Reviews tagging 'Death'

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

28 reviews

leannanecdote's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

art_books_chemistry's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Let's start with how this book didn't even set itself up well. I was super confused listening to the first chapter/prologue, whatever it is, because it sounded like the publisher talking about the book and I thought it was a forward of some sort that I could skip or zone out on. Glad I didn't since it turned out to be the real first chapter. Ran into one of my bookclub friends who thought the same and did skip it, so I was able to tell her to go back. But I know a lot of bookworms that skip forwards and prologues so this is definitely an oversight of Horowitz to not make it clearer what is going on from the outset. 

The first half of Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz is Magpie Murders by Alan Conway, the fictional author inside Horowitz's story. I liked it well enough, it felt like a mash-up of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot set post WWII. The real story, is actually set in the modern day and follows the editor of Conway's detective series because the last chapter of MM by Conway is actually missing (naturally). 

The modern day half of the book feels even more derivative than the book inside the book. It's also wildly repetitive, I think we hear some of the same clues/information three times in some cases. Nothing about the storyline felt orignal, more like Horowitz took all his favorite red herrings and twists from the great classic detective stories, threw them in a pie, and baked them all together using Elmer's glue. Yep, purposefully picked the bad glue since the plot is weak and the solution is clear. 

To add insult to injury, I was telling my husband about the book and he stopped and asked what the name was again because it sounded to him just like the Anthony Horowitz he read recently, The Word is Murder. I haven't read it so I can't draw the parallels but he said it was weirdly similar sounding. So not only is Horowitz derivative of the best classic detective novels, he's derivative of himself. Husband said the same about the second in the Hawthorne & Horowitz series and stopped reading them but he was disappointed because he loved the Alex Ryder books as a kid. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Minor: Homophobia

tiffthelibrarian's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

taural41's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse and Child death

Minor: Cursing and Sexual content

sarah_readz's review against another edition

reflective relaxing

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

The murderers didn't make an abundance of sense, and seemed shoehorn in. It felt like the author preferred shocking the reader over allowing us to solve the mysteries based on the clues laid before us.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Biphobia, Death, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Murder, Outing, and Classism

nzmerchant's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

What a fantastic read! Absolutely loved how the stories were interlinked and how we got to view the writing world from the perspective of a rather jaded author. The murder mysteries were so cleverly written and I’ve been thinking about this for days even after I’ve finished reading it. Highly highly recommend and was glued to this book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Infidelity

sdramm's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Suicide, and Blood

mariefennema's review against another edition

adventurous informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Loved this book!! It was thrilling and clever. I enjoyed the meta commentary on the genre and the intrigue of the two stories. Well written and performed by the audio book readers

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content

junowo's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

A very enjoyable mystery novel. I liked the use of the “book within a book” framework to create parallels and deepen meaning. Both Atticus and Susan are enjoyable characters to read, and I really loved trying to work things out myself.
I will say that the justification at the end for certain character’s actions fell a bit flat, but I was willing to suspend disbelief for the sake of the climax!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, and Car accident

renyoi's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Really clever take on meta mystery, which is becoming more and more of a popular genre these days. It’s relatively rare to find an author in favor of the “death of the author” philosophy in any real sense, but Horowitz definitely advocates for that position in this book, which is refreshing. Very cozy read. Not as subversive as I would have assumed based on the conceit, but I didn’t mind that much by the end.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Death, Fatphobia, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Ableism, Homophobia, and Misogyny