Sometimes the old ones are the best. At least it proved true this time for the book I just finished. I went back to one of the classic writers of crime fiction Agathe Christie. For some strange reason I had never read any of her books. Through all m years of collecting books and reading various crime writers I never got round to reading one of hers. Having read one I cannot believe it took me so long to get round to reading her work and I am definitely going to add her to my list of authors I want to collect every single book of they have ever written. She is one clever cookie.
### SPOILER ALERT ####
Ten Little Niggers - Agatha Christie
Ten strangers brought to a lovely island, no-one knows the other at first glance, all of them seem completely normal, all of them accused of being involved in some one's murder, no contact with the outside world, a strange verse predicting the deaths of ten little niggers...... what could possibly go wrong?
It all starts off innocently enough. We are introduced to each of the main players of the story in the first few chapters. They all make their way to the island to spend some time there. Some of them are there with a clear purpose but others are not quite sure why they have been summoned there. We are introduced to Mr Justice Wargrave - a retired judge. He is going to the island to meet up with an old friend Constance Culmington. Then we meet Vera Claythorne - a young woman who seems to be awfully keen to keep her mind of someone called Hugo. Next up Philip Lombard - a man of action, ready to "sail close to the wind" for a relatively small sum of money. He's "the good man to have to hand in a tight place". Emily Brent is next on the list - a stern woman, very proper. Then we get to the Military man, General Macarthur - going to the island to meet up with some old friends. Dr Armstrong is next - nothing conspicuous about him, just a successful doctor getting away from it all for few days. Anthony Marston is next - a man with flair, money and a very fast car. The last one we meet making his way to the island is Mr Blore - a man who is going to pretend to be someone who he's not. Suspicious but therefore you dismiss him straight away as a possible killer. There are two more people in this story but they are already on the island. It's Mr and Mrs Rogers the manservant and his wife who are going to be taking care of the guests.
This whole mix of who these people are, why they are there and what will happen to them on the island makes the story all the more mysterious. You get some information on each of the guests as the story progresses and yet you have no idea where it is going to go and what is going to happen. I am going to try not to give away much about the plot but it being an Agatha Christie book it should come as no surprise to anyone that not all of them make it to the end of the book. However the story is set up with such cleverness, such great characterisation that getting her to lead you through the few days they all spend on the island and how the story develops is a sheer joy! Needless to say that that I was very pleasantly surprised by who-dunnit in the end.
Christie leaves little clues dotted around in the story that potentially incriminate each and every one of the guests, they all have something to hide and you can easily believe that one of them would go to extreme lengths to do so. I honestly believe that each person reading this book will come away with a different suspect. As I said before, the story is filled with individual tales that define the characters on the island. There's little clues and bits of information. Some obviously there to make you pick a certain suspect (which you resist for a while - good for you!). Yet you cannot help that somewhere along the line your mind focuses on one little thing. This little thing makes you go "aha, now I know", it sticks in your brain and leads you to suspect one individual. Whatever happens next can be explained with your guy/girl still being to one who is the killer, you can fit all the upcoming events into your own theory of who did it.... and that is the beauty of this book.
Suffice it to say I was wrong in my suspicions (Mr Rogers had an evil twin who managed to hide on the island at times passing himself of as the real Mr Rogers, and went round thinning the herd a little). But,... did I mind? Nope, not one bit. Agatha Christie can be right about who-dunnit until the cows come home as long as she creates stories like this. Loved it, absolutely loved it!
Title: Ten little Niggers
Author: Agatha Christie
Penguin Books
201 pages
No ISBN nr, published in 1958/1959
Books bought: 0
Books to be read: 72
Not sure what's on the cards next... maybe DeanK the Odd Thomas series or maybe another ghosty one.... a proper one this time round though.
No comments:
Post a Comment