And Then There Were None | Agatha Christie | Book Thoughts

Ten strangers gets trapped in this private island called 'Soldier (or Indian in some editions) Island', allured by its mysterious owner for a weekend getaway. As we uncover the sinister intention of their mysterious host, it seems that these guests are also not as innocent as they appear. Next comes a series of deaths in the sequence of this old nursery rhyme of ‘Ten Little Soldiers (or Indians)’. Will these guests be able to identify the mastermind of this trap and escape the island? Or they will fall prey to this well thought out murderous mayhem? 

My fourth read by Agatha Christie and so far the best by her! I just love mystery/thriller with ‘trapped in an island/house/cabin/jungle’ kind of premise and this was one of the best I have read with this trope. Definitely different from her previous books I have read where we are following a specific person investigating a murder. But none the less very engaging and fun read!

I loved the inclusion of the nursery rhyme in the story; it added the creepy factor in this mysterious story. Following all these characters with their inner demons, so in contrast to their reputation was very interesting to uncover. I loved the ending and how things were revealed. 

Definitely one of the accessible classics, which keeps you hooked from beginning to the very end. And one of the few books I will go back and reread for sure in future!

MY RATING : 5/5

Buy on Amazon : US | India

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The Murder on the Links (Hercule Poirot #2) by Agatha Christie - Book Review

The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie

My rating: 3.5 out of 5

BOOK OVERVIEW

One fine morning in England, Hercule Poirot, our beloved old belgium detective, gets a letter from a french millionaire with mysterious past. 'P. Renauld', who fears that his life, is in danger and wants to avail his services and for that he must meet Poirot at his Villa as soon as possible. But as Poirot reaches there, he finds that someone has already murdered Renauld!! 

Someone actually broke into the Villa Genevieve without alerting anyone in the house and took Renauld & his wife hostage for a 'secret' and later killed him.

Story complicates even more when there is an affair to be rumoured in between the victim and his neighbour!

What is this 'secret'? Did Renauld predicted his death and hence called for help? Is his rumoured mistress is behind all this? If so...then who is this another mysterious lady named 'Bella'? 
Poirot and other officials are determined to solve this case and find the culprit behind this all!

MY THOUGHTS

This is my first mystery read of this year so far and my third read of Agatha Christie book.I read 'Murder of Roger Ackroyd' and 'Mysterious affairs at Styles' by this author earlier and both were decent reads for me.'Murder on the Links' is the second book in the 'Hercule Poirot' and again we follows Poirot's roommate and friend Arthur Hastings as our narrator.

I loved the storyline and the plot of the book, it was predictable in some places but also managed to surprise me in between.Each characters were complex and had something to hide, hence we had every aspect of actually what happened uncovered inch by inch.That was fun to read.

I loved Poirot, his methodical ways of solving the crime and his OCD. I also liked other secondary characters just fine. My main issue was our narrator 'Hastings', I did not like him in the first book but in this book - I simply hated him. Some of his actions did not make any sense to me and he came across as very weak and idiot character. And don't get me started with the romance part of the book.I hated that also.Especially the one concerning our main character was so insta-lovey that I literally cringed while I read that and that made me dislike these characters even more.

I would give full marks to the story but other than that I had issues with lots of things and almost all concerning to Hastings and his questionable actions.

Plot and Writing - ☆☆☆☆☆
Characters, Relationships and Romance - ☆☆

So while I hated the narrator, I still loved the change of read from my regular fantasy books. And I am surely going to pick more Agatha Christie books in future!

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