Close to Death - Anthony Horowitz

 

Riverside Close is a picture-perfect community. The six exclusive and attractive houses are tucked far away from the noise and grime of city life, allowing the residents to enjoy beautiful gardens, pleasant birdsong, and tranquility from behind the security of a locked gate.

It is the perfect idyll, until the Kentworthy family arrives, with their four giant, gas-guzzling cars, gaggle of shrieking children, and plans for a garish swimming pool in the backyard. Obvious outsiders, the Kentworthys do not belong in Riverside Close, and quickly offend every last one of the neighbors.

When Charles Kentworthy is found dead on his own doorstep, a crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest, Detective Hawthorne is the only investigator they can call to solve the case.

Because how do you solve a murder when everyone is a suspect?

Blurb taken from Goodreads.

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I was provided with an advance copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I am a big fan of Anthony Horowitz' crime novels. I think he's great at capturing a modern classic of a crime story in a way that's very accessible for the reader. However I will admit that I've had a bit of a tumultuous relationship with the Hawthorne series. I really wasn't convinced by the first, but enjoyed the second and loved the third. Then I wasn't as keen on #4. 

Close To Death is my favourite so far. The closed community of Riverside Close lends itself perfectly to a murder mystery, and the characters were all so vivid. A fantastic read that I finished in no time.

Rating: ✫✫✫✫.5

My Thoughts

My favourite murder mysteries are closed ones; that is, those mysteries with a locked room, an island, or another location where the murder must have come from a finite list of characters. I think the setting of Close To Death is one of the best things about it. Riverside Close is a gated close with a few different houses, all of which are occupied by some interesting characters. It gave the book an air of suspense that made for such a good atmosphere while I was reading.

The story itself was solid, if a tiny bit unoriginal. Wealthy man gets murdered, and the whole community wanted him dead. It didn't feel like a particularly new story, but that doesn't mean it wasn't done well. And it definitely doesn't mean it wasn't enjoyable. After so many years of reading his books, I feel safe reading a Horowitz novel - I can always be comfortable in the knowledge that no matter where the story turns, it's going to pay off.

And if we can say the plot was a little unimaginative, we have to add that the characters certainly make up for it. There's quite a lot of characters to keep track of which is often challenging in a book like this, and yet it was surprisingly easy in Close To Death. The map at the start (always a great addition) helps, but it was primarily down to the way the characters were drawn. They all have such distinct personalities, and I found it surprisingly easy to distinguish them. 

It's a shame that I worked out the murderer in the first few chapters, but you can't have everything...