The Sentence Is Death

A combination of author, first-person narrator and protagonist, the semi-fictionalized Anthony Horowitz leads the reader through the mystery, documenting the investigation while serving as a classic crime-mystery sidekick to his partner, Detective Hawthorne. A round and dynamic character, narrator-Horowitz is a successful author who is reluctantly pulled into a real-life murder case, functioning as a Watson to Hawthorne’s Holmes. His ostensible primary role is to observe and record but, as his first-person narrative is frequently shaped by his own anxieties, judgments, and frustrations, he is the novel’s most important character as well as its chronicler. He constantly frames the unfolding events through the lens of literary convention, which directly invokes the theme of Exposing Narrative Construction by Subverting the Ideas of Reality and Fiction. Narrator-Horowitz analyzes clues and suspects as if they were elements in a story he is crafting, making his account a metafictional commentary on author-Horowitz’s true role as the novel’s creator.

Horowitz is shown to be analytical, transparent in his thinking, and concerned with the niceties of living alongside others amicably. This grounds the narrative in a relatable, conventional perspective. Its contrast with Hawthorne’s eccentric genius and rudeness create narrative tension and empathy for Horowitz.