Cover Image: A Line to Kill

A Line to Kill

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Member Reviews

I am usually quite the fan of Anthony Horowitz. In my opinion he is a skilled short story writer. I also enjoyed what I read of Alex Rider and The Power of Five is one of my favourite sets of books. I requested this book having recently read Horowitz’s Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders. These novels are an intriguing meta-literary adventure following a crime writer and telling the story within a story in an innovative way. I mistakenly thought that this novel was akin to those. It is not. Really, it felt to me that this novel would have all the ingredients I was looking for. My husband has recently started working in the Channel Islands, so the setting was intriguing. The concept of the plot with the traditional murder mystery also appealed. However, the writing style put me off. It reminded me of the Diamond Brothers books - a slightly comedic style that is not the type of writing I enjoy.

I will try to return to this novel, but for now it remains unread on my bookshelf.

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Sorry this is a bit late to review! But I so love Anthony's writing and A Line to Kill was my first introduction to Hawthorne, who I look forward to hanging out with again soon! I always try so hard to guess whodunnit but Anthony's skill remains in throwing enough crumbs out there that I never can get it right! I very much enjoy the game to be had in reading though and would absolutely recommend.

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Lots of twists and turns that kept me guessing and some great characters. After thoroughly enjoying the first two books in this series I was delighted to get a copy of this book- and it did not disappoint. Very much looking forward to reading the next instalment in this series. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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I loved Anthony Horowitz growing up and was incredibly excited to read this, and it didn't disappoint! Engaging, well paced and truly enjoyable,.

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I enjoyed the first two books in the Daniel Hawthorne series The Word Is Murder and The Sentence is Death which also features the author Anthony Horowitz as a fictionalised version of himself alongside Hawthorne, a private investigator. It’s a great concept, cleverly pulled off, allowing Horowitz to send himself up a bit as well as the publishing industry in general, particularly in this third outing which sees Hawthorne and Horowitz travel to the island of Alderney to take part in a literary festival to promote the book The Word is Murder (yes, it’s more meta than ever!) and investigate the murder of an unpopular local resident. This is a solid whodunnit with red herrings galore and a cast of characters Horowitz clearly had great fun writing. It was also intriguing to learn a bit more about Hawthorne’s past.

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Having read the first two in this series and really enjoying them, i was really excited to go off and venture with Horowtiz and Hawthorne, this venture was to a literature festival in Alderny and of course to murder.

These books are such an interesting concept and one i enjoy.

Hawthorne is an interesting charecter, hard and sharp on the outisde but with a perceptable wobbly middle, he can be assertive and to the point, but also we see a softer side of him too, not only in this book, but the others too.

Horowitz writes himeself as a side kick and somewhat bumbling alongside the aforementioned detective, i wonder how the author really is.... i wonder * taps chin*
Even though i enjoyed this book, it has been my least favourite so far.

I know that book four is on the way and am looking forwards to it, just to see what they get up to next.

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Interesting book. I really quite liked this one, though not fast paced, it was character rich, well written and pretty clever. The author gives us well detailed stories with a decent plot and a perfect ending, a lot of these crime books often go south after the middle but I was very pleasantly surprised by this one.

What I liked most about this author is the humour aspect - which you wouldn't expect being so mystery and crime powered but hey ho, it was there and I took full advantage!

I'd definitely read more from this author as I really enjoyed this, it would be perfect for audiobook as well if it isn't already as I quite enjoy a lot of crime mystery novels when working, it really passes the time and if they're interesting like this one, it's a kill two birds with one stone kind of mission.

I'd recommend this one completely, many thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this FREE ARC in return for my review. Top notch!

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It’s been ages since I read an Anthony Horowitz book and I really enjoyed ‘A Line to Kill’ (although not as much as the wonderful Alex Rider)

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Horowitz has yet again written an excellent book full of twists and turns that kept me guessing throughout. I had been anticipating the release of this book for a while and it did not disappoint. Looking forward to the next instalment in this series

