Endgame

by Jeffrey Round

A modern retelling of the classic Agatha Christie tale of suspense and murder, And Then There Were None. When Harvey Keill, ex-manager of the Ladykillers, arranges a reunion for his notorious punk band on a remote island off the coast of Seattle, it seems as though the group's glory days are about to return. One by one, the band members and their guests arrive. Lead singer Spike Anthrax, bassist Pete Doghouse, and guitarist Max Hardcore confront one another for the first time since their well-publicized and highly acrimonious split fifteen years earlier stopped them from finishing their musical testament to punk rock Endgame. They are joined by an entourage of groupies, girlfriends, one of America's best rock critics, and a real estate agent invited to put the island up for sale. But where's Harvey? No matter - a party's a party, right? Wrong. Once everyone has gathered, a dark secret emerges from the past to haunt them and, one by one, the guests begin to fall prey to a mysterious fate.

Genres: Mystery, Thriller

312 pages, Paperback

First published June 18, 2016

About the author

Jeffrey Round is best known as the Lambda Award-winning author of two mystery series, the gritty DAN SHARP books, and the comic BRADFORD FAIRFAX books. He is also an award-winning filmmaker, television producer and song-writer.

SHADOW PUPPET, sixth in the Dan Sharp series, was published in 2019. Margaret Cannon of the Globe and Mail said, "...this is as good a whodunit as we will see this year." (26/4/19)

BON TON ROULET, fourth in the Bradford Fairfax mystery series, was published in 2017. In 2018, Jeffrey was invited by the William Faulkner Society to read from this book, along with mayor Mitch Landrieu and others, at the 300th anniversary of the founding of New Orleans.

His first novel, A CAGE OF BONES, was published by GMP (UK), topping bestseller lists around the world. The P-TOWN MURDERS, first in the Bradford Fairfax series, was published by the Haworth Press (US). Both titles were listed on AfterElton’s 50 Greatest Gay Books in 2008.

Jeffrey's ENDGAME was called a "brilliant recreation" of Agatha Christie's best-selling mystery AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, giving the original what one critic called a "punk-rock reboot." It was a best-selling e-book in the US in 2016.

Reviews

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harvey Keill, ex-manager of the Ladykillers, arranges a reunion for the band on a remote island getting them together after fifteen years. But when the band and the other guests arrive Harvey is nowhere to be found.

When a video is shown the group begins to wonder just why they have been brought to this remote location. The video reminds the group of a death that happened during the band's party days that ended with all of those gathered having some part of the conspiracy to cover it up.

Endgame by Jeffrey Round is a modern retelling of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. I haven't read the original so I can't say how it really compares to that particular book but I did get the sense that this is similar to other stories, television shows or movies I've seen through the years.

In this book this aging punk rock band is brought back together and reminded of a dark incident that happened in their past. The cast of characters then find themselves slowly being picked off one by one with no way of getting help.

Overall, it was an engaging read as you go along wondering which of those trapped on the island could be the murderer and who would be the next victim.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.wordpress....

[Jay]

Endgame is what And Then There Were None would have been if Agatha Christie was a bit more....





(Yeah, I had a lot of fun with that website.)


And Then There Were None is one of my all-time favourite books. I've read it multiple times in multiple languages in multiple countries. I also watched the 3 hour long (totally worth it) mini-series on BBC One:




Endgame was a bit of a let-down for me. I was very excited to start it seeing as it was marketed as "a modern retelling of And Then There Were None" with a rock band reunion taking place on an island. Unfortunately my expectations lowered with each page I turned.

I didn't really care for the characters (it was actually pretty difficult to remember who was who). None of them seemed to have any redeemable qualities or distinguishable personalities.

I gave up after the first death because the scene was so ridiculous. Just like in ATTWN, the first death is at the dinner table where a guy chokes to death. The difference here was that no-one really gave a fuck. The guy dropped dead, the nurse calmly walked up to his body, confirmed he was a goner and said she couldn't do anything to bring him back. Then another guy told her it was okay, they totally understood, and suggested they all go to bed early. THAT IS LITERALLY IT, THERE WAS A DEAD BODY IN THE ROOM AND NO-ONE GAVE A FLYING FUCK.

I would have a been a bit more like:




I gave it around 90 pages (or 40% of this book) before I stopped reading. I'm sorry but it just wasn't for me :(



Thank you NetGalley for this ARC

[Ije the Devourer of Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dark Agatha Christie style mystery with a build up which delivers suspense, creepiness and a really satisfying ending.

