I love Agatha Christie. I read her books sparingly, because despite there being so many, I can’t quite bear the thought of having gone through them all - so opening a new one is always a treat.

I know that this is one of her best. I know of the history, the original (awkward) title and the challenge that she presented to herself with this tale. So, like ‘Murder on the Orient Express’, I wasn’t surprised to zip through this in one sitting.

The fun here is that I was sent the book by the publisher… but with the last chapter missing. Which, if you are familiar, is the conclusion that reveals exactly what’s been going on. Without that epilogue: everybody’s dead. The killer isn’t found. Police are baffled. Author wins!

The week before publication of this special edition (in which that final chapter is tucked into the rear of the volume in a sealed envelope!), I finally got an email with a link to read the final piece of the puzzle for myself. But first, I had to participate in a poll to see if I guessed the killer correctly.

Reader, I did not. But I absolutely adored all these games, making me part of the mystery itself! To coin a very modern term, this seemed a beautifully ‘meta’ approach to a classic novel, and I do hope Ms Christie would approve (and perhaps laugh at our expense).

This mystery deserves its praise. It is so very clever, but without overstaying its welcome or over-confidently showing its hand. There’s no hints; if anything, I did get the impression that the author was going out of her way to wrong-foot the reader by omitting key details that would’ve pointed us in the right direction.

I was worried that I’d get the characters confused, as they’re all introduced in quick succession and aren’t terribly relatable - in that they reminded me of any group of teenagers in a modern horror movie, who are just there to be picked off! In fact, I soon saw the tendrils of this tale reaching down the years to genre-spanning modern movies, from ‘Glass Onion’ to ‘Saw’ (say what you like, it’s a perfect modern whodunnit that owes a lot to books like this).

The Ten all have clear motivations and histories, some more likeable than others, which meant that every chapter (and every ‘soldier’ taken off the board) meant that my theories could change from moment to moment.

My only quibble was the occasional internal monologue, one of which seemed to go against the final reveal. But the journey was so much fun, it wasn’t really a problem.

Yes, it’s a recommend. If you enjoy a good game of ‘Cluedo’, you have this book to thank - and this publisher for reissuing it in such a way that we can enjoy taking part without any of the potential for an unpleasant demise!

This latest edition of the Agatha Christie classic allows for the reader to offer their suggestion of who the protagonist / killer(s) might be before access is granted to the final chapter...I think I guessed right - but there have been variations for stage and screen so anything is possible eh?

It's a long time since I've read a Christie, like most of my generation that was a pleasure from my teens/early twenties, ahead of Suchet's classic Poirrot, but after Rutherford's Marple...I struggled at times with the style (too much he said/she said) and the plot flaws that saw the characters being far too genteel, stereotypical and formal given what was going on around them...BUT I enjoyed the stupid absurdity of the tale (which I'd have read way back when as an old imprint possibly using the now unacceptable title Dame Agatha graced the original with).

I'll not be clamouring to re-read the entire collection - my tastes have matured over time - but it's been a fun way to wile away some Autumnal hours.

Loved reading the re release of this classic. The characters and plot were engaging and entertaining. It was good to guesse along and reminded me just how good a classic Christie mystery is. So many midern mystery learn and a fo a take on this. Full.of tention realistic yo the times and a rare mystery uou could reread an still enjoy.
Thank uou netgallery and publisher and author for this 5 star classic.

This was so good... I have never read this book before so that was an absolute delight in itself, but the new Ultimate Mystery Edition is somehow even more fantastic as it was so immersive and really had me guessing along with the characters! Of course I was wrong! I loved the foreword from Christie as well about how difficult it was to put together, it has hugely paid off and I can see why this book has sold so many copies and it is truly deserved. This book really is the blueprint for all mystery/ thriller novels everywhere and I'm not sure any of them will ever match up now I've read this. Thanks so much Netgalley and Harper Collins for letting me review this!!

This is my first Agatha Christie novel and I loved it! This is the story of 10 people taken to an island and a series of murders occur, the real question remains, who is the murderer? I did not guess the murderer, but loved the way it was revealed at the end and so elegantly explained. The story is very well written and I loved the pacing of it all. It felt believable and really drew me in, questioning everything along the way. I hope to read more Agatha Christie novels soon as this was a fantastic read

📚 Book Review 📚

Ten strangers are invited to Soldier Island by an unknown person, each one of them believing their host to be someone different.

Each of the guests has a hidden past, a past dripping with guilt which has caused misery to others. Almost from the get go, each of these questionable guests are picked off, one by one and killed in a way that mirrors an old rhyme.

This is a brilliant classic from the legendary Agatha Christie, which has been brought to life in a brand new edition which omits the final chapter and invites readers to guess the identity of the murderer. I read the kindle edition which asked me to vote and then the final chapter was emailed to me. Fantastic marketing!

