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A review by mariearen
The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz
Did not finish book.
I dnfed this after the introduction of quite explicit homophobic language into the story. So I don’t know if the detective character is redeemed or anymore nuance is added to that plot element later on. I don’t always dnf books for this reason, but I’m not in a headspace to be taking in that kind of homophobia, especially in what I picked up to be an easy fast paced read.
If I had been more gripped by the characters I might have stuck it out, but I found both men to be fairly uninteresting and didn’t connect with their dynamic. All this, in combination with the narrator’s reaction to the homophobia focusing more on the career fallout for him, than anything else, just meant I didn’t have it in me. Homophobia can be important to examine in fiction of course, but god a lot of the time I’m so exhausted from experiencing it, that I really just want my reading time to be a bit of time off.
If I had been more gripped by the characters I might have stuck it out, but I found both men to be fairly uninteresting and didn’t connect with their dynamic. All this, in combination with the narrator’s reaction to the homophobia focusing more on the career fallout for him, than anything else, just meant I didn’t have it in me. Homophobia can be important to examine in fiction of course, but god a lot of the time I’m so exhausted from experiencing it, that I really just want my reading time to be a bit of time off.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia