only genius trick he pulled was the suicide, but the girl was unstable anyway. All in all, I found the novel sorely lacking.

And Then There Were None has been selected as the Catch-Up title for June 2025. Please feel free to continue with points from previous discussion, or bring up something new!

Do remember that this is the SPOILER thread, in case you would prefer to finish reading before proceeding here.

I’ve read this one before and recently read Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney. I don’t know if you would describe it as a modern re-take or it just follows the same mystery structure. Daisy Darker was an enjoyable read though so I figured I might recommend it as similar.
Does anyone know of other books that are a retelling of And Then There Were None?

JoJo_theDodo wrote: "I’ve read this one before and recently read Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney. I don’t know if you would describe it as a modern re-take or it just follows the same mystery structure. Daisy Darker was a..."

Ruth Ware's One by One has structural similarities to And Then There Were None. IIRC, A.A. Milne's The Red House Mystery is a closed circle mystery as well.

This is one of those times I liked some of the movie/tv adaptations better, but the book is a classic one.

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "This is one of those times I liked some of the movie/tv adaptations better, but the book is a classic one."

The book fell kinda flat for me. What visual option do you recommend?

Heather wrote: "aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "This is one of those times I liked some of the movie/tv adaptations better, but the book is a classic one."

The book fell kinda flat for me. What visual option d..."

Acorn TV did a series version, 2015, it is available on the Hoopla app if you have a library card. Three episodes, all star cast including Charles Dance, Aiden Turner, Sam Neill, Miranda Richardson.

I am currently on page 39,I find the character of Lombard a bit sus,does anyone think the same?

Summary(brief)It is a simple yet complex story which revolves around the ten "little soldiers" who met their murder in the Soldier Island.The ridiculous idea of murdering them as such it coordinate with the nursery rhyme was one of the ten visitors' ideas.With each visitor's death.the murders began to get even more complex.By the end the real culprit was disclosed.

What did I like?
I loved the smart way how the author was able to spin the web without us even realising it.I loved the chemistry between Vers and Phillip.

What confused me?
The judge being the true culprit is something which was totally unpredictable.Nobody in their wildest dreams would have thought it would be old Justice Wagrave who would be thr mastermind behind everything.He truly is a genius maniac.

What did I learn about writing or the world?
I learnt that poor description of the current scenario is misleading.The way the author displayed the culprits character cleverly is something which can only be seen in Agath Christie'sbook.

Would I recommend this?
Yess absolutely.though the beginning might seem a bit baffling (for non-native English speakers)due to the mention of ten unique names,as the story unfolds itself,things begin to be quite understandable.

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: “Acorn TV did a series version, 2015, it is available on the Hoopla app if you have a library card. Three episodes, all star cast including Charles Dance, Aiden Turner, Sam Neill, Miranda Richardson.”

I’ll second this recommendation. It’s three one-hour episodes, well made and well acted. One of my favorite screen depictions of Christie, actually.

Thanks for the screen-based recommendations!

This book reminded me of another book The Third Girl by Agatha Christie where there really was not enough hints to lead to the reveal. I feel you are required to give some foreshadowing or hints.

Sidra wrote: "Summary(brief)It is a simple yet complex story which revolves around the ten "little soldiers" who met their murder in the Soldier Island.The ridiculous idea of murdering them as such it coordinate..."

I didn't even suspect that the Justice had faked his own death/murder!

It was a clever way to write a mystery. With no likeable characters, there was no one to get behind. I am not sure I liked the message in the bottle, but overall I liked the book.