Close to Death is the fifth Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery by Anthony Horowitz. Yes, you read that correctly: Anthony Horowitz is both the author and the co-protagonist of this series. That’s part of its charm.

Of the books in this series, I have previously reviewed Magpie Murders, A Line to Kill, and (as a 2-for-1 special) The Twist of a Knife and Moonflower Murders. Now for the fifth: Close to Death. (Yeah, I know, I can’t count.) Fortunately I did not listen to the audiobook version this time. I say “fortunately” since I kept finding myself referring back to the map at the front of the book. That was necessary as most of the narrative takes place in a gated community called Riverside Close, and the relative positions of the various houses are important to the plot. The title is a not-so-subtle pun, as “close” in this context refers to an enclosed community with a single entrance and exit — again a plot point.

Anyway, I enjoyed the book a lot, and you will too. It’s something of a locked-room mystery, where Riverside Close itself is the locked room. You may predict a few of the twists, but I promise that you won’t predict all of them. The newest resident of the Close is an offensive neighbor, who is of course the murder victim, but I can’t really tell you anything else without committing spoilers. Let’s just conclude with two excerpts from Amazon reviews this time:

(from one K. Boyer) Not at all what I expected! Every time I thought I had it figured out….I was so wrong. Full of twists and turns. Amazing. The best one yet!

And then…

(from one Alison S. Coad) If you’re unfamiliar with the Hawthorne and Horowitz books, you must immediately turn to the first one (The Word Is Murder) and read that and the other three before returning to this, the fifth book in this very strange series. As you might gather from the brief synopsis above, this is super-meta in structure: the author is himself a character in the novel, and he often refers to real books that he has written in real life (including the four of this series, and the Alex Rider YA series, among others).

Actually, you can get away with skipping the previous ones in the series, but your experience will be greatly enhanced if you don’t.

Categories: Books