Having read this author's Dan Sharp series I knew this book was going to be good but I think the author surpassed himself with this story. This is different to the Dan Sharp series because it focuses on the story of a group of people, unknown assailants/assailant, and a crime from the past which echoes down into the future.

Here we have a really good jigsaw puzzle of a mystery which is dramatic and deliciously eerie right from the word go!

Fifteen years ago The Ladykillers, a punk rock group played bad music, lived bad lives and did truly bad things. Crisis hit them when a groupie died of an overdose at one of their parties. In the aftermath the group got away scot free, split up and went their separate ways.

But did they truly get away scot free?

Fifteen years later the band reunites at an island retreat to record a final album 'Endgame' but there is more to this reunion than meets the eye.

And the Endgame is not one they could ever have envisaged playing.

The group gathers on a remote island during a stormy, dark weekend but as the group remembers the past and begins to hope for some kind of future, the darkness of the past threatens to overtake them all one by one.

I enjoyed this. I understand it is a retelling of an Agatha Christie story but it has a darkness and violence all of its own. I read a lot of mystery stories and so I could guess what was happening and why, but I couldn't guess who. The characters were all very flawed but despite their past I found myself sympathising with them, probably because of the fear, suspense and hopelessness that they each faced.

I really like how the author has created a story which is Christie like but very much contemporary and realistic. I liked the suspense. I must confess that because of the suspense, at one stage I skipped to the end to peep but the ending when it came was still a surprise.

Best of all is the creepiness factor, and the helplessness of the characters and inevitability of their circumstances added to the darkness within the story.

I enjoyed reading this and I liked how the ending answered most of my questions, especially the whom, the how and the why.

A good read for anyone who likes Round or Christie.

Copy provided by Dundurn Press via NetGalley in exchange for a review with many thanks.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
In case you are somehow unaware, this is a modern day retelling of Agatha Christie's famous And Then There Were None. Christie is one of my favorite authors and "And Then..." is one of her best books, so I went into this retelling with low expectations. I mean, how can you top the Goddess of Mystery? Based on this book, you can't. But that doesn't make this a *bad* book. I do think that you would enjoy this a lot more if you'd never read "And Then...", however. Though, clearly if you haven't read "And Then..." yet, I'd highly recommend reading it.

I feel like retelling a mystery is lose/lose for the author. Unless you drastically change the ending, most people are going to already know how the story ends. And if you do change the ending, you most likely alienate and piss off fans of the original work. Endgame suffers a lot from this paradox. There gets to a point where you know how the story will end, long before it does. That makes the story lag terribly. Obviously, major base elements of the story was changed (time, location, characters, etc) but I think it would have been more entertaining to change more of the plot and outcome. Retellings of mysteries need to find a balance between respecting the source material and charting a new path with it. I don't think Endgame really found that balance. *But*, as I said, that doesn't make it a bad book per say. As a stand alone mystery is was compelling and mostly well-written (I agree with a few other reviewers on the questionable first death).

If you are curious about this as a retelling, beware. But if you just want a fast mystery that will keep you guessing (again, if you haven't read Christie's novel), check this one out.

**I received this copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

[Thebooktrail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set on a fictional Shark Island, just off Washington State...

I was in two minds about this book but was curious to read it as it was billed as a modern day retelling of the Agatha Christie classic ‘ And then there were none. Now I should say that of course the original can’t be beaten. Not at all in my opinion but this was a brave attempt to mimic the same sense of claustrophobia and sheer isolation and fear of a group of musicians in the present day.

The fact is that this premise seemed all the more plausible in the present day as the news is full of warring musicians, and reunions gone bad, not to mention managers and blistering past resentment.

I think it would be best not to read the original before reading this as well, the fun is in guessing who is the killer. This was an interesting read on its own but having read the original, I just didn’t feel the same tension and foreboding as I maybe should have. Can I say the deaths were less ‘imaginative’? ( Death one in particular) The lyrics of the song instead of the nursery rhyme foreboding death was a nice touch.

I did like the ghostly reawakening of the punk rock era but I think this is a book to read if you’ve not read the Christie version.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Endgame!!! First things first: I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley.
The book comes out june 18th and it's worth checking out.
 
Let me start by saying that I choose this book because the cover looked really amazing and I decided that it was time for some murder mystery. Apparently the book is a retelling of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, which I haven't read. Yet.
 
I have to say that it took me a bit to get into the story, mainly because there were just so many characters. But as soon as I got familiar with them, the story really picked up and I just flew threw it.
 
The characters weren't my thing. I really didn't like anyone. But giving their backstory and how this is kind of a story about revenge, I don't think that you actually have to like them.
 
