‘And Then There Were None' by Sung

 ‘And Then There Were None’

-Agatha Christie

The most favored Mystery writer, Agatha Christie, branded ‘Queen of Crime’ begins another thriller piece. Agatha Christie opens the beginning of the book with eight people receiving an invitation from a stranger named Una Nancy Owen. They are invited to come over to Mr. Owen’s private island off the coast of Devon, to stay with him for the weekend. The people are slightly astonished by the letter, despite that they still decide to go visit without realizing the malicious purpose behind it. The eight guests unexpectedly meet on the boat that is heading off to the island. They are surprised at each other, since they did not know anything about other visitors. None of them seem to know each other, all they have in common is a murder they have committed in the past. Beginning that evening, the guests start getting murdered one by one.

The novel was set on a private island off the coast that no one lived on. It was the perfect site ever to commit a crime, if I were the killer I definitely would have trapped the people I wanted to murder in one area where everyone is in risk of death. The smaller the area is the better it would be for the criminal. There may not be an easy way to get around suspicion, however this sort of location would be the easiest, quickest, and the most efficient way to commit murders.

The two literary devices that cover most of the story was allusion, and of course irony. Agatha Christie made an allusion to the poem, ‘Ten Little Indians.’ The crimes happened all based upon how each Indian died in the poem. Anthony Marston died of cyanide poisoning, just like the beginning of the poem, “Ten little Indian boys went out to dine; one choked his little self and then there were nine.”

In the ending when the criminal confesses that he was the murderer, it was the biggest irony of the entire book. He was one of the people I was never suspicious of, since he displayed the most determination to find out the killer. He also has a type of job that is actually opposite to crimes and murders.

Throughout the entire book Agatha Christie continuously kept me wondering about the real criminal. Every chapter was thrilling and she never left a huge clue that made me suspicious about a certain person. Agatha Christie kept me thinking till the very end of the book. This is the reason she writes the world’s best mystery books and is known as the ‘Queen of Crime.’