"The book had been left open on haiku 174-181 (each one was numbered, with no title). On an impulse I turned the page and my eye was immediately drawn to haiku 182 at the top of the page: You breathe in my ear Your every word a trial The sentence is death. 182. The number painted on the wall next the dead body of Richard Pryce."

High profile divorce lawyer, Richard Pryce is found murdered in his home, with a bottle of very expensive wine. Pryce didn't drink and even stranger are the numbers 182 daubed in pain on the wall. Baffled, the police call in private investigator Daniel Hawthorne, who is being helped by a wellknown author, who is writing about the murder. Plenty of suspects swim in and out of view as the story progresses.

The second in the Daniel Hawthorne private investigator series (it refers to the first but can be read alone easily) with Anthony Horowitz as his novel-writing sidekick. Yes the author inserts himself into the story! This confused me for much of the book, particularly having not read the first book in the series, The Word is Murder. There are factual references to Horowitz involvement with Foyle's War and even acknowledgements at the end thanking the fictional characters. However I can see it gives Horowitz a different perspective and certainly made for much tongue-in-cheek comments about the characters, putting a different slant in a good old murder mystery. I like the focus on the sleuths, the chatty style and how the title was woven into the book. I didn't guess who the murderer was, but came pretty close (no spoilers!). Well worth a read.

The Sentence is Death is another brilliant novel from one of my favourite authors, Anthony Horowitz. I particularly enjoy this series as it's definitely different from most other 'crime' novels; I love the self-aware style of writing. Anthony Horowitz writes as himself, having been employed to write three books about ex-Detective Hawthorne. This is the second - the first one being The Word is Murder, another great novel - and throughout Anthonoy includes references to his life as a writer, his family and much more. It really feels like you're reading a story that's really happened, and I love the way Horowitz vents his frustration with people and the book industry in general through The Sentence is Death's pages (I loved the part where it's suggested he should "write a Bond next", to which Horowitz admits it's something "I'd wanted to do all my life" - and, of course, he has now written Forever and a Day !)

Both 'characters' of Hawthorne and Horowitz are brilliant, though Hawthorne is, at times, deeply flawed and an unlikable character - there are MANY things about him I dislike, and yet I can't help but want to read more about him because the story is told through Anthony Horowitz's humorous, entertaining voice.

The plot is just as enjoyable as The Word is Murder, and though there are some (I feel) obvious parts that I did sort of see coming, there were also some really clever surprises as the story went on.

This novel is satisfyingly self-aware, really clever and definitely entertaining - I loved every page. I'm already looking forward to book no.3!

I loved this book. It was absolutely great. Really fun to read. I loved the fact that Horowitz puts himself into the book in a Watson type role. In fact I love all the tongue in cheek references to Sherlock Holmes. I am obsessed by books set in London, and I used to live and work in the area where the murder happened so I could picture everything clearly, which made it all the more fun. I zipped through this at a great rate of knots and was really, really sad when it finished. I shall definitely go back and read the first book in the series and I hope that there will be more to come.

I am a huge fan of Anthony's work, he is one of my favourite authors, but I'm afraid this was a huge disappointment. To be honest, by the time I came to the end of the book, I thought to myself "what was the whole point of it".. Anthony's unique theme of putting himself into the storyline in real time is brilliant, as in The Word is Murder, and a joy to read, similarly The Magpie Murders was a triumph when there was an unexpected and original turn around half way through.. Anthony, as himself, came across as very weak in this latest book, it started to annoy me that he was always the one paying for taxis, coffees etc at his meetings with Hawthorne, a shallow character you really didn't want to know more about. It's very hard to write a negative review about an author you admire considerably but I'm afraid this was one that Anthony should have left in the drafts cupboard for revising at a future date. As a reader you didn't really care who had committed the murder or why someone had died in a Yorkshire caving accident, and following on from this what was the point of the Japanese poet and author. So sorry, Anthony, that I couldn't say anything more positive.

I love this set of. characters. The uncanny detective and the writer, even though it stretches credibility! The murder is real. And the wash of Sherlock Holmes deductions by intrepid detective Hawthorne in this difficult murder story where suspect is not easily identified, is really entertaining. I like the voice telling it all to us.. another winner!