Overall I really liked the writing and the mystery. Until the very end it kept me guessing and failing in figuring out on my own who planned all of this so perfectly.
 
 

[Thomas George Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author is a particular fan of Agatha Christie's Mystery Novels. He chose her "The Ten Little Indians" to give it an updated version about the late 80's and early 90's punk band "The Ladykillers". They, too, were invited to a remote island for a supposed reunion. Only one by one each and everyone was murdered. Mr. Round, like Ms. Christie gives his characters a personality all their own. Each individual has a past that he and she would rather left unknown.

[Lee Young · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know if it was the writing, the narrator or the characters. The dialogue was some of the worst I've ever read in a book. The narrator, John Gahagan read it like he had never seen the book before. He stopped at maddeningly illogical places, mispronounced words and brought no gravitas to the book. And, finally, i didn't like any character and wished they'd all have perished.

Solid DNF, which was a shame, because I love these types of mysteries.

[Crittermom · Rating 5 out of 5]

And Then There Were None is perhaps one of the best known of Agatha Christie's novels. Numerous film and television adaptations have been made, as well as literary tributes inspired by the mystery classic. Endgame is one of the most recent tributes, but while it takes inspiration from Christie it is far from derivative.

At its heart, Endgame, like And Then There Were None, is a tale of justice and revenge. The Ladykillers, an aptly named group of has-been punk rockers, are invited to an island where they are to complete a long unfinished album at the behest of a wealthy new investor. Surprisingly a number of others are also invited to the isolated estate. The reader quickly discovers that each played a role in the tragic death of a young woman who died as a result of an overdose of ecstasy. Her death was a great scandal, and the Ladykillers barely escaped prosecution and jail time. Now, someone is ensuring that justice is done, killing each of the 11 guests one by one in accordance with the lyrics of their one hit - The 12 Days of Shagging.

With each death, the tension mounts and paranoia grows. If no one else is on the island, how are the murders being committed and who is the murderer. The only certainty is that there will be no survivors.

While the characters are in a way pitiful, their past actions and present behavior make them easy to despise. Even when acknowledging their guilt, they lay blame on each other rather than accepting responsibility. Because of what they were, the girl was unimportant only becoming significant after her death. It makes the rough justice of their individual deaths easier to accept.

Laden with emotion and the ghostly vestiges of a bygone era of music, Endgame is a fascinating reworking of Agatha Christie's signature piece. It is well worth reading, whether you are a fan of the Grand Dame of Mystery or are simply looking to escape with a unique thriller.

5/5

Endgame is available for preorder and will be released June 18, 2016.

I received a copy of Endgame from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

--Crittermom

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a huge fan of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, I feel compelled to read every updated version of the book, as well as every movie adaptation. In this version, Jeffrey Round modernizes the story by setting it against the background of a punk band reunion. The members of Ladykillers are coerced into reuniting on an island by an ex-manager who defrauded them years ago. When they arrive, they discover that they’ve been duped. One of them is a killer who is determined that no one leave the island alive. This plot never gets old for me, but in this case, I didn’t care for any of the characters. They are all unlikeable. Christie faced the same problem, but made up for it by having compellingly flawed characters who got under your skin. The characters in Endgame don’t. You don’t care when they die and with the exception of a few, you spend a lot of time trying to remember who they were. BUT puzzling out who did it and whether the author would use Christie’s plot twist kept me reading and entertained. All and all, if you’re a fan of And Then There Were None, it’s an absolute must!

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Agatha Christie meets punk rock- what a combination! I was fascinated to see how Jeffrey Round would manage to recreate Agatha Christie's 'Then There were None'.

At first I found it quite hard going, as the collection of characters marooned on the island are a pretty unpleasant lot! It was hard to summon up any sympathy for anyone and hope that they might escape their fate. However, somehow I became completely caught up in their predicament and could not put the book down until I had the answer.

Well worth a read and thanks to Netgalley for giving me the chance to read & review this book.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely mind blowing and awesome! Brilliantly put together, a real page turner. Did not see that coming, after finishing this book, I wanted to reread it all over again - this rarely happens!
Thanks to author Jeffery Round, publisher Dundurn and netgalley for an advanced copy in return for an unbiased and honest review.

[William · Rating 1 out of 5]

An Agatha Christie look alike but not nearly in the same class. Very unlikely series of murders (12) that mostly occur in a isolated place with a group stranded on an offshore island. One person is the murderer but who and why? Not very convincing or interesting. Lots of punk rock references; not of interest to me. A waste of time!

[Kathleen Keenan]

Well-written but a fairly predictable retelling of Agatha Christie's classic And Then There Were None. if you've read that, you'll guess the ending pretty early on. The Seattle setting and punk band characters were a fun update, though.

