Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Language: There is frequent use of “damn”. God, hell and ass are used a couple of times.

Violence: This is a murder mystery and ten people are murdered using a variety of methods (shot with a pistol, poisoning, hanging, bludgeoning, drowning). The deaths are not graphically described. Each of the victims had previously been responsible (but never punished) for causing the death of one or more persons. These deaths are mentioned, but again, are not graphically described.

Sexual Content: General McArthur’s wife had a lover. McArthur was jealous of this affair and had the lover sent to the front of a battle so that he would be killed. Emily Brent’s maid became pregnant and was ostracized. The maid then commited suicide.

Adult Themes: The whole premise of this book revolves around murder. Each of the main characters dies. The characters experience stress and mental anguish as their peers are murdered one by one. They have intense suspicions which ultimately become aimed at each other. Some of the characters feel guilty over the deaths they have previously caused. There is smoking and drinking mentioned. One brief racial criticism aimed at Jews.

Synopsis

Nine strangers are lured onto an island (off the coast of England) by an unknown madman, Mr. U. N. Owen. Mr. Owen is seemingly not present on the first evening, but a gramophone recording by Mr. Owen is played, which accuses all present of a previously committed murder. No one knows what to make of this recording and the uneasy feelings grow as one by one the characters begin to die. At first, the deaths are assumed to be suicide or accidents, but a more sinister motive becomes evident. The deaths curiously follow the words of a childish poem. After a search of the island, it is discovered that they are alone. Therefore, the murderer must be amongst the group. Unable to leave the island, suspicion towards each other begins. After a storm, the police arrive on the island to find dead bodies and an unsolved mystery. Only after a fishing trawler finds a confession in a bottle, is the mystery solved. The killer was a fanatic for justice and felt that each person deserved to die for the offenses they committed, but that the law could not touch.

This novel is hailed as one of the greatest mystery masterpieces ever written. It is listed as even being the author’s favorite. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I re-read the novel a second time after knowing “who done it”, just so that I could catch the clues Christie employed. If you love a good mystery, I’d recommend this one. (This book was also published as Ten Little Indians years ago.)