Into every mystery story a few deaths must fall

I have just finished reading a book, a mystery, that is so sweeping in plot, so far above the predictability of most stories that one is sure the author is destined for bigger and better things, like hopefully retirement.

The plot goes roughly like this:

Character #1 dies.

Character #2 dies.

Character #3 dies.

Character #4 dies.

Characters #5 and 6 die.

Character #7 dies.

Character #8 lives, but is so traumatized by guilt over her inadvertent role in the deaths of Character #3 (and possibly 5 and 6; she cannot be sure) that she wishes she, too, were dead.

Character #9 also lives, but only because of a case of mistaken identity with Character #3. Character #9 demonstrates a remarkable lack of gratefulness for her good fortune.

The author cleverly avoids the trap of creating wholly good or wholly bad characters, which has the effect of making all the deaths a little easier on the reader, because the reader is not sure who to root for anyway, and tends to alternate liking, then unliking, each character.

A good story will often leave the reader wondering, and this book is no exception: The reader wonders why he or she did not, upon ascertaining the author's clear preference for killing off most everyone who wanders onto the pages, simply skip to the last chapter to find out who is left.

There are also a number of unresolved situations at story's end, although possibly there are too few characters left to care. But all is not gloom and doom: The reader is left with the cheerful thought that there are not enough characters left to appear in a sequel.