[Margaret Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic whodunit, but with characters drawn from the seedy side of the American alternative music scene, from drug dealers to egomaniacs to con artists.

[Gavin Stephenson-Jackman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very engaging read. I, like the characters expected a very different ending. The final revelation was indeed unexpected. I throughly enjoyed this thrilling mystery.

[Bibliobabe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tried multiple times and just couldn't get into it.

[Jaclyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun punk rock riff on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None!

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never have been interested in mystery and horror novels but this book proved that wrong. It kept me guessing who the murder and mastermind behind all of the 12 deaths were, right up until the final few pages. The chessboard analogy was also a creepy and spooky addition to the already morbid deaths.

[Angela Breemen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. If you grew up enjoying Agatha Christie books, then Jeffrey Round’s modern twist on the old classic, And Then There Were None, is a must read! Edgy, gritty and thoroughly entertaining.

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 3/4 stars

[Maura · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're looking for an Agatha Christie type plot but with aging punk rockers rather than stuffy Englishmen, this is the book for you. Sadly, it wasn't the book for me since apparently a British atmosphere is more conducive to me overlooking how annoying all the characters are.

[Rachel (aka Ms4Tune) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review!



My review can also be found on our blog Paein and Ms4Tune

Popsugar Challenge #27. A murder mystery

At the end of 2015 I watched the BBC adaptation of Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None'. It was a gripping, twisted tale full of misdirection and confusion set in the 1930's! I loved it, especially because the ever so hunky Aiden Turner was in it. It's because I watched this that I feel able to say that Endgame really is a modern retelling of 'And Then There Were None'' and quite a good one at that!

Endgame follows the reunion of a punk rock band called 'The Lady-Killers' on an Island far from civilisation. Along with the band members there is a number of other people with interests in the reform of this particular band. Groupies, family, lawyers and magazine writers are in amongst the 11 people deposited on the island. But it soon becomes apparent that not everything is as it seems. One by one people begin to die and signs start to point towards a past secret that connects them all together. Will they all pay for the past crime they committed?

If you haven't read 'And Then There Were None' then you're in for a treat. The plot is exceptionally exciting and promises to have you questioning ever character! But if you have, I still feel there is a lot of enjoyment to be had from trying to guess who is next on the hit list, why and who is the mastermind behind it all!

The characters themselves aren't really likeable in any way, non of them seem to feel any responsibility for their past crime so when they begin to die I didn't really feel sorry for them. In some ways this was a good thing as it meant I was plotting their demise before it happened! Another problem I had been struggling with was telling them apart, especially at the beginning. There were 12 'villain's' in this retelling, and in my opinion this was a little too many. It lead to very lengthy introductions, and because I already knew the general plot I wanted the deaths to beginning. Grim I know, but I can't help it! Once they started to die it was easier to distinguish among the remaining characters but this didn't really happen till about half way through the book.

I think each death was rather cleverly inspired by the eery song we were introduced to at the beginning. I actually wrote it out and tried to predicted who would die by which line in the lyrics, right at the beginning, quite a bit of fun actually.

All in all this is definitely another retelling of a classic I would recommend whether you've read the original or not. 2016 has been rather good on the retelling front!

[LenaRibka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeffrey Round was a pleasant discovery of the last year for me. I am always happy to find a new mystery author whose writing completely meets my expectations. It is why I didn't hesitate to ask for an ARC, even if this novel wasn't offered in a LGBT genre. (Though it is not completely "free" from the LGBT theme.)

Endgame is a modern version of one of the most popular novel by Agatha Christie. I think, that if you ever heard about this woman, you HAVE to know this novel, and you'll recognize it immediately. If not, you won't be at a disadvantage, trying desperately to remember WHO an WHY did it in Agatha Christie novel und compare the events in the both versions.



I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the quick pace of the story. And because I didn't remember myself who was the murderer in the original novel, I racked my brain up to the very end, wondering who could invest such an extensive effort in carrying this evil plan through.

I don't know if it is just me, or if it was the author's intention, but I actually didn't hate or dislike
the persons who have been invited to Shark Island to celebrate a reunion of the popular punk-rock group of the eighties Ladykillers, that had broke up in the late nineties.

Very soon it becomes clear that the random guests, inclusive the 3 remaining members of the group and the hired service personnel have something in common...namely they are directly or indirectly related to the tragic death of a young woman from an overdose at one of the band's party back in the past. I understand that she could have been survived if all those people acted differently, but I see it rather as a chain of unfortunate circumstances, mistakes and events
that led up to the accident. It is why it is difficult to me to understand all this huge hatred and murderous rage that motivated the murderer to execute this perverse plan. The eighties and the drugs. As Max, a leader of the group said:

"We were all stoned on heroin at the time. It was just the thing to do back then. You know what they say- if you rmember the eighties, you weren't really there."

