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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
I would’ve finished sooner if I didn’t use all my monthly reading minutes on Spotify. But wow!! I think I liked this one more than the last Hawthorne book. You would think from the beginning premise of the crime that it would be an easy solve, but it was far from it! I never figured it out, but when I found out the culprit I was shocked! I think the other plot lines were a lot more interesting and really made the crime harder to solve. I sensed more notes of Agatha Christie in this story, but Sherlock Holmes style writing was definitely still there. Onto the next one!
I would’ve finished sooner if I didn’t use all my monthly reading minutes on Spotify. But wow!! I think I liked this one more than the last Hawthorne book. You would think from the beginning premise of the crime that it would be an easy solve, but it was far from it! I never figured it out, but when I found out the culprit I was shocked! I think the other plot lines were a lot more interesting and really made the crime harder to solve. I sensed more notes of Agatha Christie in this story, but Sherlock Holmes style writing was definitely still there. Onto the next one!
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’ve always enjoyed Horowitz’ work, from reading Alex Rider novels as a child to his more recent forays into more adult detective fiction. Though I enjoyed the first Daniel Hawthorne book, I went in with a pre-conceived notion of how the author-as-fictionalized-Watson structure would work, and the subversion of timely expectations left me a bit cold.
Well, I suppose that served as a nice primer for me, because this second entry in what I now recognize to be a fairly novel (pun intended) new sub-genre of mystery writing is total aces. Everything I was skeptical of the first go-round clicked into place, from the stubborn detective to the ingenious twists to the use of author-as-character-and-therefore-vessel-for-meta-commentary. To that last point, I loved the way that by writing himself into the story, Horowitz is able to baldly expound on his own novel and mystery-writing process, even as he’s writing the very novel itself. It’s a brilliant innovation in what can be a rote genre (I love it tho), and on top of all that creativity lies some pretty brilliant Christie-esque mystery chops to really help the whole thing land. It all works, and I’m eagerly anticipating the teased third book.
Well, I suppose that served as a nice primer for me, because this second entry in what I now recognize to be a fairly novel (pun intended) new sub-genre of mystery writing is total aces. Everything I was skeptical of the first go-round clicked into place, from the stubborn detective to the ingenious twists to the use of author-as-character-and-therefore-vessel-for-meta-commentary. To that last point, I loved the way that by writing himself into the story, Horowitz is able to baldly expound on his own novel and mystery-writing process, even as he’s writing the very novel itself. It’s a brilliant innovation in what can be a rote genre (I love it tho), and on top of all that creativity lies some pretty brilliant Christie-esque mystery chops to really help the whole thing land. It all works, and I’m eagerly anticipating the teased third book.
Nothing was speaking to me in regards to reading, so I picked this up. I recently read book 1 in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series, which was just okay and this was the same for me. In some aspects I was more interested in the mystery and the character development than book 1. However, overall it was just okay. I much prefer the Susan Ryland series by the author.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to like it so much. I like his other books a LOT. Moriarty in particular is stellar. But this one—not sure if the Holmes/Watson vibe was overdone on purpose, if the casual idiocy and misogyny was deliberate, and certainly the twist wasn’t clever enough to justify any of it. I may have to reread the first of these “character in his own book” series to see if it’s the same and I missed it because the plot was better—but he’s way better when plotting his own book instead of trying to intertwine as much of his real life as possible into these novels.
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 was a good one. The best of the series of three. There are good number of clever clues, the Watson/Holmes style of writing is taken one step ahead very nicely here. Good self deprecating humour as well. Like Hawthorne telling the writer, "Tony you write things without realising their significance."