I loved it, classic sealed room (well, house!) mystery which keeps you guessing from start to finish.

I’d like to thank Harper Collins UK, NetGalley and the author for the arc and the fantastic opportunity, in exchange for my honest feedback 😊

Book released on 10th October 2024

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thanks to HarperCollins UK and NetGalley for ARC.

Interesting premise for a reissue with the final solution 'sealed' at the back of the book. For the ARC this involved emailing for the final chapter after guessing the solution.

There will be few who will be unfamiliar with this most famous and bestselling of Golden Age mysteries - remote location, mysterious hosts, collection of strangers with secrets they would rather keep, fiendish plotting and mysterious, seemingly impossible deaths. If you haven't read it you'll have read a homage to it and/or seen a TV adaptation in thrall to it.

Despite it being 35 years since I last read it, it was a delight to get back into the swing of misdirection and dark deeds. The prose is straightforward, the attitudes and assumptions are of their time, but it's a true classic by a pioneer.

Wow, wow and wow again! What an incredible read this is.

10 seemingly random strangers are all summoned to Soldier Island by their host Mr/Mrs Owen. Upon arriving at the Island, the host is conspicuous by his absence. After dinner that night a voice booms out - each of the 10 has been charged with causing the death of someone. Each guest offers their defence, but soon the guests start dropping like flies and the living have to face the fact that there is a murderer loose among them...

If you are expecting Poirot you will be disappointed, there is no detective to tie this in a pretty bow for you - you have to do the work here yourself. Having the final part of the novel tucked away until the very end so you have to make your guess is a stroke of genius.

This is a twisty novel and I struggled to work out who the killer was - I even kept notes!

Christie at her very very best. Read it, you will not be disappointed!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The misdirection was masterful, as were the odd clues ... I haven't read many Agatha Christie books - still in the TBR pile - but this novel encapsulates what her admirers so enjoy. Some of the writing seemed a little dated, given how such a mystery thriller would be presented these days but the disparate characters were a puzzle in themselves. The final chapter revealing all was withheld from the ARC I enjoyed courtesy of the publishers and Netgalley; after submitting my suspicion of who the architect of the crimes was, I await the final chapter to know if I am right!
A good really, perfect for those dreary days when one just wants to nestle into a comfortable armchair and read. A genuine conundrum of who killed whom.

An excellent book, as though we'd expect anything else. I thoroughly enjoyed this new format of it and was quite glad to have forgotten whodunnit so I could enjoy the reveal again!

A whodunnit and nobody does it better than Agatha Christie, a web weaved through the pages, twists and turns full of misdirection.
An island where 10 are invited with no apparent connection and then the murders start

Who did it?

Agatha Christie’s 1939 novel And Then There Were None is widely acknowledged to be the bestselling crime novel of all time. And it’s easy to understand why. Eight seemingly unconnected guests travel to a remote island off the coast of Devon – upon which lies a solitary house – where they are met by a couple who have been employed as housekeepers. Their mysterious host – U N Owen – is nowhere to be seen, and the quests quicky realise that not one of them has actually met him (or here). On the first evening one of the guests dies quite suddenly, plunging the remaining characters into a nightmarish plot of murder and deceit. They are being executed, one by one, in a manner in tune with the childhood nursery rhyme that adorns the walls of their rooms.

This novel is so famous it has pretty much become a touchstone of Western pop culture, at least in the crime genre. Agatha Christie herself described the novel as one of the most difficult to write, given that she had to account for all of the various twists in the storyline, whilst at the same time not just disguising the identity of the killer from the reader, but also by totally wrongfooting the reader so that the final solution comes as much a shock as it would have to the poor unfortunate victims of the killer. Like most of Christie’s work, there is little in the way of characterisation – she could never be accused of padding out her novels with unnecessary detail – but it seems churlish to criticise, when what makes Christie’s stories work so well is her masterful plotting. In fact, nearly fifty years since her death, I have yet to read a mystery writer more accomplished in their plotting than Agatha Christie.

This version of the novel – the Ultimate Mystery Edition – has the novelty of that its final chapter is delivered in a rather interesting manner – via a sealed document inside the printed book, and by email once an attempt to solve the crime has been made in the e-version. This novelty adds little to the book’s charm. If anything, its final chapter accentuates the very clumsiness that Christie herself fought against. It feels almost tacked on, even though it quite clearly isn’t, although it does come across as a bit awkward, similar to the exposition dump at the ending of Psycho.
And Then There Were None is a truly remarkable novel, and there have been many cinematic and television adaptations over the years – but most of these utilise Christie’s rewritten 1943 version which changed the rather bleak original ending into something more palatable for stage audiences (and the superb Rene Clair film from 1945). So to readers unfamiliar with the original story, the novel might come as something of a surprise. And it’s a very claustrophobic book, with an overriding sense of futility and the inevitability of death, possibly the effect of it being written during the Second World War. The spectre of death feels very close. I’ve read this several times over the years and it’s a novel that never fails to thrill. Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and Publishers for an ARC of And Then There Were None.

