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Anthony Horowitz

Author of Stormbreaker

225+ Works 66,868 Members 1,888 Reviews 72 Favorited

About the Author

Author and television scriptwriter Anthony Horowitz was born in Stanmore, England on April 5, 1956. At the age of eight, he was sent to a boarding school in London. He graduated from the University of York and published his first book, Enter Frederick K. Bower (1979), when he was 23. He writes show more mostly children's books, including the Alex Rider series, The Power of Five series, and the Diamond Brothers series. The Alex Rider series is about a 14-year-old boy becoming a spy and was made into a movie entitled Stormbreaker. He has won numerous awards including the 1989 Lancashire Children's Book of the Year Award for Groosham Grange and the 2003 Red House Children's Book Award for Skeleton Key. He also writes novels for adults including The Killing Joke and The Magpie Murders. He has created Foyle's War and Midsomer Murders for television as well as written episodes for Poirot and Murder Most Horrid. He made The New York Times Best Seller list with his titles The House of Silk Russian Roulette: The Story of an Assassin and Moriarity.Most recently he was commissioned by the Ian Fleming Estate to write the James Bond novel Trigger Mortis. Anthony was awarded an OBE for his services to literature in January 2014. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Series

Works by Anthony Horowitz

Stormbreaker (2000) 6,765 copies
Point Blank (2001) 4,435 copies
Skeleton Key (2002) 4,254 copies
Eagle Strike (2003) 3,901 copies
Ark Angel (2005) 3,851 copies
Scorpia (2004) 3,828 copies
Magpie Murders (2016) 3,788 copies
Snakehead (2007) 2,998 copies
The House of Silk (2011) 2,870 copies
Crocodile Tears (2009) 2,257 copies
Raven's Gate (2005) 2,219 copies
The Word Is Murder (2017) 2,000 copies
Moriarty (2014) 1,682 copies
Evil Star (1985) 1,576 copies
Scorpia Rising (2011) 1,563 copies
Moonflower Murders (2020) 1,365 copies
Nightrise (2007) 1,287 copies
The Sentence is Death (2018) 1,161 copies
Necropolis (2008) 1,010 copies
A Line to Kill (2021) 806 copies
Russian Roulette (2013) 804 copies
The Falcon's Malteser (1986) 739 copies
Public Enemy Number Two (1987) 555 copies
The Twist of a Knife (2022) 543 copies
Trigger Mortis (2015) 496 copies
South By Southeast (1991) 489 copies
Groosham Grange (1988) 485 copies
Oblivion (2010) 444 copies
Myths and Legends (1991) 411 copies
Forever and a Day (2018) 386 copies
Never Say Die (2017) 341 copies
The Devil and His Boy (1997) 339 copies
The Switch (2009) 332 copies
Return to Groosham Grange (1999) 300 copies
Granny (1994) 295 copies
Three of Diamonds (2004) 253 copies
Horowitz Horror (1999) 252 copies
Alex Rider: The Gadgets (2005) 239 copies
Nightshade (2020) 186 copies
With a Mind to Kill (2022) 177 copies
The Blurred Man (2002) 156 copies
The Killing Joke (2002) 141 copies
The French Confection (2002) 138 copies
More Horowitz Horror (2000) 132 copies
The Complete Horowitz Horror (2008) 119 copies
The Three Monarchs (2014) 113 copies
Bloody Horowitz (2010) 94 copies
Stormbreaker [2006 film] (2006) — Author — 93 copies
Eagle Strike: Graphic Novel (2012) 91 copies
Death Walks Tonight: Horrifying Stories (1994) — Editor — 75 copies
Legends: Battles and Quests (2010) 69 copies
Killer Camera (2002) 69 copies
