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Scariest book by Agatha Christie, IMO? "And Then There Were None".

105 replies

Jacksmama · 27/08/2009 04:27

I love Agatha Christie. Have read nearly every one of her books and am currently working my way through the ones I'd missed. I love the suspense in her stories, and also the fact that nothing she writes (at least, that I have read) is ever over-the-top gruesome or horrific (a la Stephen King, for example - and I just want to mention that before I had DS, I was a huge SK fan).

There was a short story in "Surprise, Surprise" that I read recently which gave me chills as I was reading it, and I was lad to finish it and go on to something else that was a little less, well, really frightening. I'm not used to reading AG in bed at night and being afraid to turn out the light!!

"And Then There Were None" was like that for me. It was like a train wreck - I couldn't not look - had to keep reading, and last night, when I finished it around midnight I was so frightened by how the narrative at the end of the story where the murderer confesses to the deeds and how he did it, I couldn't sleep for hours!! I had to get DS and snuggle him in bed with me, with the light on, before I could doze off.

Anybody else find that story particularly disturbing?

OP posts:
nymphadora · 02/09/2009 08:29

Currently Reading ' the secret of chimneys' and finding it much harder work than any of the other books

nymphadora · 02/09/2009 08:29

Currently Reading ' the secret of chimneys' and finding it much harder work than any of the other books

shopaholicJen · 01/09/2009 23:35

Currently trying to read all AC books (have read about 8 so far).
I can't read any of them at night though, i get scared they'll be scary and have to go and read something fluffy!
so far, Murder of Roger Ackroyd has been te scariest, I was all shivery when I read it.
I was in Torquay recently and just missed AC week
Poirot is my favourite-esp. David Suchet on T.V

CatherineofMumbles · 31/08/2009 20:51

Joan Hickson is too waspish. Geraldine McEwan was much more of my idea of a 'pink & white' Miss Marple. I think Julia Mc will do very nicely.

edam · 31/08/2009 20:42

Yes, that's what has been confusing me!

Rhian82 · 31/08/2009 20:41

I think Endless Night is the creepiest, but Crooked House is pretty bad too.

ZZZenAgain · 31/08/2009 20:37

No, Caribbean Mystery is where he is an old man but Nemesis is the one where he has his lawyers send off a letter to MM after his death and she goes on the country house tour. Doesn't she tell him in the Caribbean Mystery that she is Nemesis though when she is about to solve it and turns up all pink and fluffy and makes him chortle?

edam · 31/08/2009 20:30

Ah, I had it in my head Nemesis was the first Jason Rafiel one, but maybe that was A Carribean Mystery?

LaDiDaDi · 31/08/2009 15:18

That's Nemesis I think, edam.

This thread has made me want to reread a lot of them though I think I may have carbooted them when I left home for Uni. (Don't think I met your dp though Ceasnake!).

edam · 31/08/2009 11:29

Enjoy Poirot but Miss Marple is just wonderful. Love the sweet facade and the entirely realistic appraisal of human nature behind it - think Christie says at some point all the Victorians had minds like sewers.

ITV Marple is just horrid. Dropping the Miss is extremely rude and G McEwen is not J Hicks. No-one should play Poirot after Suchet and no-one should play Miss Marple after J Hicks.

I like the one where Miss Marple clears Jason Rafiel's son - in his will, Rafiel sends her on a coach tour without any instructions at all apart from 'here's the ticket'. Very eery.

RustyBear · 31/08/2009 11:29

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UnquietDad · 31/08/2009 10:51

So you did, steamedtreaclesponge - missed that!

Ceasnake · 31/08/2009 10:47

Actually, I think the little statues in the ATTWN are 'Indians' (ie. Native Americans). That was the next, slightly less un-PC title before it became And Then There Were None.

steamedtreaclesponge · 31/08/2009 10:09

But Ceasnake, surely the golliwogs are an integral part of the plot? Not that I agree with them or anything, but I suppose it would have made sense to have a picture of one on the front.

And UQD, I did use the original title in my first post (purely because it's quicker to type than ATTWN and that's what my edition is called) and Mumsnet hasn't exploded yet, although I wait with bated breath...

UnquietDad · 30/08/2009 19:50

Isn't it funny how we all dance round that original title? Would mumsnet explode if someone actually used the word? (It gets played on Radio 2 every time "Oliver's Army" is on...)

dizzysteph · 30/08/2009 19:17

Agree with all the scary Agatha Christies mentioned here but noone has mentioned Crooked House.... no other book has made me shudder like that. Very creepy!!

Ceasnake · 30/08/2009 18:50

Talking of And Then There Were None's original title, I have an amusing anecdote of when my partner (who is black)found some Agatha Christie books for sale at a car boot:

Ceasnake's P: Oh my girlfriend loves Agatha Christie, I'll take them all. How much?
Carboot man: A fiver. Oh, and I've got a special edition here, it's the original title and cover... I just keep it in this box here.
CP: Great, which one is that?
CBM: (penny dropping) Oh - um -
CP: Sorry, which one?
CBM: (panicking slightly)I don't agree with it, or anything!
CP: What? Can I buy it?
CBM: Oh - um - well...

Needless to say, he bought it (probably for a knock down price!)

To make matters even worse, it has a golliwog on the front cover

nymphadora · 30/08/2009 18:01

5/10 some I couldn't even remember

hocuspontas · 30/08/2009 16:38

Cat among the Pigeons just started on ITV1...

steamedtreaclesponge · 30/08/2009 12:53

9/10! That quiz made me realise that there are a couple of her books I haven't read in a while, will have to go on a hunt for them...

hocuspontas · 30/08/2009 12:38

I only got 5/10. And I call myself an AC buff. I will have to re-read them. Although I don't really like the short stories so I was never going to get 10!

Spacehoppa · 29/08/2009 20:36

4/10. In my defence I did go go through my trying to read everything Christe Phase 20 years ago. Guess this means I will have to start all over again.
With ABC perhaps?

RustyBear · 29/08/2009 20:21

10/10!

Spacehoppa · 29/08/2009 19:51

I rather like the ending of Endless Night for creepy.

In films I have a soft spot for the old Margaret Rutherford films of Marple-just how many liberties?

VintageGardenia · 29/08/2009 19:47

Well I had to google the corn knife so here's one result, a quiz, you'll all get one question right now anyway, pit your wits.