Book Club

Non-Series Novels & Stories

For those of you wanting to discuss Agatha Christie's standalone books, such as And Then There Were None. 

Beware spoilers and remember we'll be able to add the most insightful comments to the stories section. 

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Warning: These discussions may contain spoilers!

Endless Night

Jemma 25 Sep 09 at 4 p.m. GMT

Michael Rogers falls in love, but with a piece of land - Gipsy's Acre - not a girl. When he then finds the right girl, Ellie, and they marry and commission renowned architect Rudolf Santonix to build a wonderful house on the land, life seems very sweet. However the land seems to be under a curse, and accidents begin to happen. Michael is not comfortable with the fact that Ellie's long time friend Greta is living with them and would happily be rid of her. But when Ellie dies things begin to unfurl for Michael. 

This is not the usual Christie murder mystery. For one thing it has no investigators and the killer is caught more through bad luck than anything else. Is Christie successful in her portrait of a psychotic killer? Does she play fair with the clues she gives, keeping some back until near the end of story?

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42 replies

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Tommy_A_Jones 26 Sep 09 at 3:13 p.m. GMT

I didn't notice any clues perhaps because I found reading this book Very hard and just wanted to get it finished as soon as possible.

Nofret 29 Dec 09 at 11:11 a.m. GMT

This is definitely one of my Top Five!

How does she do it? As the Americans say "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!" Dame Agatha got away with this plot trick in The murder of Roger Ackroyd", and when she repeats it she has us all fooled again! I can still remember the disbelief I felt when Michael announced he was going to marry Greta, let alone the final revelation!

Yet all the defects of Michael's character are clearly set out - a drifter, a wastrel, unable to hold a job down, but with a craving for the trappings of extreme wealth. His type is even more recognisable in the 21st century than when this book was written.

I think a careful reading of the story would provide more clues - for example when Michael discovers Ellie's body Christie tells us what he says, not what he is thinking.

In the same vein  ""Greta again!"  I said, allowing the usual exasperation to creep into my voice".

This is not only a brilliant whodunit, but an insightful study of psychosis and a superb novel in its own right.

Bundle_ 29 Dec 09 at 3 p.m. GMT

Nofret

This is not only a brilliant whodunit, but an insightful study of psychosis and a superb novel in its own right.

I completely agree w/ you Nofret. Many people don't like it and I think it is because they don't look past that the solution wasn't original. It's the story itslef that is the intriguing and important part of the book, the psychology, the sorrow, the wanting, the heart ache, the suspense, and love that's in the book is what makes it great.

If Agatha had written this as a novel under Mary Westmacott then I think it would be appreciated more than it is as a mystery book.

kkapalk 13 Feb 10 at 9:41 a.m. GMT

I thought this story had good and bad points, but has anyone else noticed there is a contradiction when Michael is waiting for ellie at the pub, and Christie writes that he is thinking maybe Ellie has had a fall? How can this be so if he has killed her?

go_leafs_nation 13 Feb 10 at 11:52 p.m. GMT

It is to throw the reader off. I am not fond of this book, and for reasons I do not have the time to recap very thoroughly at the moment. (Also, the apostrophe on my keyboard is not working, resulting in the letter è instead of an apostrophe, but bear with me here.) Christie is far from successful here- the murderer and the characters who jump in and out of the story feel like carboard caricatures. They behave unnaturally and feel really fake, but all to advance the nearly non-existant, flimsy plot. Example: the folly of a certain character, resulting in an accidental death. (Ooh, look, a pill on the floor of a folly! Let me have that...)

cameronjhw 25 Feb 10 at 10:05 p.m. GMT

This is one of the most unusual novels I ever read. Some parts of the plot were kind of dull. I got interested when Michael and Ellie move into their new house and someone throws a rock through the window. Then I was anxious to find out who is responsible. I suspected Greta of being the killer because of her control of Ellie. I was surprised later of Claudia Hardcastle's death because I could not figure out why does she die. Then later the gypsy woman Mrs. Lee dies too. When I came to the conclusion I was shocked. Michael was the last person I least suspected of being the killer and even more surprised by the fact that he and Greta were lovers. It got really explicit when he and Greta are making love and finally when he strangles Greta he was completely unhinged. I am not sorry for him. He was a corrupt, deceitful, amoral, man who only wanted money and did not even care about Ellie. Watch the film version it is great.

