PDay Book Review – Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Dear Readers,

Have you heard of Anthony Horowitz? You most likely have. Have you read his Magpie Murders? Give it a go.

I had an opportunity to read and review sequel to Magpie Murders – Moonflower Murders for Netgalley. It is published by HarperCollins and is out on 20 August 2020.

‘The greatest evil occurs when people, no matter what their aims or their motives, become utterly convinced that they are right‘.

Synopsis

Featuring his famous literary detective Atticus Pund and Susan Ryeland, hero of the worldwide bestseller Magpie Murders, a brilliantly complex literary thriller by Anthony Horowitz. The follow-up to Magpie Murders.

Retired publisher Susan Ryeland is living the good life. She is running a small hotel on a Greek island with her longterm boyfriend Andreas. It should be everything she’s always wanted – but is it? She’s exhausted with the responsibilities of making everything work on an island where nothing ever does, and truth be told she’s beginning to miss her old life in London.

And then a couple – the Trehearnes – come to stay, and the story they tell about an unfortunate murder that took place on the same day and in the same hotel in which their daughter was married, is such a strange and mysterious one that Susan finds herself increasingly fascinated by it. And when the Trehearnes tell her that their daughter is now missing, Susan knows that she must return to London and find out what really happened …

Review

In short, I would call this book ‘a workout for the brain’. 496 pages of literary labour, cardio, weights, running, walking and bike/treadmil exercise.

Yes, the book is long. Yes, it is a ‘book-within a book’ trick. Yes, the suspense is slow and flow of the narration comes in bursts and whirpools. But…

You have to read all 400 odd pages of slow-burning suspens, loads of turns and u-turns to get the full weight, blast, hammer (you name it) of the final revelation. Otherwise, the effect will be.. won’t be…

One thing I can say though, I will put off reading Magpie Murders until I get my bearings back. I need a lot of rest after soldering through this book.

Susan Ryeland as literary detective is quite believable and likeable. She is especially likeable when it comes to her personal life. She is just human. She is just a woman looking for her shore.

Susan takes this strange case for the sake of and despite of many things, each one of them are important and play a part in the story. She is surrounded by a bunch of secondary characters that are… Honestly, a very strange group of people. But the reader will have to make up their own minds about these people.

There is no happy end as in old Hollywood films. There can’t be a happy end after two murders and many lives turned up side down. Susan and her partner Andreas are lucky they can simply walk away and close the case (for themselves).

Anthony Horowitz has done a great job with characters, with stretching and expanding the story lines and impgregnating the main plot with another – book. It all adds up to a explosive finale…

Yes, you have to read the book till the very end to get it all…

Five stars from me