Endless Night

Endless Night
Agatha Christie

Summary (with spoilers):

Michael Rogers, our first-person narrator, is a ne'er-do-well who takes in interest in a land sale of Gipsy's Acre, even though he's been warned that the place is cursed. While looking at the property, he meets Ellie, a rich American. She doesn't have any real family, just a bunch of relations by marriage, like her step-mother Cora, who are reliant on Ellie's wealth. Michael and Ellie meet secretly, with the help of Ellie's assistant Greta, and eventually get married. Ellie has purchased Gipsy's Acre, so the couple hires Santonix, architect with a fatal illness and friend of Michael, to build them a house.

However, a gypsy women keeps warning them to leave, and someone throws a rock through their window. Michael and Ellie meet some neighbors, Major Philpot and Claudia, who was previously married to Ellie's banker, Stanford Lloyd. When Ellie sprains an ankle, Greta comes to live with them. Michael and Greta don't get along, and Michael had tried to hold off meeting her for as long as possible.

***SPOILER: I'M GOING TO REVEAL THE MURDERER*****

The murder happens near the end of the novel. While Michael is away at an auction, Ellie goes out riding, and is later found in the woods, dead. Michael goes to America to settle the business affairs, since the majority of her fortune has been transferred to him. Her lawyer, Lippincott, is suspicious of Michael. On the boat ride home, Michael reveals to the reader that he has been in love with Greta all along, and that they planned from the beginning to have Michael marry Ellie, and then kill her for her money. (We later learn this isn't the first time he's murdered for personal gain.)

Michael arrives back at Gipsy's Acre to celebrate. On the road up, he thinks he sees Ellie, but she looks right through him. Upon his reunion with Greta, he freaks out, quoting a song that Ellie often sang about how some are born to "sweet delight" and others born to "endless night." Realizing that he could have been happy with Ellie, Michael strangles Greta in a rage. Soon after, others arrive and he is caught.

My Thoughts:

I felt cheated by this book. The main character is the murderer and he's been lying to us all of this time? Really? If the main character is lying to me the entire book, I want it to be done well, like it was with Gone Girl. Although the narrator is strange, I don't think there's enough evidence to show that he's a serial killer.

Ellie is a tragic character. No one in her life truly loves her. Her best friend and husband, the people that should care for her most, are the ones who plot to kill her. Perhaps Christie is commenting on the difficulty of having lots of money.

There were a few other literary elements that didn't go anywhere. Michael frequently describes Major Philpot as God. (In fact, the sentence that introduces him to the reader is something like, "we met God today.") In contrast, Santonix, whose name sounds vaguely like Satan, struggles with evil himself. Since he's ill, Santonix says that he can do whatever he wants without fear of repercussion, since he will die soon anyway. Perhaps Michael is supposed to be torn between these two forces, but this doesn't play out well in the book. Upon his death bed, Santonix even tells Michael that Michael should have gone the other way.

Another baffling thing about this book is that the murder doesn't happen until almost the end. The work mostly focuses on character development, but since it's Christie, I'd rather be looking for clues.

Overall, this was an unsatisfying work. I enjoyed it while reading, but I didn't like the ending.