The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz (2018) Snapshot

 Richard Pryce is a famous celebrity divorce lawyer with a respectful winning record who happens to be a teetotaler. When he is found murdered in his home, nothing makes sense: The last person to talk to them heard him say, “You shouldn’t be here. It’s too late…” to what might have been his killer; He was bludgeoned to death by a very expensive bottle of wine and painted on the wall is a very enigmatic message. 

 I think it’s a disservice to Horowitz to deny his talent. And also a lie. This man can do anything – and well! He is a screenwriter, writes many different genres, and is a journalist. Not only that, but he has been commissioned by the Doyle’s and the Fleming’s state to write Holmes and Bond novels. He can do anything, and his technical writing is flawless (in my opinion). He has a sense of timing, pace, tension, and dialogue that is just superb. Reading his novels is like playing a movie in your head, and I just love this about his prose!

The Hawthorne and Horowitz series is also filled with wit, sense of humour, meta quality, and a quintessentially British cheekiness. No wonder I fell in love with this series from the first word. Hawthorne reminds me of Holmes because he is extremely smart and observant, quite moody and reserved, and arrogant – but unlike Holmes, I find him highly likable. Horowitz is the perfect ying to his Yang – He brings so much personality to the story; I am just in awe. 

In The Sentence is Death, we find them getting to know each other more and starting to build a stronger partnership. Horowitz is coming into his own, and you can see his confidence and a sense of purpose increase from the previous novel. I enjoyed the debates on a writer’s merits and the comedy of errors surrounding the victim’s life.  

I wish more people talked about this series. I feel it deserves more hype than it gets.

My total rating: 5

This book is mentioned in this video: https://youtu.be/bS5SMq4FegE

Until next book, be the hummingbird!