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A review by allisonqo
The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I wanted desperately to like this book, but both the plot and characters fall incredibly flat past the halfway point. I gave two stars for the actual mystery plot content, but I didn’t find the novel to be particularly well written (unexpected, considering how widely acclaimed the author is.
I legitimately had to ask myself if the author even cares for women while I was reading the novel. I’m totally on board for writing unliveable characters, women included, but why are *all* the women painted so bitterly (Akira as the cold blooded and melodramatic feminist writer, DI Grunshaw is aggressive overweight and unattractive) ?
There were also some pretty pointed comments slid into the text of the novel - I get that this is a self-insert, but there were many moments where it felt like Horowitz threw a political line in there just to say it. There’s a sentence about police having to close precincts so now knife crime is running rampant, another something about “people being accused of something and everybody believes them before there’s proof”, or something to that effect. I could go into the treatment of Hawthorne’s racism and homophobia but, it’s been beaten to death and I won’t add much more to what others have said.
Those are the two main reasons this novel was overall a disappointment.
I legitimately had to ask myself if the author even cares for women while I was reading the novel. I’m totally on board for writing unliveable characters, women included, but why are *all* the women painted so bitterly (Akira as the cold blooded and melodramatic feminist writer, DI Grunshaw is aggressive overweight and unattractive) ?
There were also some pretty pointed comments slid into the text of the novel - I get that this is a self-insert, but there were many moments where it felt like Horowitz threw a political line in there just to say it. There’s a sentence about police having to close precincts so now knife crime is running rampant, another something about “people being accused of something and everybody believes them before there’s proof”, or something to that effect. I could go into the treatment of Hawthorne’s racism and homophobia but, it’s been beaten to death and I won’t add much more to what others have said.
Those are the two main reasons this novel was overall a disappointment.