condreyebuch 21 Jun 10 at 5:19 a.m. GMT

I like Endless Night quite a bit. Agatha Christie was perhaps aiming for a younger audience who might have read The Collector or Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley novels. Christie's late novels are uneven ( Passenger to Frankfurt is beyond awful)but at times ( Endless Night, The Pale Horse, Third Girl)as exciting as her earlier classics.

xrysoula 01 Jul 10 at 3:13 p.m. GMT

Endless Night is one of my very favorite AC novels.I stayed up all night in order to finish it.It literally swept me off my feet and kept me on the edge from the first until the last chapter.Dark and creepy, made me bear it in mind for quite a long time. I avoid re-reading it too often because it still gives me the chills (I get the same feeling with By The Pricking Of My Thumps).

How on earth does she do it, really?I bow to her unique genius.

The only thing that falls out of place for me is the death of Claudia Hardcastle.Other than that, I agree with Nofret every step of the way.I consider it an exceptional novel that offers a small glimpse inside the dreadful world of human psychosis.

Pongo 03 Sep 10 at 10:37 a.m. GMT

SPOILERS!!

This is my absolute favorite Christie novel.  If I had to make a top five list, I think I would have trouble deciding which books would go in the Nos. 2 through 5 slots.  But, it would be easy for me to choose the No. 1 book, and that would be Endless Night. 

It is such a tragic book.  I sympathize with Ellie more than with any other “victim” in any other Christie work.  In all of her other books, Dame Agatha portrays the victim as being extremely unlikeable or portrays the victim in a very brief and not-so-in-depth way.  That is different with Endless Night.  Ellie is, to me, the most sympathetic victim in all of AC's novels. 

Also, this novel feels very much like a summation of certain other themes that Dame Agatha explored in previous books (the ones that come immediately to mind are most of the stories in The Hound of Death, The Moving Finger, Death on the Nile, Murder in Mesopotamia, and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd).  And yet, the plot developments in Endless Night feel organic and completely natural.  Events unfold not like a whodunnit (whose narrative construction might feel forced in order to justify the logic of the whodunnit solution) but rather like a well-written suspense and love story that has a very tragic conclusion. 

Pongo 03 Sep 10 at 10:44 a.m. GMT

POSSIBLE SPOILERS....

I do not think it is a perfect novel, but I think it is one that should rank up there among her best, if not the very best. 

The world is very dark in the Endless Night universe.  Curses are scary, but reality is even scarier. 

Also, I think that, on the contrary, Endless Night is a book that feels very mature.  I recall reading it for the first time in my teenage years and not at all liking it.  It was only upon reading it in my late 20s that I begun to appreciate it more. 

When I read some of her other famous novels, I would often feel like the rug was pulled out from under me.  However, with the ending of Endless Night, I feel more like I got hit in the gut with a wrecking ball.  Just shock.  Not just at the plot device but also because I was so heavily invested in the characters (moreso than in that other famous book where the same plot device is used). 

Pongo 03 Sep 10 at 10:46 a.m. GMT

Incidentally, I did catch up with the film after reading it when I was younger. 

The last 90 seconds of the film just FREAKED ME OUT!!!!!!!!!  

christie_greece 03 Sep 10 at 2:34 p.m. GMT

When I started reading this book I expected a murder to happen on the first 5 chapters. But when I read 14 and the only dead body was a bird, I realised that the book was very different from all the others I have read.

I don't think we were given enough clues because when the murderer is the narrator there are not many things that he/she reveals.I was shocked when I reached the last chapters.

I was reading this book 1.30 after midnight. I was scared to death when Michael was telling his psyco-story. So I suppose Christie IS successful in her portrait of a psychotic killer. In fact she was so succesful that I thought this was not a novel, but a real document that a murderer had wrote before he was convicted.

This book is certainly one of my favourites!!!!!!

Pongo 03 Sep 10 at 2:57 p.m. GMT

SPOILERS!!!

christie greece, what a great post.  

Although there were no traditional clues of sorts, I think the biggest clue, so to speak, is in the premise itself, which was very nicely described in the original post: Michael Rogers falls in love with the land, not the girl.  That says it all, doesn't it?  

