The Twist of a Knife
Ratings27
Average rating4
'EASILY THE GREATEST OF OUR CRIME WRITERS' SUNDAY TIMES 'Funny, addictive and clever, and the crime fighting duo of Hawthorne and Horowitz are as entertaining as ever. Brilliant. I can't wait for more.' ADAM HANDY ''There's a lovely Hitchcockian feel to TWIST. The clock is ticking. It's a lot of fun.' IAN RANKIN 'The Twist of a Knife is a beautifully turned locked-room whodunit' THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'A total joy. Anthony is a master entertainer, the genius twists and turns of his writing and plot keep me on the edge of my seat.' RORY KINNEAR _____________ 'Our deal is over.' That's what reluctant author Anthony Horowitz tells ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne in an awkward meeting. The truth is that Anthony has other things on his mind. His new play, Mindgame, is about to open in London's Vaudeville theatre. Not surprisingly Hawthorne declines a ticket. On opening night, Sunday Times critic Harriet Throsby gives the play a savage review, focusing particularly on the writing. The next morning she is found dead, stabbed in the heart with an ornamental dagger which, it turns out, belongs to Anthony and which has his finger prints all over it. Anthony is arrested, charged with Throsby's murder, thrown into prison and interrogated. Alone and increasingly desperate, he realises only one man can help him. But will Hawthorne take his call? _____________ More love for The Twist of a Knife ... 'An immensely enjoyable read, funny, so clever and utterly original' Ragnar Jonasson 'A delicious mystery [that] is bonkers and brilliant and a triumph' The Sun 'Horowitz blurs the lines between fiction and reality to hilarious effect' The Express 'A gripping tour de force' Woman's Own _____________ Readers can't get enough of The Twist of a Knife ... ***** 'This is another thoroughly enjoyable and well-constructed mystery from Anthony Horowitz.' ***** 'Thoroughly enjoyed it and devoured it in a little over 2 days!' ***** 'This novel is hugely entertaining.' ***** 'Fabulous. More please, and soon!' ***** 'This is the very best in 'cosy-crime.''
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Series
Series
5 primary booksHawthorne & Horowitz
Hawthorne & Horowitz is a 5-book series with 5 primary works first released in 1919 with contributions by Anthony Horowitz.
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En Anthony Horowitz doet het weer!
Ik hou van hoe zelfbewust en meta dit boek (en gans deze serie) is. De kleine zijsprong over “cancel culture” en “culture appropriation” beschreef uitstekend en scherp mijn exacte gevoelens hierover.
Een geweldig gezellig mysterie, onderhoudend en grappig, goed geschreven met gelaagde karakters en een bevredigende conclusie! Breng me meer! (Mag ik hopen dat er nog 3 volgen???)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader as part of a Quick Takes Catch-up post, emphasizing pithiness, not thoroughness.
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Until I heard Horowitz on a podcast talking about this book, I wasn’t sure if I was going to bother with the book—but he piqued my interest. I’m glad he did—he’s really good at keeping this series from falling into a formula, and bringing Hawthorne into this case to get Horowitz out of trouble was a nice twist (but something he can’t repeat).
I didn’t buy—at all—the way Horowitz didn’t involve his wife in his situation—or how she reacted. The way the other detectives focused on Horowitz and didn’t really listen to him seemed less-than-credible, too—but not as much.
Still, this was a fun listen—Kinnear’s a great narrator—and this mystery was clever. It was a good time—I know you’ll find more enthusiastic recommendations from several other people, and you should probably take their advice. The best I can do is that this book probably led me to get the next one.
Originally posted at irresponsiblereader.com.
I'm done reading this series and author. Don't continue to read if you don't want any spoilers for the book.
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SPOILERS
Why was it necessary for the author's fake persona to insist that he has every right to write about other people's lived experiences, especially those of minorities? One of the biggest lessons we ALL should have learned from everything that's happened since 2020 is that we should be listening to OWN VOICES, and when a Native American character is insisting that you don't have their permission to tell their story, you should respect that. Not have your white, upperclass male author lecture (***read throw a tantrum) about why he's entitled to write about whoever he wants.
It was incredibly frustrating to have the main character agreeing with the elitist views of the lawyer whose wealthy family shifted the blame of a crime from their rich, privileged son onto a blue collar kid with a troubled family life.
One of the biggest re-occurring issues I've had with Anthony Horowitz is the homophobia he writes into the books, and here we are yet again with that being an element of one of the characters. It's not necessary.
Your ability to write a good mystery does not exempt you THE AUTHOR from being socially conscious or writing characters that can grow and change based on new information.
