Book Review: South by south east by Anthony Horowitz.
The book I have chosen to review is South by south east by Anthony Horowitz. It is one book of a three part series, which stars the Diamond brothers, who run a detective agency.
The older brother, Tim, is the detective, but his teenage brother is more intelligent than him, and always ends up solving the crimes. Tim 'looks after' Nick, because their parents emigrated to Australia three years ago. As they were boarding the plane, they went in one door, and Nick escaped out the other. So they barely survive in their old mouldy flat, living on tea, and out of date milk.
In this story, the Diamonds are sitting down to some tea, when the door goes. A mysterious looking man comes in, named Jake McGuffin. He tells Tim he is in serious trouble and needs his help. He asks to use the phone, but finds that Tim's phone is disconnected because he couldn't pay the bill. Suddenly, a bullet comes through the window, just missing McGuffin, he then tells him, that a mysterious assassin named Charon is trying to kill him. When Nick asks who is Charon, McGuffin tells him he doesn't know, and that no one knows, and that he could be anyone, anywhere, anytime. McGuffin says that he needs Tim's coat as a disguise, and will pay him £50 for the coat, as he needs to get to the phone box round the block, to make a very important call. He puts the money on the shabby desk, and removes his own coat, puts it on the stand and takes Tim's coat and leaves the room. Nick searches the pockets of McGuffin's jacket and finds a hotel key, it reads in bright red letters "room 605 London International hotel", so they go after McGuffin to return the key. When they reach the phone box, they notice he's still there, but he's spilled something down his coat, and then they look closer, and realise that it's blood, and that it's his own. When they open the door, McGuffin rears forward, landing in Tim's arms, but as he starts to speak a train passes over head, and only Tim hears him speak, he says, "suth bee suth-iss", which nick deciphers to be south by south east, and then they know what they have to do, investigate the hotel room.
