I Must Be In The Minority

AriadneAriadne Texas, United States
in And Then There Were None
I haven't actually read the book, but I know the story from the PC game. The main reason I'm not fond of it is:  SPOILER..............................................I don't like how the murderer gets away with his crimes. It IS ingenious, the way he does what he does, but I just can't get past the fact that he gets away with everything. Anyone else feel the same way? P.S. Please refrain from throwing rotten vegetables at me. ;)

                                                                                                     

Comments

  • Christopher_WrenChristopher_Wren Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
    That he got away with it was actually one of the big twists of the book and part of what made it famous. Because nobody expected it. However, Christie herself changed the ending for the play, and he didn't get away with it there.
  • shanashana Paramaribo, Suriname
    I think the whole idea was that all the other murderers got punished for their wrongdoings.
  • Tommy_A_JonesTommy_A_Jones Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
    I think the précis is ngenious, but there are Non-series books I like more.
  • CaptainHastingsCaptainHastings Illinois, United States
    Ariadne, I don't know that the murderer 'got away with it.'  His/her plan was to die on Indian Island along with the rest of the 'victims,' and he/she did just that.  When the authorities arrived the murderer was found in the same condition as the other nine.  If he/she endeavored to wait until the authorities arrived and managed to convince them that the culprit was one of the other gu  ests I would well agree with you.  If he/she had some ingenious escape plan hatched out and managed to ferret his/her way off the island to a safe and anonymous existence, again, I would concur with your sense of consternation.  However, he/she has no such agenda or desire.  A person can accomplish unspeakable acts of evil if, in so doing, they are willing to sacrifice their life.  More often, less evil is done than that which is presented in And Then There Were None because of the deterrent imprisonment and capital punishment provide.  The murderer never had to face those possibilities because he never intended to 'get away with it.'
  • mike1410mike1410 Franklin, New Zealand
    I have to agree with you CaptainHastings, I don't see how Ariadne can say the murderer got away with it? Unless the PC game is significantly different to either the book or the play (I personally think the ending of the play is too soft, the book is much better). Everyone is made to pay for their crimes, including the murderer. Now, if  AC had claimed the murderer had been diagnosed with a terminal illness or something, and was doing all this before taking a short cut to their own death, that may have been a cop out on AC's part. But I would suggest that she could quite easily have written an ending allowing the murderer to survive, talk themselves out of any possible conviction and live for many more years.

    If you want to discuss getting away with it, see The Murder On The Orient Express!
  • AriadneAriadne Texas, United States
    In the PC game the ending is different, but then at the end it shows the story of the actual book. Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly. What I remember is the murderer killing off all the people on the island, then killing himself, and the police (probably) never finding out how the murderer did it all. And then, since he had committed suicide, he never had to pay for his crimes. Is that how the book really goes?
  • CaptainHastingsCaptainHastings Illinois, United States
    Interestingly enough, Mike1410, the murderer did have a terminal illness.  In the epilogue s/he mentions that and says that s/he wants to go out with a bang (or some such expression.)  Ariadne, yes, in the book s/he did commit suicide, but the mechanics of it are such that it allowed for much error and perhaps a slow painful bleed before the end.  I know s/he wanted to kill him/herself in such a way that it would appear like murder to the authorities, but one never knows with those 'sling guns.'  S/he was kind of stuck with that method of dying because of people's diaries.  S/he had to imitate the fake death as best s/he could when the actual death came about, but it would not be the first method of suicide I think most would choose.  I like to think that it did result in death, but not as cleanly as s/he planned.  Then s/he would not have gotten to 'take the easy way out.' 
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