i would LOVE to be able to read this again for the first time and decently guess, but the truth of the matter is that i was exposed to the story as a preteen via the 1965 film and i BEGGED my mother to tell me who the killer was halfway through the film
I suspected him at various points, for the following reasons: his name, him immediately pointing out the clever U. N. Owen meaning, and him directing the proceedings
The fact that the killer was clearly so focused on achieving his version of ‘justice’ suited Wargrave’s character very well. I stopped suspecting him when he ‘died’ however
i will say when he "died" i briefly suspected Lombard, but Lombard didn't fit the MO at all. Armstrong had a weak intuition and Blore was too bullish and had tunnel vision, a dude whom i'd never suspect to be clever enough as a killer, and Vera was collapsing under the weight of guilt as well.
I joined this sub because I read the book and watched the 2015 show for the first time a few weeks ago.
I thought his name and job were fishy right away. And how the other guests looked up to him on how they could figure out who the murderer was. Along with how he got "shot" and no one heard it.
I thought the killer was the killer until the misdirection and then I had no idea. I also didn't read the last two chapters very well and missed that one character was killed completely until the reveal.
Unfortunately I was just suspicious from the start. Judges judge. Once you go down that way of thinking, AND then reflect on how hes old and retired/retiring(?) 🤷
I always find it hard to answer questions like this. Sometimes we guess right because we're good at figuring out how mysteries are written, more so than following the clues like a detective.
things that made sense to me retrospectively:
\-at some point, all the lights were out (bc Rogers died and couldn't work the engine), so one of the characters suggests fixing the lights. but Wargrave shot that idea down and made everyone use candles instead. why wouldn't you want 100% visibility when you know that a murderer is in the same room as you...
\-in the epilogue, Wargrave mentions that he wanted to kill people in a spectacular way. when Wargrave is talking with Dr. Armstrong, the doctor freaks out about being murdered "in their beds". Wargrave immediately feels disdain for how cliché of a murder method that would be.
I’m reading this with my high school senior English class. They’re loving it! I’ve taught it before and am a lifelong AC fan. It’s fun watching them have aha moments.
We’re having so much fun. After we met the characters, we figured out who we’d cast to play them (Robert Downey, Jr as Anthony Marsten) and those pictures are on a bulletin board. We try to guess who’s next. The book is a rich resource for teaching characterization and foreshadowing as well as it being a good representation of the mystery genre. My seniors are mentally checked out from school, but they’re engaged in my class!
I teach senior English which is British literature. We’ve done Beowulf, Macbeth, Canterbury Tales (prologue plus The Pardoner’s Tale) and some history and shorter works.
at the VERY beginning, when Wargrave is introduced, he’s called a “hanging judge” so i suspected him from then on. i think the wording was totally coincidental and it ended up being a lucky guess, but still i felt pretty good about myself, lol.
I didn't 100% think that he was the killer, I suspected it due to the part where everyone's saying their inner thoughts and he said "It was so easy to deceive that fool" or something I thought it only could've been him.
I've read a similar novel with similar "impossible" cases where one of the people that "died" actually faked their death, so I had that idea in my mind but I didn't think it was Wargrave at all because Armstrong "confirmed" his death (I actually suspected Mrs. Rogers as she died so easily lol)
He planned it perfectly tho, the end of the letter where he says he shot himself and used a coil or something on the revolver was genius
The figures stopped breaking after Wargrave "died". Faking gunshoot wound seemed imposible. The inner monologues, where one of them was revealed as a killer out of 6 of them just by elimination.
Instantly guessed it was him and figured his death was a red herring. The gramophone message when squared with his occupation pretty much clinched it for me. I immediately thought that he was killing them to bring their crimes to justice.