Charmingly told. Horowitz the character/narrator has a wonderful way of taking the pace out of the narrative with, I assume, intentionally minor and sometimes petty details about film production or locations of tube stations or social discomfort; it sometimes feels like you're making very boring chit-chat around a dinner table. It provides an enjoyable contrast to the usual high pace and stakes of a crime thriller. The police investigation at the centre ticks along nicely. Quite a poignant conclusion, delivered very effectively - a nice shot of emotion after the more restrained crime drama. Highly recommended.

Anthony Horowitz and Daniel Hawthorne are back for their second murder investigation. I absolute loved the first book “The Word is Murder” and “The Sentence is Death” does not fail to deliver. It is gripping, unique, very British and also funny.

I just adored how Horowitz wrote himself into the story in his first book of this series. I loved how he told us about being a writer and his encounters with famous people. I enjoyed it even more the story about the murder. This time a was more intrigued by the crime and finding out what happened.

Horowitz gets approached again by enigmatic Daniel Hawthorne. He has a new case witch he things is worth writing about. Horowitz already signed a contract for 3 books featuring Hawthorne. But somehow this time he is not so enthusiastic. But the death of a divorce lawyer is too interesting to resist. So he again pairs up with Hawthorne and follows him on his investigation.

I like the way Horowitz portrays himself. It is so much fun and I absolutely love his writing style. He gives us again insights of his life as a busy author. He puts himself in competition to the mysterious Hawthorne and wants to figure out on his own who the killer is. But his talent as a writer is much bigger than as an investigator and it is very entertaining to see how he always fails. The story itself is very cleverly plotted and keeps you guessing.

I am actually not a big fan of book series and prefer stand-alones. But this concept is so unique and Horowitz’s writing style so intriguing that I will definitely watch out for the third book.

With thanks to Netgalley and Century for this ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.

I was a big fan of the The Word Is Murder because Anthony Horowitz made himself into a character in his own book. I was excited when I read that Horowitz was due to release another Daniel Hawthorne book.

The Sentence is Death started with Anthony on the set of ITV drama Foyles War. During filming Daniel Hawthorne arrived on set and told Anthony there`s been another murder.

Celebrity divorce lawyer Richard Pryce also known as the blunt razor had been found bludgeoned to death with a £3'000 bottle of wine. On the wall in green paint were the numbers 182'. The case was being investigated by DI Cara Grunshaw and Darren a DC. She was annoyed that Daniel had been brought into investigate and told him she wanted to be the one that made the arrest.

The prime suspect for the murder was author Akiro Anno, a disgruntled wife who poured a glass of wine over Richard`s death in a restaurant. After pouring the wine she said she wished she could hit him with a bottle.

The Sentence Is Death had an old school mystery atmosphere rather like an Agatha Christie book. I enjoyed the story so much I found it hard to put down. Like in all classic who dunnits there were countless suspects and red herrings galore. When the killer was revealed I groaned because I should of seen it.

It was ingenious the way Anthony can weave autobiography and fiction together. It was interesting reading behind the scenes Foyle`s War , in fact I remember the opening scene with Honeysuckle Weeks that Anthony described. He is also brave enough to be Watson to Hawthorne`s Sherlock.

Daniel was still a mystery figure but we discovered he lived in Yorkshire for a short time. When Anthony and Daniel went to Yorkshire to investigate a lead, a man thought Daniel was someone called Billy. Although Daniel denied he was Billy we may find out more in the next book

Anthony mentioned he had a three book deal for the Hawthorne books, I hope this is true. I give this book a worthy five stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this, the second instalment of Anthony Horowitz' Hawthorne series. I thoroughly enjoyed this from start to finish and absolutely love the fact the author appears as a main character in the series - this doesn't happen very often in other fiction I read but for me it just works and makes it more interesting. After reading the first in the series I didn't really like the character of Daniel Hawthorne but after finishing the second he is growing on me and I look forward to reading more.

I have read other of Horowitz's works and always had a great love for them, and this one is no different. This book has plenty of intrigue and suspense to find the murderer. It trails you along and gives you enough breadcrumbs to make your mind think the story is going in one direction then the rug is pulled from under you and you can be left reeling by the revelations. A well written and well crafted crime thriller and i urge people to read this series of books

http://books-and-thebigscreen.co.uk/books/the-sentence-is-…anthony-horowitz/

I've not read THE WORD IS MURDER, book one in this series, but I definitely want to after reading this one!

