A rewrite of an Agatha Christie novel. It was well written and fun to read. I would read more from this author. ( )

This is an interesting "re-telling" of "And Then There Were None," by Agatha Christie. The general idea of both books is of ten(ish) strangers trapped on an isolated island encountering unexpected death in a creepy way.

The tone of McChesney's book comes across as frantic and chaotic. I think that the story would still surprise readers, considering that many people who will read this have read Christie's masterpiece.

It reads very quickly. It has been modernized in that the characters have cell phones, but they quickly become useless once out on the island. Other modern touches seem to be thrown in as the only factors to define the modernity of the story.

Like the original, there is an epilogue at the end. Overall, it is different enough to be interesting, and similar enough to be interesting.

**eARC netgalley** ( )

First two things before I review the book: 1)I received this book from Goodread's 'Read 'Em & Reap' groups & 2)I debated between 3 & 4 stars.

This is a modern spin on Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" which I love. It says modern but really about the most modern thing in the story is the addition of cell phones otherwise as I read I felt the story had the mood of a classic. The story was supposed originally to be entitled "Nine Green Bottles" and I wish the author would have followed his instinct and stayed with the original title.

9 characters are introduced at the beginning of the story - all coming to meet Mr. Black, a very rich man, who lives on a remote island in Scotland. All these guests are hoping to get money from Mr. Black. But rather than money they have been brought together to be judged. Soon after finding this out they also find out they have also been brought to the island to die.

I know almost from the beginning who did it but I wanted to know more about why these people had to die. And that's where I'm torn from a 4 star review to a three star review because with some of the characters it was clear why the mysterious Black wanted to kill them but others is was glossed over until the epilogue. It was almost as if the author felt the book was going to be too long (or the editor chopped) and that's a shame because I think those characters who had a quick ending could have benefited from the author's words. The author does a great job with describing scenes - it's where the book excelled. I will read more of this author's work. ( )

"Ten Green Bottles Hanging on the Wall"

Countdown to Death is basically a retelling of "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie and "Ten" by Gretchen McNeil. Ten guests are invited to a secluded Scottish island by the elusive owner. Each guest believes he or she is there for various reasons, mostly personal gain, but the actual intent of the owner is to exact revenge. It's a fairly short story- only about 200 pages long so it should have been a quick story to read. Unfortunately though, it wasn't for me because I never could get completely into it, but that may have just been because I've read similar versions already. It didn't feel like there was a whole lot of suspense though leading up to the murders and even though it was set on a secluded island in this big, old house, I never got any eerie feelings throughout the story which is what I was hoping for since it had the perfect setting and situations. I also guessed who the murderer was toward the end so that wasn't a big surprise to me but I did enjoy trying to figure it out. I also liked the way the ending was written and tied up and I thought the drawings were a creative touch. If you like whodunit's and want to try your hand at solving, I would say give it a try.
 
*I received this ARC from NetGalley and Wayzgoose Press in exchange for an honest review. 
 
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Based on one of Agatha Christie's books, "And Then There Were None", but an up to date version with gadgets like laptops and mobile phones. Despite that a fair bit of the dialogue and descriptions sound old fashioned. Several people have been invited by the enigmatic Lord Black to be guests on a Scottish island, but one by one, they are being murdered - by who and why? There was an interesting twist at the end, but it was a bit slow getting to it. On the whole I did like this book, but did prefer the original story. It would have been good to see a completely different version of this tale! ( )