And Then There Were None

You don't get to be the the world's best-selling mystery novel and seventh most popular book of all time with over 100 million copies sold without some solid chops. Christie has got game for days.

This was just a wonderfully nostalgic read for me. It reminded me of all the Agatha Christie I'd devoured as a kid, pulling story after story from the library. Poirot, Marples and more have occupied me for many a quiet hour and yet I'd somehow missed this one.

A straight ahead thriller that announces from the onset (at least in my edition) that Christie was playing fair. That it would have a perfectly reasonable explanation with clues for a discerning reader to perhaps suss out the mastermind. That alone would have been a feat, but add 10 guests on a mysterious island slowly meeting their demise in line with the children's poem that girds the story and it's nothing short of a wonder.

Christie wastes no time. This is a slim mystery that's tight as a drum delineating the 10 characters, their past crimes that landed them on the island, and their slow, inevitable elimination until there were none. Just a wonderfully cozy (yet murderous) reading experience.