Book Review: The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

Title: The Word Is Murder

Author: Anthony Horowitz

Publisher: Century

Release Date: 24th August 2017

Pages: 400

A wealthy woman strangled six hours after she’s arranged her own funeral.
A very private detective uncovering secrets but hiding his own.
A reluctant author drawn into a story he can’t control.
What do they have in common?

Unexpected death, an unsolved mystery and a trail of bloody clues lie at the heart of Anthony Horowitz’s page-turning new thriller.

The Word Is Murder follows author Anthony Horowitz (the character) as he is tasked to write the story of an unusual murder investigation.

I haven’t read an Anthony Horowitz book since Alex Rider in secondary school and admittedly, I completely forgot that he wrote adult books. But I picked this book, gave it a shot and it was an enjoyable read.

I enjoyed the story and the writing style. Whilst the plot followed a pretty generic point to point replay of most crime fiction books, sticking to the genre and not really standing out all too much in that regard, it was a read that kept me entertained and engaged.

I found the ending satisfactory which is usually the most you want from these genre books – satisfaction.

One of its winning aspects was the character of Anthony – by taking the author’s name as well as aspects of his life, I was often found questioning whether this really was true crime. There were so many points that I would have to stop and question myself or go to google just to find out if someone had really died in this way because the way that Horowitz embedded the story into the real world, into London was so well done.

However, parts of the plot were outlandish and there were some things that you needed to suspend your belief for – particularly how an author would be allowed onto bloody celebrity crime scenes just because a police consultant said it was okay – but in the moment, you rarely noticed.

There were interesting aspects of the story, especially Anthony’s inner voice about the workings of being a writer. He spoke often about the process of writing, about getting a book published and all the challenging parts of that. It was woven around the mystery of the story and I found both that kind of detail engaging and unique in the voice of the main character.

The Word Is Murder was an interesting read if not being all that unique and I would recommend it if you’re interested in the premise or Anthony Horowitz’s writing style.