Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
One of the pleasures of this book is the prickly relationship between (the ficitonalised) Horowitz and Hawthorne: they both seem to needle each other and erect impenetrable barriers against the other, yet both seem reliant on the other too. The novel is very much an homage to Agatha Christie, particularly the later Poirot novels, and she is mentioned both explicitly and implicitly, for example in a chapter title. I loved this smartly written whodunit, but it's the characters of Hawthorne and Horowitz that have completely won me over. The clearer focus: the previous two novels – if I remember rightly – have both twisted towards the thriller genre by the conclusion as Horowitz blunders into the path of dangerous people and is nearly killed. The fastidious observations by the author offer a guiding light through which we are able to participate and speculate about where the story is going.
Ebooks fulfilled through Glose cannot be printed, downloaded as PDF, or read in other digital readers (like Kindle or Nook). Many thanks to Anthony Horowitz and Penguin Books for the chance to read this ARC, courtesy of NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. It's a bit disappointing that AH pays little regards to standard police procedures and I found myself wanting to go back to a proper crime novel with a decent detective at it's centre. When I recognised the Christie-style set-up, I immediately wondered if this was a step too far for Horowitz.At the end of the tenth book, we find out what makes Hawthorne such a difficult and contrary human being. He has that nothing-to-lose attitude, given that his career is swirling down the toilet bowl anyway. For all ebook purchases, you will be prompted to create an account or login with your existing HarperCollins username and password. This series is so ingenious, putting himself into the story as the detectives sidekick is a new one for me but it works so well. I did love Horowitz’ own puzzlement – which mirrored my own – at the possibility of coming up with a series of titles combining grammar and death!
The island's local celebrity and host of the event, who also owns an online gambling company, is under fire for championing a controversial power line project. The antics of the odd couple add up to a romp around an island where even the taxi driver seems a likely candidate for wrongdoing. The beginning of the novel, when Bond is captured and Mr Big’s henchman, Teehee, breaks Bond’s finger, makes me sweat when I read it. Each chapter has a title that hints of its contents without giving away any spoilers - this acts as a teaser to encourage the reader to keep going.If I was a sidekick in the book, it would turn everything on its head because suddenly instead of being the cleverest person in the book, the author who knows everything, I would know nothing. As we dive more deeply into the story, Anthony pulls back the layers of truth before letting Hawthorne pull them back even further. The island itself is a small, desolate place and the closed community mentality dictates that everyone is aware of everyone else's business. This is the third Hawthorne and Horowitz novel I have read, and to be honest, I don't think this one is up to the level of the series so far.
Great Deal 
New Comment