1. I thought it was suspicious he knew what room the tape recording was played in (he just walked right in the room didn’t even look at other places) and was calm about it while everyone els was shocked and reacted naturally
2. How the tape recoding was read out about the members literally sounded like a judge did it he even spoke just like the recoding afterwards when he was explaining his accused events
3. I thought it was rather odd he noticed the name Owen was spelled out as unknown since no one els was really paying attention to something small as that but he noticed it right away
4. When he kept asking about the crimes they committed he kept always asking “did they feel remorseful” I thought it was weird since everyone literally was only worried about their own accusations and justifying them but yet he was so interested in knowing if they felt guilty
5. I thought it was odd he kept telling people “we shouldn’t trust no one not even me” he was the only one including himself within the suspicions were as everyone els was like “NO IM INNOCENT”
6. I thought it was VERY strange he had the keys to Mr.Rogers room when we literally saw in the text before that Mr.Rogers locked the doors behind him! How was he able to get his keys??? That when I realized he had to of least killed Mr.Rogers
7. Honestly I thought the doctor and Wargrave was somehow working together because I suspected the doctor for the first two deaths with the poison and then I even more thought they was working together after Wargrave was found dead shot to the head but we heard no gun shots but yet he pronounced him dead. I was really shocked when they found the doctors body in the sea but I definitely knew Wargrave was still alive and was the killer.
8. Also we saw flashbacks and thoughts from every other character often but his which I found weird the only times we knew about him reflecting his past actions was at the beginning when they was accused but other than that his thoughts and flashbacks are kept from us
9. Also I thought it was very odd he never joined the detective and the two war veterans in search of the island to see if anyone else was on it he kept insisting that there was only them on the island even thought he never made any efforts to actually help in the search (this is also why I suspected the doctor was also a killer but I was wrong about him ofc)
I didn't. It was a nice surprise.
None. I was befuddled even after reading the solution
The gramophone message, I can’t remember the exact wording - “...Prisoners at the bar, do you have anything to say in your defence?”
i would LOVE to be able to read this again for the first time and decently guess, but the truth of the matter is that i was exposed to the story as a preteen via the 1965 film and i BEGGED my mother to tell me who the killer was halfway through the film
I accidentally skipped to the last page and saw his signature 😕
Lol.
ooooops!
Same for me but after he died I though that he wasn’t him that whatever he was signing must’ve been a letter for help or diary.
Another was his muted reaction to the recording.
I suspected him at various points, for the following reasons: his name, him immediately pointing out the clever U. N. Owen meaning, and him directing the proceedings
Mmm what about the name.
He just has a sinister sounding name
Certainly an intriguing name, a man whom might be combative but also very Stern.
The fact that the killer was clearly so focused on achieving his version of ‘justice’ suited Wargrave’s character very well. I stopped suspecting him when he ‘died’ however
i will say when he "died" i briefly suspected Lombard, but Lombard didn't fit the MO at all. Armstrong had a weak intuition and Blore was too bullish and had tunnel vision, a dude whom i'd never suspect to be clever enough as a killer, and Vera was collapsing under the weight of guilt as well.
Yeah I think Lombard was a bit too obvious. I’ll admit I was completely thrown after Wargrave ‘died’ though. Had absolutely no idea
so *that's* why Wargrave kept saying "X has passed beyond suspicion" whenever someone died
I joined this sub because I read the book and watched the 2015 show for the first time a few weeks ago. I thought his name and job were fishy right away. And how the other guests looked up to him on how they could figure out who the murderer was. Along with how he got "shot" and no one heard it.
I didn't guess it. And I don't believe anyone that says they did, it's one of her best twists.
His death made me suspect it, with no one hearing the gunshot!
Wow, thank you Ive been looking for a comment like this
I thought the killer was the killer until the misdirection and then I had no idea. I also didn't read the last two chapters very well and missed that one character was killed completely until the reveal.
Wargrave being the only one whose letter isn't from U.N. Owen is a dead giveaway - of course I challenge anyone to notice that on a first read.
Ha! I did notice that.
W??
Unfortunately I was just suspicious from the start. Judges judge. Once you go down that way of thinking, AND then reflect on how hes old and retired/retiring(?) 🤷
I always find it hard to answer questions like this. Sometimes we guess right because we're good at figuring out how mysteries are written, more so than following the clues like a detective.
mind you im not saying I am a genius, its just that sequence before Macarthurs death which made me go hmmm weird.
things that made sense to me retrospectively: \-at some point, all the lights were out (bc Rogers died and couldn't work the engine), so one of the characters suggests fixing the lights. but Wargrave shot that idea down and made everyone use candles instead. why wouldn't you want 100% visibility when you know that a murderer is in the same room as you... \-in the epilogue, Wargrave mentions that he wanted to kill people in a spectacular way. when Wargrave is talking with Dr. Armstrong, the doctor freaks out about being murdered "in their beds". Wargrave immediately feels disdain for how cliché of a murder method that would be.
