After finishing Lucy Foley, guess what I did? I searched for authors that have similar style as Christie. And Anthony Horowitz is among the tops of the list, and I’m just so happy to have found him. He has a long list of accomplished works, books and TV shows and I will not lack of books to read until next year. Love his writing style and the suspense he uses so well in his book, and the creativity in his storytelling is just top-notch! I could not find any better word to describe him, but trust me, you are in for a treat, entering the world of Anthony Horowitz. Once in, you will refuse to stay out.
**spoiler alert** “To begin with, you’ll get two books for the price of one. Quite literally.”
This was my thought 1/3 way in. It was like Inception in written form. A story within a story, a mystery within web of mystery. Both had their own sparks and delivered.
The book was beautifully written, and I was a bit regretful that I haven’t read “Magpie Murders” first, although these two are not reference of each other, but it would be more chronological.
Anyway, I’m afraid I didn’t know much about author Anthony Horowitz before this book, and it was a shame. He is such a well-known author with highly acclaimed series, moreover, his stories are remarkable, the mystery – oh so hard to guess and many moments I had to stop to breath, and to ponder over the details, the notes he left for the readers.
Everything falls into place, as the pieces of 1000-piece puzzle came about and the picture before you gave you a serious case of goosebumps.
This is a very satisfying read, I’m so glad to find him and his other books, that I will not come out of this rabbit hole for quite some time.
Washington Post a more thorough review with better writing, I feel like I’m doing a disservice to the book with my half-baked review and I really want more people to read this amazing book.
“Moonflower Murders” at Bookdepository
I know. By rights, I should get back to Magpie Murders, but what am I doing reading a totally different series? I’m sorry, sometimes I just can’t stop myself. I will add the Magpie Murders later…
**spoiler alert** The author has used a well-known and beloved material to create a fresh story, and the result was an adventure that was nostalgic, enchanting and captivating. It couldn’t have been done any better and the villain, I must say, it was truly a heinous villain that deserved our deepest contempt.
There was moments of vulnerabilities that made me feel worried, even disheartened when our famous detective got caught by (seemingly surprise), that I thought this was such a great way to portrait him as a person who could feel pain, and fear. Triumphantly, he rose above all the wickedness, with the glint in his eyes showing he would never bow down and let the evil did its deeds. Once again, I saw Mr. Holmes and his genius mind works, and I silently cried out of joy.
This version of adventure has not only painted Holmes in a different light, but also brought all the sidekicks their own stages. Dr. Watson and his never-ending loyalty, has admitted his injustice in depicting the criminals of past cases, Inspector Lestrade revealed his complete trust in Holmes, despite their differences, and even Professor Moriarty has a very powerful, memorable cameo in this story.
This page-tuner is a must read if you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes. Once again you will be able to follow his investigation with awe and admiration, you will see there are inhuman humans that are way beyond our imagination and we must prepare to fight it until the end, just like how our favorite duo keep pressing on and fight for the right thing.
“The House of Silk” at Bookdepository
Within the book, there was a conversation between Detective Hawthorne and the author about the title they decided to give for the book, and I thought that was the most creative ever.
I haven’t read too many books where the author is also a character, and although I’m sure this is not all of him, he wrote this “Anthony Horowitz” character with so much authenticity as he has the same background as the actual author and I wouldn’t be so surprise if in fact, this was really him express himself in a clever way, so this was a really fun read to me, and again, I stayed up until 5am just to finish it, and by the end of it, there was nothing else I could say but “brilliant”. Anthony Horowitz talked briefly about his book in an interview with NPR, where he mentioned “I was looking for a way to sort of turn the whole formula – the format upside down. And by putting myself into the book, I suddenly realized that everything I wrote would be different, that my view of the landscape would be different, that I would have no knowledge of what was happening, when, of course, normally, the author knows everything.”
With the experience of a famous screenwriter, Horowitz knows how to captivate readers the same way as TV shows, where each chapter ends at the cliffhanger and you just cannot stop there so easily. Horowitz the character, was acting like a representation of the reader, in this case the naive me, going through the leads and making all *spoiler* wrong guesses. I was never able to guess right in most of the book anyway so this makes the reveal all the more satisfied. I’m so glad the author confesses his admiration for Agatha Christie, as she is also my most favorite mystery author, so the way his stories progress has a bit of Christie’s flavor, the slow burn, the people’s dark sides, the tiny daily details that if you are not tentative, you won’t understand the significance of it.
I must admit Hawthorne is not the typical heroic detective I would like him to be, but that is also a good thing because it makes the story feel real, genuine and the line between reality and fiction truly blurry in this book. As the main detective, he is no doubt smart with a sharp observation skill and his deduction game is on point. But the next you know, he will say something that is offensive, he is so eccentric in a sense that you couldn’t help but think of whether he is a decent character or not. All these are described through Horowitz’s eyes so naturally, that you realize, that is how another human should be. By the end of it, I just can’t wait to start another journey with Detective Hawthorne and his reluctant assistant, Horowitz.
“The word is Murder” at Bookdepository
* Disclaimer: I don’t earn anything if you buy from Bookdepository links, I just purchase books from there all the time – they have free delivery mostly worldwide, and they have a vast variety of books.
Petite Gratitude 
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