I received an eARC from the publishers through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected my opinions.
Genre: Thriller
Age Range: Adult
Star Rating: 3 stars
Series: 5th book
Blurb:
Richmond, London . Six attractive houses are tucked away in an exclusive and very upmarket gated Riverside Close. Surrounded by flowers and shrubbery, they’re sealed off from the busy main road and the realities of urban life. At weekends, with the gate locked, the residents enjoy the sound of birdsong, the whirr of mowers, the occasional snatch of opera through an open window. Everyone knows each other. Everyone gets on.
That is, until the Kenworthies arrive. With their four big gas-guzzling cars, their noisy children and their plans to build a swimming pool in their garden, they quickly offend every one of their neighbours.
When Charles Kenworthy is found dead on his porch, the bolt of a crossbow through his chest, Daniel Hawthorne is called in. But how do you solve a murder when everyone has the same motive?
Blurb taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.
Review:
CLOSE TO DEATH is an unusual mystery where the author is a character in it, trying to write the book of a solved case with the “help” of a surly detective.
The format of this book is interesting, a split between Anthony Horowitz (as a fictionalised version of himself) trying to write the book and the chapters he’s written. It took me a while to get used to it as it was initially quite jarring, but it was an interesting self-insert and the book writing frustrations were (obviously) very authentic.
The focus, however, felt less on the mystery and more on Horowitz trying to get the information to write the mystery. It certainly isn’t a traditional set up in any case, and means the detective isn’t around much. The sleuthing isn’t the bulk of the book, therefore, making this feel very much untraditional, which I’m not sure how I feel about.
There are certain conventions and expectations of mysteries, and this doesn’t really fill them. While deviations can be intriguing and make it feel less repetitive, there is also the matter of sometimes just wanting a more typical mystery where you know the shape and so are trying to guess alongside.
I’m also not sure what to make of the ending. While Horowitz is the narrator, Hawthorne is sort of the main character, but their interactions are very antagonistic. But Hawthorne is the one who comes up with the answer, not Horowitz, which wasn’t as satisfying. Also it doesn’t quite resolve because we get the answer but the truth doesn’t exactly win out.
It’s also the fifth in series, which I wasn’t aware of when I went in (I have the fourth in series too, which I also didn’t realise was part of a series!) I was OK reading it without any prior knowledge. Maybe I missed some things but thrillers tend to be standalones with simply detectives recurring.
I think I will try the fourth book – I’ll know what to expect and the format might be more common based on the blurb.
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 