Reviews - The Sentence is Death

1.63k reviews for:

The Sentence is Death

Anthony Horowitz

3.87 AVERAGE

thoughtswerehad's review against another edition

2.0

adventurous mysterious tense medium-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

This one was not for me. I don’t know if it’s because I looked up the controversies between book one and this one, or if this book just made them more obvious but it felt really problematic.

I still enjoyed the writing style and the narration, it’s fast, snappy, well structured, but I didn’t care about any of the characters. Not Anthony, not Hawthorne, no one.
The constant bragging was very grating too. Anthony keeps dropping humblebrags about how brilliant or well-connected he is , like he wants us to admire him and, at the same time, believe he’s being modest. It’s giving self-promotion. And where that felt fresh in book one, here it just dragged.
And then the problematic views...

Very early on, there’s a line about a woman being unlikeable and unattractive. And I quote “not because of her weight, though she’s overweight”. As if her weight would obviously be the default reason she’s unattractive, and he’s soooo generous for seeing past that.... Which is just pure fatphobia. That was the moment I paused and looked up reviews of The Word is Murder, and found someone calling out a scene where a Black character says that maybe she got a grant because she’s Black. Knowing a white author wrote that? Yeah. Not okay.

After that, I couldn’t unsee it. The fatphobic comment was enough, but then here came the homophobia again. Hawthorne makes homophobic comments, and Anthony just says that it is not okay.
Again no confronting these views at all. I started wondering if he includes this stuff just to seem edgy and avoid criticism by tossing in a single “that’s not okay” or if he really shared those views but protected himself with said line. It doesn’t feel accidental is what I'm trying to say.

So yeah, I’m out. I don't even know why I didn't DNF it (I tend to be a completionist when it comes to books because apparently I like to hurt myself). Technically, the format works. But the content and underlying worldview? Not for me. I won’t be picking up anything else by Horowitz, too many harmful perspectives, and not enough actual confrontation.

ilkjen's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious fast-paced

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Didn’t enjoy this as much as The Word is Murder. Had a much harder time keeping the characters and their relationships straight. Hoping the third one picks back up.

Content Warnings

kifkathleen's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

jawab_e_shikwa's review against another edition

4.25

mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

lysaus1's review against another edition

4.0

Sexism alert / descriptions of women mostly unfavourable

jphoffman's review against another edition

4.0

mysterious fast-paced

I binged the first three in this series in 3 days. There are some funny one Liners that are so dry ... I burst with a gafaw. I could believe these are truly happening

dustmom's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

harc's review against another edition

5.0

Another brilliant murder mystery from Horowitz. Following Dectective Hawthorne and the author through a puzzling whodunnit, I'm always delighted to discover the outcome and how everything cleverly ties together.

mdeck24's review against another edition

3.75

lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

pipjean14's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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