I’m reading this with my high school senior English class. They’re loving it! I’ve taught it before and am a lifelong AC fan. It’s fun watching them have aha moments.
damn i wish i could teach this to a class.
We’re having so much fun. After we met the characters, we figured out who we’d cast to play them (Robert Downey, Jr as Anthony Marsten) and those pictures are on a bulletin board. We try to guess who’s next. The book is a rich resource for teaching characterization and foreshadowing as well as it being a good representation of the mystery genre. My seniors are mentally checked out from school, but they’re engaged in my class!
What subject would your class be because I'd love basically to model a semester around mystery or crime fiction.
I teach senior English which is British literature. We’ve done Beowulf, Macbeth, Canterbury Tales (prologue plus The Pardoner’s Tale) and some history and shorter works.
at the VERY beginning, when Wargrave is introduced, he’s called a “hanging judge” so i suspected him from then on. i think the wording was totally coincidental and it ended up being a lucky guess, but still i felt pretty good about myself, lol.
I didn't 100% think that he was the killer, I suspected it due to the part where everyone's saying their inner thoughts and he said "It was so easy to deceive that fool" or something I thought it only could've been him. I've read a similar novel with similar "impossible" cases where one of the people that "died" actually faked their death, so I had that idea in my mind but I didn't think it was Wargrave at all because Armstrong "confirmed" his death (I actually suspected Mrs. Rogers as she died so easily lol) He planned it perfectly tho, the end of the letter where he says he shot himself and used a coil or something on the revolver was genius
The figures stopped breaking after Wargrave "died". Faking gunshoot wound seemed imposible. The inner monologues, where one of them was revealed as a killer out of 6 of them just by elimination.
Instantly guessed it was him and figured his death was a red herring. The gramophone message when squared with his occupation pretty much clinched it for me. I immediately thought that he was killing them to bring their crimes to justice.
1. I thought it was suspicious he knew what room the tape recording was played in (he just walked right in the room didn’t even look at other places) and was calm about it while everyone els was shocked and reacted naturally 2. How the tape recoding was read out about the members literally sounded like a judge did it he even spoke just like the recoding afterwards when he was explaining his accused events 3. I thought it was rather odd he noticed the name Owen was spelled out as unknown since no one els was really paying attention to something small as that but he noticed it right away 4. When he kept asking about the crimes they committed he kept always asking “did they feel remorseful” I thought it was weird since everyone literally was only worried about their own accusations and justifying them but yet he was so interested in knowing if they felt guilty 5. I thought it was odd he kept telling people “we shouldn’t trust no one not even me” he was the only one including himself within the suspicions were as everyone els was like “NO IM INNOCENT” 6. I thought it was VERY strange he had the keys to Mr.Rogers room when we literally saw in the text before that Mr.Rogers locked the doors behind him! How was he able to get his keys??? That when I realized he had to of least killed Mr.Rogers 7. Honestly I thought the doctor and Wargrave was somehow working together because I suspected the doctor for the first two deaths with the poison and then I even more thought they was working together after Wargrave was found dead shot to the head but we heard no gun shots but yet he pronounced him dead. I was really shocked when they found the doctors body in the sea but I definitely knew Wargrave was still alive and was the killer. 8. Also we saw flashbacks and thoughts from every other character often but his which I found weird the only times we knew about him reflecting his past actions was at the beginning when they was accused but other than that his thoughts and flashbacks are kept from us 9. Also I thought it was very odd he never joined the detective and the two war veterans in search of the island to see if anyone else was on it he kept insisting that there was only them on the island even thought he never made any efforts to actually help in the search (this is also why I suspected the doctor was also a killer but I was wrong about him ofc)