There is a reason Agatha Christie is the Queen of mysteries. I flew through this book in a matter of hours, and it felt like minutes. This version of the book comes with the 'reveal' separate from the story.
Even still, I guessed wrong!
Highly recommend.

Ten strangers are invited to an isolated small island off the Devon coast.

In the grand house, in every bedroom, there is a framed nursery rhyme in which ten people die, one by one. In the dining room, ten figurines stand proudly on the table.

When the first guest dies on par with the nursery rhyme and ‘his’ figurine disappears from the dining room table, the assembled guests soon realise that there is a murderer in their midst…

What a book! It was first published in 1939, and in my opinion, it’s one of Christie’s best works.

This was the first book Agatha Christie book that I’ve read, aged twelve. This was also the moment where my eyes have opened to the ‘crime’ and ‘whodunnit’ stories. You can honestly say that my life was never the same again!

This book has left such a significant impact on my future reading choices, and it shaped my love for crime novels.

I loved that in this edition we received the book without its last chapter. We got a link where we had to vote on ‘whodunnit’. After that, we got the final chapter to discover whether we were correct.

As I knew ‘whodunnit’, it wasn’t a total surprise to me, but I remember that when I first read the book, I was shocked. An ending I certainly wasn’t expecting!

Many thanks to Harper Collins for approving my NetGalley request to experience this phenomenal book once more.

This was such a fun read, mostly because I was trying to figure out who was responsible as I was reading! I’m not the type of person to annotate or make notes while reading a book but I got INTO this. I made a list of the characters, noted down their deaths, their crimes, etc and it was so fun.

The characters weren’t exactly likeable because of how historical this is they had some pretty archaic views and behaviours. But they were interesting because of their crimes. I was very disappointed that I did not correctly guess the culprit at the end because I think my guess would’ve made a good ending too 👀😂 but it was fun, had an excellent location, and I would read another Agatha Christie now.

Classic Agatha Christie who dunnit, lots of twists and turns. This is one of her best novels and you can see why she is still widely read and published. Ten people on a island ono by one they die but who's the killer, keeps you guessing till the end. A must for any crime fan. Thanks to HarperCollins UK and Netgalley for this review ARC

And this book demonstrates why Agatha Christie is still one of the best crime writers ever. A clever plot a twist that's not easy to detect and a great read.

I don’t have full feedback for this book as I really struggled to get into it. But saying that it is Agatha Christie and obviously it is good, I just don’t necessarily think it was for me at the moment. I definitely want to try it again in a few months as I think my views are likely to change when I’ve had more time to think on the mystery.

This was my first Agatha Christie book, and it was fantastic. Very easy to read, and full of twists and turns, it had me keep changing my mind on “who dunnit”. I was hopelessly wrong as I fell for the murderer’s trap 😉

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for a copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review. I also thought it was fun to vote on who I thought the murderer was, before getting the final chapter. I do wonder how many got it right…

I’m excited to read more Agatha Christie books

I was a bit reluctant to pick this one But then many ppl said that its too good and is their fav so I picked this up.
From the first chapter itself it keeps us on our toes. There is lot of thrill. Once in the end chapters I was also kind of terrified, like who is going to be killed and how will they kill. It's creepy, thrilling and mysterious.
I really liked it. I was really spellbound by the way it was written. All the characters, their crimes and their death. Each death in a different way. The creepiness starts when we first see the poem. I was wondering how creepy this nursery rhyme. (I guess the poem was 10 little negroes and was changed citing racism issues).

Of course the end was baffling.
Some mystery just fool the readers. Yeah I am sure you might heave guessed the killer but we all at some point doubted everyone. And those clue that were given in the end to make us realize that we didn't found the killer we just doubted everyone.

According to me a really thriller mystery challenge is when we have that person in front or our eyes yet we don't doubt him/her given the clues. That I feel is a challenge. Here we were so paranoid that we doubted everyone even without any clues 😂.
I wish I could say more about this book.
I really think that this is a must read.
Do read it and share your views.
Coz I am sure ppl will love it.
Even if they don't like the ending they will love the book overall. Coz it really is exceptional ❤️.

And the new edition of the book is out
"The Ultimate Mystery Edition"
And it's a collectible item
.
If you have not read the book yet then this is the sign for you

A must read for Thriller and Mystery enthusiast, consider this as challenge
.
And if you are new to the genre then let's get your standards hight shall we 🤌