And Then There Were None was written by Agatha Christie and published on November 6th, 1939. Agatha Christie is considered to be one of the greatest mystery writers of all time. Her book, And Then There Were None is considered to be the best mystery book of all time. The genre of this book is mystery/historical fiction. 

 

Agatha Christie was born in 1890 in the UK. She was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and many short stories. Many of her books have been made into TV shows and movies. Her characters were amicable and had a likeness to real life people.  

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And Then There Were None tells the story of ten people, who seemingly have nothing in common. They were all sent a letter outlining their instructions and invitation to Solider/Indian Island. They were all lured onto the Island by a man named U. N. Owen, who no one has ever seen. Once all ten people were in the house on the island one by one they are killed in some fashion or another, according to the poem which this island revolves around.    

 

And Then There Were None is one of Christie's most meticulously and carefully thought out mystery books. The plot is considered to be near-impossible. In an autobiography Christie writes, "It was so difficult to do that the idea fascinated me... I wrote the book after a tremendous amount of planning, and I was pleased with what I had made of it." 

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The major theme which I found throughout the whole book was of guilt. Each person is guilty of murder or a major player in the victims death. They all carry around varying degrees of guilt. But one more noticeably guilt ridden was Vera Claythorne.

"How big the sea was! From here there was no land to be seen anywhere--just a vast expanse of blue water rippling in the evening sun. The sea...so peaceful to-day--sometimes so cruel...the sea that dragged you down to its depths. Drowned...found drowned...drowned at sea...drowned--drowned--drowned..." (Christie, 29)