This year, in English, I was required to read Agatha Christie’s famous mystery novel, “And Then There Were None…” When I first started reading, I didn’t really enjoy the book. The beginning of the novel was just character introductions and invitations to a suspenseful place called Indian Island. As the story began to progress, I found the book strangely intriguing. It was about the perfect murder. The interesting part of the novel is wondering who was committing the murder, so it keeps you guessing. There were also very funny puns.
My favorite pun was the person who invited all the guests, U. N. Owen, who later in the book, was found to stand for UNKNOWN. The story synopsis of the book was quite confusing. It was about 10 guests, all allegedly accused of bringing about the death of the innocent, being invited to an isolated mansion on an island by the name of “Indian Island”. As the guests arrive, each notices an odd nursery rhyme on the wall titled, “Ten Little Indians”, which is about 10 little Indians dying in different ways, until no one is left.
After each guest had settled in, they join each other for dinner, where the first guest dies after drinking his wine. After a close examination, they find traces of potassium cyanide and suspect it was suicide. The next morning, they find another guest dead. This guest died in her sleep. Some of the guests thought of it as a coincidence, as others became suspicious. They soon find a third guest dead before lunch. He was struck in the back of the head. One of the guests observes that it has to be “one of them…”, and the guests become worried.
When a fourth guest is found dead while chopping sticks, the guests become frantic and suddenly have an urge to find a way back to the mainland. As they start to make breakfast the next day, one of the guests began to feel dizzy, and goes to lie down. While resting, she was stabbed in the neck with a hypodermic syringe filled with potassium cyanide. Soon after, one of the guests screamed, and while everyone went to check it out, a guest disappeared and, after a brief search, was found shot in the head. At this point, everyone decided to stay together, but they find another guest missing.
They start to search outside. As they were searching every nook and cranny, with no results, they start accusing each other of being the murderer. Too busy arguing, they fail to notice a giant grandfather clock falling out of one of the window landing on, yet, another unfortunate guest. The remaining two guests believe the murderer is each other. As one draws his revolver, the other grabs it out of his hand and shoots him in the chest. After shooting the other guest, the remaining one goes to her room, where she finds a noose, and hangs herself…