To be honest didn't I know a damn thing about the story before I started to read/listen to this book (yes I tend to mix it when I have the chance, listen at work, read and listen at home). And to find that Anthony Horowitz has written two books with himself as a character was a great joy (such a fun idea). He's like Private Investigator Daniel Hawthorne's own Watson. Although, their working relationship is a bit strained. Anthony isn't even sure he likes Hawthorne that much. I, however, find both of them enjoyable.

Anyway, there has been a murder and Anthony and Hawthorne is out to find out the truth. Anthony also struggles with an episode of Foyle's War (love that series, this book made me wanna rewatch it). As a new reader to this series was this my first encounter with the characters, and I loved getting to know them. And just like Anthony do I want to know more about Hawthorne. I had a blast reading this book and I although I saw one of the big twists a mile away did I really love the ending of the book!

THE SENTENCE IS DEATH is definitely a book that I recommend and I can't wait to read the first book and the third book when it's published!

Thank you to Netgalley, Penguin Random House and Anthony Horowitz for my arc of The Sentence is Death.
I read The Word is Murder last year when I was kindly sent a review copy by the publisher. I really liked its unique style so I was definitely interested to read the second book.
The concept of this series is that Anthony, the author of the book is also the main character. In the series he has been invited to write about a retired detective who is still called in to help with unsolvable cases. Anthony tails him and writes about his investigation, kind of like true crime but different. It's a really fresh and interesting concept.
In The Sentence is Death a prominent divorce lawyer has been murdered, bludgeoned to death by an expensive bottle of wine. The retired detective Hawthorne is called in to help the investigation and Horowitz is asked to begin writing his second book.

The book, like the first in the series is really funny. The relationship and banter between Hawthorne and Horowitz who equally dislike and yet somehow like the other, is really entertaining and of course there's a good Murder mystery to get your teeth into too. Anthony always tries to solve it before Hawthorne (usually unsuccessfully) or at least to understand what trail Hawthorne is on (again unsuccessfully) and you find yourself as the reader trying to do so too.

Wholly entertaining, I'm looking forward to the promised book three in the series.

Great stuff from Anthony Horowitz! I hadn’t read The Word is Murder, the first Daniel Hawthorne book, so I was completely taken by surprise to find that Horowitz was narrating the book as himself. The very first scene is set at a shoot for Foyle’s War and there are mentions later for his Alex Rider books. This is highly ingenious and, strangely, it works. The shoot is interrupted by Hawthorne, who tells the writer he has a case on which might interest him. Although he was sacked from the Met, Hawthorne is still called in occasionally to help with odd cases and this one is certainly odd. A well known and wealthy divorce lawyer has been found murdered. The ex-wife of one of his clients is known to have assaulted and threatened him in a restaurant. Did she do it? Once we meet her, she seems capable of anything; she’s a ghastly woman. But there’s another possible line of enquiry, involving an incident six years earlier in which a man died.

The author/Horowitz, wants to solve the case before Hawthorne or the unpleasant police officer who has threatened him can do so. He gives up a lot of time to it until he’s sure he’s worked it all out. But is he right? I enjoyed all the social detail in the book: the real London locations, the people in the literary world, the unfortunate events at Daunts bookshop (you’ll have to read it now!) and of course, Hawthorne. By the end of the book neither writer nor reader is closer to understanding him. I read this thanks to NetGalley.

This is the first of Anthony Horowitz's novels about detectives that I've read. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The concept of putting the real author into imaginary scenes, some of which are based on semi-fact, and including autobiographical details was fascinating. And made the whole story so much more believable.

I found it however, to be slightly confusing in that it was set in 2015 but had just come out in 2018, but understood that writing about real events that happened to the author were better if viewed in the past rather than as his current life.

I am even tempted to go and see if this road and house - Heron's Wake - do exist and look like they are described in the story. And it would be nice to find out if the production of the TV show really did have problems in London with filming, but there are limits to just how much I will do to verify authenticity. And I have been caving in the past so the descriptions of the pot holing system were very realistic for me. Confession time though. It made my fear of confined places very much worse - especially the crawling on your stomach in water aspects!

I liked the style of writing. At first read it is prosaic yet the characters, including his own as portrayed, come through clearly. the descriptions are spare but clear and sufficient and fluent.

