A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz

1.3k reviews for:

A Line to Kill

Anthony Horowitz

3.81 AVERAGE

sgkelsey's profile picture

sgkelsey's review against another edition

3.0
dark mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
Episode #3 in the series. We get a bit more insight into the mysterious background of Hawthorne.
byalijade's profile picture

byalijade's review

3.75
adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
allison_r_d's profile picture

allison_r_d's review against another edition

4.0
mysterious medium-paced

aeoliandeductress's review

3.5
dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
 
Of the 4 I’ve now read (I didn’t get around to reviewing this one before I finished the fourth), this is my least favorite. It makes sense in some ways- the author/narrator starts out a bit despondent. He didn’t want to go to the literary festival, he knows he needs to produce a 3rd book to finish the contract but no case has come up, and at every turn, Hawthorne manages to come off likeable and make him look bad. The island itself comes off as dreary- constantly cloudy with the terrible Nazi history laid on top. Then you have first the pedophile, Derek Abbott, who can’t be remotely likeable followed by a very likeable set of characters having done a very terrible thing. The book is in keeping with the previous two in many ways but I think it lacked the humor the first two managed to have. I actually was more angry at Hawthorne on Anthony’s behalf than amused by his antics, as compared to the previous books. I will also say the writer as dunce thing was wearing thin at this point (but was magically corrected and improved in book 4). That said, I will say that I did not put the clues together to solve this one. I did manage to guess at half the guilty party but only by virtue of that old mystery reader’s mantra “It’s probably the least likely suspect.” I do appreciate the tease about more details coming about Hawthorne and I hope they get to that soon. 
 
It’s hard to tell what we as the audience are supposed to believe about Hawthorne at this stage in the series. Is it only Anthony (and police officers he shows up like Cara Grunshaw) who doesn’t/don’t care for him? Is he actually the charming individual we see at book club and the publisher’s meeting and even on stage? Is Horowitz as author/narrator misrepresenting him because they don’t get on? (Yes, I KNOW it’s not actually true crime, sit down Well, actually Johnny.) The question is how meta is the author being here. Or should we indeed trust that how he is with Anthony is the more true version of Hawthorne than what we see elsewhere? 
It’s also a bit of an inverse of the original Holmes and Watson paradigm. In general, Holmes is painted a brilliant but unsociable. Most people, even those who want to work with him, find him difficult and Watson is often used as a balm to his brusqueness. But in these tales, Anthony is mostly a near ghost in the scene and when he does open his mouth, it almost always ends badly. British self-deprecation to the extreme? It’s not that we always see Hawthorne in a positive light with others, but those others tend to be lying to him so we assume it was necessary “police” type intimidation. 
I do find these stories engaging. There are lots of twists and turns, Horowitz does a very good job of introducing and re-introducing characters in a way that keeps them distinct but not overwhelming, and now that I’m used to him, I quite enjoy the audiobook narrator. While not as good, this was still an above average mystery in its craftmanship and ability to both stump me and also all come together at the end. 

j_p_b's review

4.0
Great idea to upend the formula by leaving London.

bridget_gallagherwood's review

3.5
mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

mads55's review against another edition

4.0
adventurous challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
seasmitty's profile picture

seasmitty's review against another edition

4.5
funny mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

maggielala's review against another edition

3.0
A line to kill thoughts 

  • chapter 1
    • I thought the main character was female lolol I’m so used to female main character in my book 
    • Also I feel like I missed something is this book also based in London?? 
  • End 
    • Oh man I am terrible at guessing the murderer lolol 
    • I knew it wasn’t Derek abbot it was too neat lolol like the author said it would’ve been boring 
    • But I didn’t think it would be Anne lolol but I guess there’s was no point in her being in the story
    • All these characters are bad and should be arrested for obstruction of justice. 
  • StoryGraph rating: 3.0 it was a solid mystery book but the beginning was quite slow 

bookish_scientist's review against another edition

3.5
mysterious sad fast-paced