Puffinjill 03 Sep 10 at 3:09 p.m. GMT

SPOILERS!!!!!

I'm not so sure the term 'psychotic' applies to Michael. Those suffering from psychosis normally lose contact with reality and, for the greater part of the book,Michael is well and truly in touch with his reality and what he is doing. He doesn't seem to suffer from delusions or halluncinations until he returns to the house at the end and sees Ellie on his way. True, he does then start to exhibit some abnormal behaviour but, until then, he doesn't appear to be suffering from any mental condition at all. Perhaps this is just his clever narration (and AC's brilliance) because we only see the story and 'reality' from his angle not from a wider point of view. So, at the end, Michael certainly could be said to be experiencing a psychotic episode but I'm not too sure he could be classed under that term throughout the whole book. 

Pongo 03 Sep 10 at 4:13 p.m. GMT

SPOILERS!!!  REALLY BIG HUGE SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Puffinjill, again, you give us something to ponder...!  

On the one hand, I agree that Michael exhibits cool nerve and calm throughout the majority of the novel, only to "lose it" so to speak towards the end.  Throughout most of the book, he can be quite charming and effective as a narrator.  

However, I wonder if it is always true that those who are "psychotic" normally lose contact with reality as you suggest.  I also think that "psychotic" can include those whose perspective is so extreme as to be violent or hallucinatory or completely out of touch with reality.  It is almost as though Michael is trying to fool even himself, which would explain why nothing is "revealed" until the final moments of the narrative.  With this in mind, if the narrative can be described as being Michael's attempt at fooling even himself, then he is truly losing his bearings on reality.  Thus, I would agree that the narrative is by one who is "psychotic", or at the very least, I would not deny the possibility that Michael is indeed "psychotic" from the very beginning.   

xrysoula 04 Sep 10 at 3:30 p.m. GMT

SPOILERS!

Good point, Pongo. After having read it more than once, the reader does get the feeling that Michael, up to a point, is fooling even himself, trying to make excuses and present explanations for his actions.But the closer he is getting to his revelation, the more this attitude of his is fading. In the end he isn 't making any effort to nuance the awful truth.He presents all facts in their true dimensions and seems bitterly regreted for the wrong path he chose to follow.

As for the "psychotic" matter, I believe that it is really difficult to tell, since all the information we get comes only from Michael himself. I tend to believe though, that there must have been some things striking oddly in his behaviour, since we are led to understand that three people-his mother, the architect and Philpot- have guessed, and maybe even foreseen, the truth. 

Pongo 04 Sep 10 at 4:09 p.m. GMT

SPOILERS!!!!

xrysoula,

Well said.  You put it better that I could.  He is trying to make excuses for himself.  There is also a strong sense of inevitability and tragedy upon second reading.  We feel that Michael is on the path slowly descending into a deeper madness.   

xrysoula 05 Sep 10 at 4:08 p.m. GMT

Exactly, Pongo. Inevitability, that 's the word. He can 't help himself. The evil that urged him to kill his co-student in order to get his expensive watch we see now growing stronger inside of him and dragging him to a point of no return.Brrr, it gives me the chills even to think about it.

Pongo 06 Sep 10 at 3:52 a.m. GMT

SPOILERS...!

xrysoula, you are so right to bring up that bit!  It goes to show he is disturbed from the very beginning. 

I am telling you, this is Dama Agatha's best!!!  Suspense, mystery, tragedy, all in one! 

Puffinjill 06 Sep 10 at 7:37 a.m. GMT

SPOILERS!!!!!!

I think the word 'psychopath' might be applied to Michael more readily than 'psychotic'. A psychopath is someone who lack the normal empathy with other human beings. They do not feel any shame, guilt or remorse for any of their actions. In their own minds, they see themselves and their needs as the most important things and will single-mindedly set out to do anything, and use anyone, to gain their objectives. They can be charming and often are able to fool mental health experts as they are extremely manipulative. Pyschotics can lead very successful lives - in fact many Politicians and heads of big businesses have been considered to be 'psychopaths'. From an early age, Michael Rogers seems to exhibit traits of this personality disorder, rather than any psychosis. At the end his mental state seems much more confused as he has had a psychotic hallucination (seeing Ellie on his way back to the house) but, until then, his control over his actions seems supreme.

Sorry if this sounds pedantic.