‘They All Fall Down’ is a retelling of Agatha Christie’s, ‘And Then There Were None.’ It follows the same premise, strangers are invited to a private Island. Where soon one after the other is killed off. It pretty much follows the same structure and plot of Christie’s book, but this is a more modern take on it. I didn’t like this book at all. The writing was terrible. The only reason I was able to get through this book was that I sped read it. It could have used another round of editing. None of the characters were likable, not even our protagonist Miriam. I think retellings are a fun thing that has been happening recently but only when they are done well. I was already skeptical about reading this because the original by the Queen is perfection. This book really solidifies the fact that Agatha Christie is the Queen of Mystery for a reason. This was a sad attempt at reworking a classic that honestly should have been left alone.

A problem that I ran into while reading this book was the lack of ‘murder’ in this murder mystery. It took until page 158 for there to be a body. Considering that this is an unacceptable murder mystery. The murder mystery should happen way earlier. We spent the first half of the book watching the characters as if watching a terrible reality tv show. This book reads more like a soap opera than a murder mystery. None of the characters were fleshed out. What Agatha Christie was so talented at was creating a puzzle in her books, and the fun was trying to figure out who did it. The main character, Miriam, was such a pain. I hated her. I honestly couldn’t wait until the end of the book because then she would be dead. The writing style itself was really jagged and became a distraction from the story it was trying to convey. There was also so much swearing in this book. I read Harry Bosch, I’m used to swearing, but this was just A LOT. I also couldn’t sometimes tell if this book was serious or satire. An interesting attempt at a retelling but it completely missed the mark for me. This just wasn’t as clever as And Then There Were None. If you’re considering reading this book, read the original instead.