So, yes, I don't see the girl as a innocent victim. She HAD to know better.

A solid entertaining mystery novel a là Agatha Christie, an interesting remake of one of her most popular works.

**Copy provided by the Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

[Sunsettowers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself.

Here's a fact about me. If you tell me a book is based on And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, I will want to read it. Even if it's centered around punk rock (a music genre I have little interest in or knowledge about), as Endgame is, I will be desperately hoping I will get picked to get an ARC.

Here's an opinion about Endgame. It is a good, clever book. It's even better than I had hoped it would be.

I think where Round sets himself up for success is how he faithfully paints his homage to the original brilliant "the killer is one of us" novel, while subtly updating it to fit his needs and modern times. The island is rumored to be owned by a pop star rather than a movie star, there is a DVD instead of a record, and a punk rock song in place of a poem.

While in my eyes no book, no matter how inspired, can ever be as good as And Then There Were None, Round does an excellent job here. I read this book in a day because I could not put it down. I had to know who the murderer was, and while my suspicions were correct (due perhaps to my innumerable re readings of the original source material), this did not lessen my enjoyment one bit---especially as I did not decide on who I truly suspected until the last few chapters, due to Round's expert placement of red herrings.

One does not need to be familiar with, or interested in, punk rock to enjoy this book. Round, through his characters, gives readers the information they need, whether through fictional magazine articles or reminiscences about Sid Vicious.

I highly recommend this book. It is one of the best homages to And Then There Were None I have read.
http://thebookkeepersapprentice.blogs...

[Karsyn]

Received from NetGalley for my honest review and honestly it sucked from the start.

Agree completely with the only other review (at this time) about this book. I decided to come to see if anyone was saying anything good about it, and find just the opposite. So I decided enough is enough and this is a DNF at 33%.

Maybe it picks up, but with the first death, I'm underwhelmed and have been since the start. There's a bunch of characters but so little time spent on them its hard to figure out who is who, especially when at least 2 of them have at least 2 different names, so one person calls them one thing and they want to be called another, or they were called something different in the past.

I had to make myself stick with this from the start. I was going to finish it just because I'm doing challenges, but it's not worth my time.

So far the only interesting thing about this book was the chess pieces. Too bad the person who noticed was very unlikable (though to be fair, they all were).

[John Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I began reading Agatha Christie when I was a mere 13 yrs old. I was fascinated with her ability to completely keep me guessing with her "Who Done it" mysteries. But she was a writer who wrote in a different time so her plots could be considered ordinary as compared to what we are seeing or reading currently. This is only my opinion. With that being said, Agatha would have been happily liberated when reading this current version. A lot of twists and "Oh my Gods" that I actually said out loud, when I was reading this fantastic book. Mr. Jeffrey Round gave me a very funny, scary and unusual lineup of the strangest characters ever to be assembled in a lineup of stranded people. It was like Gulligan's Island on Acid!! with more murder and less bananas!! I truly enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who has a love for the unusual and interesting. My final thoughts are..There is great value when reading a book that continues to draw you in and compel you to figure out the guilty party! If the characters are unique and keep you embroiled then all the better!!

[Elisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Dundurn!
The problem with writing a novel based on a well known story is that it is hard to be surprising. While following the "rules of the game" Endgame still manages to offer a fresh take on the Agatha Christie classic without feeling derivative. You expect stuffy British citizens? Well, here are aging punk rockers. You say the killings follow a nursery rhyme? How about a cult hit named "The twelve days of shagging"? Current times have the added complication of isolating eleven people on a deserted island without them using their cell phones to call for help. Endgame addresses that. It still has all the charm of the original, but a completely different cast. As expected (spoiler alert for those who haven't read the original) they are all evil people and at the end there will be none and the fun is figuring out whodunit and how. You may be surprised.

[Loretta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Endgame is a really good, fun, entertaining whodunit. Loved the cast of quirky characters, the setting, and the challenge of trying to figure out who the murderer is. Which I did not manage to do, so that was a bonus for me! I have not read the book by Agatha Christie this story is a retelling of and I preferred it that way, because with no comparisons in mind I was able to fully enjoy this murder mystery as written by Jeffrey Round.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn publishers for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mystery along the lines of "And then there were none" by Agatha Christie. Several guests are invited to a mysterious house on small private island. One by one they are murdered.