A review by not_another_ana
The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz

adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

From my experience of Hawthorne, I knew he had a way of firing off seemingly irrelevant observations. He wasn't being deliberately offensive. It was just that offensive was his default mode.

Hawthorne and Horowitz are back and ready to solve a murder! When a cutthroat divorce lawyer is brutally murdered, and a mysterious message left in the crime scene, it's up to private investigator Daniel Hawthorne to get to the bottom of the case. Of course following along for the ride is Anthony Horowitz, the real life author's failsona and Hawthorne's biographer, who is trying to figure out a different mystery, who really is Hawthorne? With a variety of suspects, who all had motives and even opportunity, and a suspicious incident in the victim's past this won't be an easy case to crack.

The second book of this funky series was a good solid read, but I did enjoy the first one far more. Things I loved in this one: Hawthorne continues to be a horrid human being that you can't help but be drawn into. His character is great, incredibly human to the point of being disgusting. I thought the pacing was good enough and I enjoyed most of the investigation.
Special mention to the caving incident, way to give me a new fear. What a horrible way to die! I also really liked the description of the investigation into the suicide and how that whole department works, solid stuff.


However, the murder mystery in this one wasn't as enjoyable. It was fine, but the misdirection became a bit too obvious at points. I solved it with a quarter of the book to go, so it definitely kept me guessing, but the ending wasn't so satisfying.
My biggest gripe here is how little we saw the actual murderer, for me that gave it away a bit. What the numbers actually meant was kinda meh, though I do think the motive made a lot of sense.
The two new cop characters were too cartoonish to me, they could have been toned down a bit. While it was interesting to see Hawthorne's private life a bit more there was too much set up into a future reveal about his past that was left hanging by the end of this book, I could have done with a morsel of truth.

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