The Sentence Is Death

The Writing is On the Wall - GREAT NEW SERIES!

I bought "The Word Is Murder" because "Magpie Murders" is one of my favourite books ever and my favourite Audible purchase to date and I had almost forgotten about it when I spied "The Sentence is Death" and then it all came back to me about the curious detective Hawthorn and how Anthony Horowitz had written himself into the books so you can enjoy a slice of his fascinating writer's life working on TV series as well as books.
It took me a little while to get up to speed again with the Horowitz/Hawthorn dynamic but soon I was in sleuthing heaven with many the well crafted twist and turn and red herrings galore - I especially loved the writing on the wall.
Having the same narrator really helped continuity and I had to go back and add this mention of Rory Kinnear to my review as initially omitted - and in this case that is compliment rather than a slight, as simply he is Mr Horowitz's voice for me and it is a great credit to him that he manages to present himself as an intrinsic part of the story rather than an actor putting his artistic stamp on a book reading. This book which requires the narrator to "be" not only the protagonist but also a real, living person requires special talent and sensitivity and Mr Kinnear pulls this off with aplomb by making it all seem so natural, believable and seamless letting the story tell itself. I am sure I will now find Mr Horowitz totally unconvincing as "himself" should I ever hear his real voice!
Overall,I got the feeling that this one perhaps was not quite as addictive as the first one (though I did really look forward to switching on every night and rattled through it at great speed, even bringing it with my for dishwasher loading and tea drinking which for me an unusual extension of my late night/early morning listening always in the bedroom!)
....but just as I was sighing and thinking "Hmmm, not really as good as the first" the plot took off again like a frisky horse on a frosty morning. I think I remember that writing tip being somewhere in this or the other book, always come in for a strong finish and save a twist for last and this was done in breathtaking style, leaving the listener/reader panting for the next adventure.
I adore Murder Mysteries and this one, having such a prestigious pedigree, was just so well crafted like a polished gem - such a shame that Mr Horowitz excellent writing advice could not be given to the plethora of disappointing murder mysteries which somehow seem to be published these days with a wonderful premise who just fail to deliver or fall apart half way through and fizzle out at the end leaving the reader with a "why did I bother - what a waste of a credit" feeling.
So whether this book is to your taste or not - it is stonkingly well written with so many fabulous twists and turns, super sneaky sleuthing, crafty clues and takes you along revealing, misleading, mystifying and illuminating with so much great panache, you feel that you too are part of the Detective Team.
There is talk in the book of this series being a three book deal but I can only hope that this part is fiction in this unique and ingenious fact/fiction format and there will be many many more than three. I know Mr Horowitz is a busy, busy man with his finger in many creative pies but PLEASE hurry up and give us another murder mystery soon - a second "Magpie Murder" stand alone would be a dream come true - otherwise please don't make is wait too long for the promised third in this excellent, groundbreaking and most entertaining series,
Happy, Happy, Happy Audible Customer - 6 stars!

15 of 15 people found this review helpful

I love his books!

I was nearly put off by some of the other reviews, but had pre-ordered. I was not disappointed at all and found it a really easy listen. I'm looking forward to the next book already!

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Good story but ...

I enjoyed the story but, unfortunately, found the female voices put on by the narrator absolutely excruciating!

7 of 8 people found this review helpful

What a stinker

A slow ironic hand clap for the commissioning editor that felt this was worth publishing. The seemingly endless plugging of the author's other work was shameless.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Importance of narrator

I can't tell you why, but this narrator put me off. The story is recounted in the first person and somehow he made the main character sound like someone I would definitely not like: whiny, wimpy, humourless. But maybe it's just me.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Yet another fantastic Horowitz story

I am a massive fan of Horowitz’s work. I read the Alex Rider books when I was little and his more recent Sherlock Holmes books and other like Magpie Murders have been fantastic. I loved this book. Interesting story, well written and superbly narrated by Rory Kinnear. I would definitely recommend it and can’t wait till his next audiobook.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Female voices awful.....

A reasonable plot ruined by the narration. For some reason, Rory Kinnear decided to give females a high pitched screech or sheer soppiness. Why could he not just read the book instead of giving every single character a separate impression? If the author wanted this, why not have more than one narrator and include a female? Will be a long time before I read anything narrated by Rory Kinnear again. He even gave the author a terribly whiny voice, which hardly endeared the character to this listener. I listen to a lot of Audible books and I rarely write a review but this annoyed me enough to warn other listeners!

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

James Acaster

Overall very enjoyable but the rival detective’s accent is like an impression of the way James Acaster speaks (for comedic purposes).

Otherwise highly enjoyable and something of an improvement on “the word is murder” which was very good too. Looking forward to the next installment, but would love another like “house of silk” that was great!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Can’t wait for the next in this series

I really enjoyed this book just as much as the first novel. I particularly love the fact that A H includes himself as a character. My only issue was the narrator, I think on the whole Rory Kinnear is excellent but the voice he used for the female detective was awful, really grating. He turned her into a pantomime character, sorry not your best Rory

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Superb!

I can't rate this second book in the series highly enough. Bring on the third!