A review by aligeorge
The Falcon's Malteser by Anthony Horowitz

3.0

I enjoyed this, but I did find myself wondering who it was for at times. It's a noir parody, and I felt like a lot of jokes would have landed better if I knew Raymond Chandler / Dashiell Hammet, and given Horowitz's reputation as the guy to get reluctant kids reading I'm guessing the target audience don't have many of the reference points either. Saying that, the many many puns might keep the average bookish ten year old going. The noirish depiction of women bugged me as well - the thirteen year old protagonist saying the sort of things your jaded private dick might say 'she was old enough to be my mum but hot', in essence, kind of pulled me out of it a bit. Still, it is what it is which is a daft mickey take of the noir genre set in Fulham, and there are worse ways to spend a few hues of your time.