The only criticism I have is the constant mention of the children's series of books. OK Anthony. We know you are perhaps better known to a certain set of readers for the Alex Rider books, and perhaps you want others to know about them, but... mention once or twice but no more, please!

I very much enjoyed the first book and this one was also a good read. His style in this series is very chatty, like he is actually in the room telling you about his day. I’m still confused about how much of this is true.. thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

Having enjoyed the first instalment of this series, I was very excited to be allowed early access to this new mystery featuring the author and his detective Hawthorne.
This proved to be another ingenious mystery with plenty of red herrings thrown in. Although I had a good feeling early on who did it, the extra details and false trails proved to be very intriguing and I certainly missed some of the clues!
I did feel a little unsettled by all of the ‘name dropping’ (more so than last time) and not knowing London or the names too well, felt it was a little surreal. I guess that is the objective of the author, although it does feel like he’s being a bit smug at times.
In the previous story, I disliked Hawthorne thoroughly. This time I found myself liking his persona more and more but couldn’t bring myself to find sympathy with any of the other characters.
This is still a very interesting concept and despite myself, I don’t doubt that I will drawn towards a third book.

Thank you to Random House for this advance copy.

Like a warm bath, you can step in and relax, knowing you are in the hands of a clever storyteller. Not a single word jars. Not a single plot line peters out. Not one character fails to spring, ready visible, from the written word. It is like watching an episode of a particularly good BBC adaptation. It is like turning back over in bed after silencing the alarm clock and going back to sleep. It is like wrapping yourself in a furry throw whilst you drink hot chocolate at the perfect temperature as you settle down to watch the latest Scandi Noir by your log burner. Enough similes? Am I getting the message across? I LOVED it! read the whole review at booketybook.com

My thanks to Random House U.K./Cornerstone for an eARC, via NetGalley, of the second in Anthony Horowitz’s Dániel Hawthorne series.

When I read the first in the series, ‘The Word is Murder’, it took me a little while to get used to the idea that Horowitz was a character in his own novel. However, I soon settled in and thoroughly enjoyed it.

In this second outing the savage murder of a high profile divorce lawyer brings Hawthorne back to Horowitz’s door with the proposal for a second collaboration. The case unfolds slowly with plenty of surprises. There is also humour alongside the mystery and Horowitz is quite happy to play the fool when required. Plenty of literary references too. His descriptions of London were spot-on and brought back memories of my years there.

Throughout Horowitz confidently blends fictional characters with his real life family and associates blurring the lines between fact and fiction. It is such a clever concept and demonstrates how skilful a writer he is.

If anything I loved this even more than the first book and I will be keeping a lookout for a third one as Horowitz reminds us a few times that he has signed a 3-book contract to record his investigations with Hawthorne.

Highly recommended.

I enjoyed The Sentence Is Death – probably rather more than its predecessor The Word Is Murder. It can be read as a stand-alone book, but it may help to set the background if you read The Word Is Murder first.

Anthony Horowitz, narrating as though these events really did happen to him, is again roped in to “help” and write the story of the enigmatic ex-detective Hawthorne as the police call him in to assist with the investigation of the murder of a divorce lawyer in his Hampstead home. Needless to say, a complex plot ensues involving an old caving accident and another death, as Anthony tries to make sense of it all while Hawthorne makes Delphic remarks and asks apparently irrelevant questions.

It’s a lot of fun. There is more than an echo of the Holmes/Watson partnership here – which Horowitz acknowledges with plenty of references to Holmes stories – and it works very well. He also has fun at the expense of literary pretension and some of the clichés of detective fiction, but at bottom it’s a well constructed mystery which is, as you’d expect from Horowitz, very well told. (And I’m pleased to say that, while the usual slight suspension of disbelief is necessary, the ending is much less far-fetched than in the first book.)

This is a fun read which is also rather gripping and holds some entertaining puzzles, too. Recommended.

(My thanks to Cornerstone for an ARC via NetGalley.)

A masterpiece of a detective novel. The author inserting himself as a Watson figure to a brilliant yet flawed detective is a brilliantly clever device that works even better in this second novel than it did in the first. The references to the author's profile and other works makes this seem so real. I'm hoping for more than the 'three book' deal. Very, very clever and oh so readable.