DNF

I appreciate that this is inspired by “And then there were none”, but it honestly felt
more like a bad pastiche.

I understand that this book began a revival in Japan of locked room mysteries which are a homage to UK golden age detective fiction, in particular Agatha Christie. This is interesting in itself, I had no idea that English Literature is studied quite widely in Japan or that English detective fiction is popular.

The novel opens with six students (Japanese but all with nicknames drawn from English/US crime fiction) travelling to an uninhabited island where a series of murders were recently committed. In this the plot is similar to Christie's And Then There Were None and the parallels are made clear. The narrative moves between the island and the mainland and the eventual reveal at the end is very clever.

Overall though I wasn't blown away by the novel. The prose is flat, almost turgid and the characters are flat too, not fleshed out in much detail and with few distinguishing features. Nonetheless it is interesting and worth reading.

** spoiler alert ** 2.5 stars


Mixed feelings on this one for me.

The group on the island I never really got a good measure of,they had no chemistry,and seemed like a group of strangers rather than friends.

Their actions seemed a bit off too... at one point it seemed as if they'd just find a dead body,move it somewhere safe,and get on with things normally.
Where's the panic?The outrage. The grief???

I stuck with the book and was rewarded with a long slightly satisfying explanation.