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Over the weekend, Anthony Horowitz appeared at the Iceland Noir book festival. I hope that he had a better time than his autobiographical character had at a fictional event. And if he didn’t, I shall be (a) surprised and (b) most put out on his behalf. That’s what A Line to Kill does to you.
Anthony Horowitz’s problem is that he’s too good at making us like Anthony Horowitz. We’re sympathetic to the author who gives us witty self-deprecation and one-liners about Dan Brown. That means that when people treat him badly in our eyes, we are likely to turn against them. And too many of the cast of A Line to Kill do that. Line is the third in Horowitz’s series in which he plays the role of detective’s side-kick to investigator Daniel Hawthorne. It’s meta than ever, because it describes the forthcoming launch of the first novel, The Word is Murder, about which more anon, and a road trip of the damned, namely E-list writers at a terrible literary festival in which our man Horowitz shares billing with a discount Derek Acorah, a plagiarist poet and a shouty stereotype chef. Maybe it comes across more grim than Horowitz intends, but I can’t help getting irritated at these idiots. Don’t they know our mate needs a bit of a break?
Thing is, it’s a bit personal. At one point Horowitz muses that he is going to run out of titles with grammatical allusions. This blog previously called for a future instalment to be called The Paragraph is Fatality and we remake the offer in the knowledge that the idea is too appalling to be taken up. More seriously, in the first chapter, Penguin Random House are sending out proof copies of Word to ‘bloggers, reviewers and key customers’ and although they are referring here to actual printed copies, and not the electronic copies available to we amateurs, I feel complicit in Big Publishing’s machine to belittle and denigrate. Mr Horowitz, should you read this, I can only apologise both for my part in your oppression and also for - for the sake of pretentious whimsy - pretending to miss the point so spectacularly.
Other thing is, Horowitz has too much experience and knowledge across the crime and mystery genre for us to think that he doesn’t know exactly what he is doing at all times. I’m assuming that the knowing asides and also the tension with Hawthorne are meant to contrast with Conan Doyle (with whose works I’m not really familiar). At one point Horowitz writes,
Knife wounds are particularly disgusting. And I write about these things for entertainment!
Later, though, he tells us the story of Derek Abbott, a truly disgusting man. I don’t want to know about Derek Abbott in as much detail as we get and I’m not sure he has to have done these specific things for the narrative to come together and for the purposes of what is our entertainment. The case of Abbott does allow Horowitz to provide depth to the question of privately-dispensed justice. Perhaps I was too appalled by Abbott such that the nuance passed me by. (And we know that Abbott’s crimes will feature in another book about Hawthorne as we explore his early life. I am not sure that I am looking forward to that.)
But if the nuance has gone over my head, such is the life of the sidekick, and Horowitz plays that role to perfection. The cleverness of the plot is revealed at the end and, having made it my business to systematically suspect everyone in turn, I still managed to be every bit as wrong as the useless local plod.
If this series does consider the backstory of its star, troubled detective, it won’t be the first to do so. But Horowitz has shown enough originality in this series so far for us to give him the benefit of the doubt. The Hawthorne saga continues to delight, when it doesn’t make us fret for its narrator.

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A new Tony and Hawthorne is always a delight. In the third book the pair go to a literary festival and murder is on the agenda. The story is entertaining and solid and it's lovely that more and more of Hawthorne's past is being revealed. Can't wait for the next one.

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i like the querulous narrator - who is Horowitz (purportedly) himself - talking about his fictional other-half as they attend a writing festival to discuss Hawthorne's cases - i've read earlier books in this group (not necessary to the story however) and they are equally intriguing - and the extra meta-fiction element is good fun - the assemblage of characters from a rich eccentric local grandee to a foodie and booksellers and writers , the clues Horowitz picks up toward the resolution eventually of the murder - for that's what happens - is convenient to the detectuve ... really enjoyable and the resolution is a surprise .. a bit slow in the unwinding but all the better and richer for it ..

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Another lovely read from this author.

Anthony Horowitz’s books stand out to me because there’s always murder but they’re still somehow comforting.

The perspective of this book was odd to start with but I quickly got in to it and really enjoyed it.

Agatha Christie vibes-loved it.

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The weakest in the series so far for me. Took ages to get going and then seemed to wrap up far too quickly. Left a little cliff hanger for the next book but I'm in two minds whether to bother.

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This is the third in a series featuring Hawthorne but the story itself would make sense to readers that have not read the previous books.

The murder is on an island where Horowitz is a speaker and includes a character from Hawthorne's past. A good mystery with plenty of characters and plot lines.

I have read one of the previous books in the series and this one did not grip me as much as the previous one. There is however promise of more in the future as Horowitz begins to find out more of Hawthorne's secrets.

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The third in the series and is a classic who done it
This book goes back to the golden age of murder mystery books and gives too many to mention clues to throw you off solving the crime
The pace kept me interested throughout
Thank you netgalley for a pre publication copy for review

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A Line To Kill is another brilliant addition to the series featuring Hawthorne, in which Horowitz himself recounts his (fictional) experiences writing about the Detective's cases. This book sets place largely on the Channel island of Alderney, where Horowitz and Hawthorne are visiting for a literary festival to promote their upcoming series.

Whilst both are on the island, along with various other authors visiting for the new literary festival, a wealthy resident is murdered after a party at his mansion. As always, I was easily drawn into this fun 'whodunnit' mystery and the characters are as brilliant and engaging as always. I enjoyed finding out more about them. Hawthorne is as mysterious and infuriating to Horowitz as ever, with lots of comical interactions between them which I always enjoy. Their relationship is hard to sum up. It's certainly not friendship, but Horowitz has a grudging respect for Hawthorne, and Hawthorne... well, who knows what he thinks about Horowitz. Hawthorne plays his cards very close to his chest!

With some surprises and red herrings along the way, A Line To Kill is a great read - perfect for curling up with inside on a cold evening! I always look forward to new releases in this series and this one certainly did not disappoint!

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Another great book in this series and perhaps, as hinted at the end, we will find out more about the mysterious Hawthorne in the next book. Having read this, I now want to visit Alderney.

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I had to read the opening chapters a few times to understand how Horowitz had woven himself into one of his characters in this novel - I'm still not convinced I enjoyed this or indeed either of the characters.
I was interested with the location being in Alderney which gave a suitable setting being a small island, but was also coincidentally full of eccentric and mysterious characters.
With the narrative often referring to the writing of Horowitz's book about his fictional character, and the idea of real life stories being woven into the murder mystery, I just found this book annoyingly confusing taking away any possible intrigue .

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A third outing for detective Hawthorne and a fictionalized version of the author Anthony Horowitz. This time they are attending.a literary festival on the bleak channel island of Alderney when a murder occurs. An easy read.

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