Third book in the Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery series
81st book of 2022
When Ex-Detective Inspector Daniel Hawthorne and his sidekick, author Anthony Horowitz, are invited to an exclusive literary festival on Alderney, an idyllic island off the south coast of England, they don’t expect to find themselves in the middle of murder investigation—or to be trapped with a cold-blooded killer in a remote place with a murky, haunted past.
Arriving on Alderney, Hawthorne and Horowitz soon meet the festival’s other guests—an eccentric gathering that includes a bestselling children’s author, a French poet, a TV chef turned cookbook author, a blind psychic, and a war historian—along with a group of ornery locals embroiled in an escalating feud over a disruptive power line.
When a local grandee is found dead under mysterious circumstances, Hawthorne and Horowitz become embroiled in the case. The island is locked down, no one is allowed on or off, and it soon becomes horribly clear that a murderer lurks in their midst. But who?
CW: Murder, suicide, bullying, addiction, child death, infidelity, child abuse, pedophilia, police brutality
Rating
Review
After DNFing the previous one, I discovered that this one has one of my favourite tropes: people stuck on an island with a killer. So I decided to give one last chance to this series, and if I’m not convinced by it, I won’t continue it. So the verdict is … I won’t continue it.
Honestly, I tried, but only this I can say as a positive is that was the one that I wasn’t bothered by the fact that it isn’t fiction, but reality since the author is in the book and use some elements of his real life also, that it was a quick and easy read.
For the rest, I couldn’t, as it was boring and sometimes felt forced. For example, you have a ton of descriptions of the island throughout the book, which is a good thing; but when it feels like just a reminder, I was fed up with them. Yes, most of the time, I completely forget that I was on an island.
Also, I didn’t have the disturbing element that often comes with this kind of trope and which is pushed by the synopsis. In the end, the element that makes them stay isn’t the best, as it’s a normal thing in an investigation, but the atmosphere doesn’t change even if you have a murderer. The thing is, as the people who are killed are just trash, it killed the suspense element.
The killer’s revelation was so disappointing; how could I find them? I didn’t have a ton of elements which made them come a little out of nowhere, even if the explanations are legitimate. I would have liked to have a more impactful killer and a sense of shock at the end.
We still don’t know a lot about Hawthorne, you know there is something fishy, but I’m not that interested in discovering it as I’m not a fan of this character.
Liz.
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