The Devil's Door-Bell (1983) 55 copies
Twist Cottage (1827) 51 copies
The Night of the Scorpion (1984) 51 copies
Two of Diamonds (2009) 49 copies
The Phone Goes Dead (1824) 48 copies
Foyle's War: Set 1 (2002) 47 copies
More Bloody Horowitz (2010) 44 copies
Scared (2002) 43 copies
The Night Bus (1800) 42 copies
The Silver Citadel (1986) 42 copies
Foyle's War: Set 6 (2010) — Creator — 40 copies
Foyle's War: Set 3 (2005) — Creator — 38 copies
Foyle's War: Set 7 (2013) — Creator — 37 copies
Foyle's War: Set 4 (2007) — Creator; Creator — 34 copies
Foyle's War: Set 8 (2015) — Creator — 33 copies
Burnt (Horowitz Horror) (2002) 32 copies
Day of the Dragon (1989) 31 copies
Foyle's War: Set 5 (2013) 30 copies
Nightshade Revenge (2023) 29 copies
William S. (1999) 24 copies
The Complete Adventures of Robin of Sherwood (1990) — Author — 23 copies
Foyle's War: Set 2 (2013) 22 copies
Foyle's War: Set 1, Episode 2: White Feather (2002) — Creator — 20 copies
Vermeer to Eternity (2015) 19 copies
The Four of Diamonds (2012) 16 copies
Angst (1998) 15 copies
The Hitchhiker (2010) 15 copies
Foyle's War: Sets 1-6 - The Home Front Files (2013) — Creator; Creator — 14 copies
Foyle's War: Set 2, Episode 2: Among the Few (2003) — Creator — 14 copies
Foyle's War: Set 1, Episode 4: Eagle Day (2002) — Creator — 13 copies
Foyle's War: Set 2, Episode 1: Fifty Ships (2003) — Creator — 13 copies
Foyle's War: Set 1, Episode 1: The German Woman (2003) — Creator — 9 copies
Foyle's War: Set 2, Episode 3: War Games (2003) — Creator — 9 copies
Foyle's War: Set 1, Episode 3: A Lesson in Murder (2002) — Creator — 8 copies
Collision [2009 TV Mini-series] (2009) — Creator — 7 copies
Foyle's War: Set 3, Episode 4: A War of Nerves (2004) — Creator — 7 copies
Oblivion, Part 1 (2013) 7 copies
Foyle's War: Set 3, Episode 1: The French Drop (2004) — Creator — 6 copies
Oblivion, Part 2 (2013) 6 copies
Injustice [2011 TV mini-series] (2011) — writer — 6 copies
Foyle's War: Set 3, Episode 2: Enemy Fire (2004) — Creator — 6 copies
Crime Traveller 5 copies
The White Carnation (2013) 5 copies
Meer angst (1998) 5 copies
Crime Traveller: Complete Series — Creator — 4 copies
Foyle's War: Set 4, Episode 1: Invasion (2006) — Creator — 4 copies
Foyle's War: Set 4, Episode 3: Bleak Midwinter (2007) — Creator — 4 copies
Foyle's War: Set 4, Episode 2: Bad Blood (2006) — Creator — 4 copies
Foyle's War: Set 4, Episode 4: Casualties of War (2007) — Creator — 4 copies
The Best of Foyle's War (2012) 4 copies
Christmas at Gunpoint (2006) 4 copies
Foyle's War: Sets 4-5 (2015) 3 copies
Tea with Smithers (2019) 3 copies
Foyle's War: Set 5, Episode 1: Plan of Attack (2008) — Creator — 3 copies
Foyle's War: Set 5, Episode 2: Broken Souls (2008) — Creator — 3 copies
Foyle's War: Sets 1-2 — Creator — 3 copies
Foyle's War: Set 5, Episode 3: All Clear (2008) — Creator — 3 copies
Foyle's War: Set 2, Episode 4: The Funk Hole (2003) — Creator — 3 copies
Spy Trap (2019) 2 copies
Alex in Afghanistan (2019) 2 copies
Foyle's War: Set 6, Episode 2: Killing Time (2010) — Creator — 2 copies
Secret Weapon (2003) 2 copies
Adventurer (1987) 2 copies
Alex Rider agente segreto (2002) 2 copies
The Switch {video} — Author — 2 copies
Foyle's War: Sets 3-4 — Creator — 2 copies
Foyle's War: Sets 5-6 — Creator — 2 copies
Foyle's War: Set 6, Episode 1: The Russian House (2010) — Creator — 2 copies
Foyle's War: Sets 1-7 — Creator — 2 copies
Y ffôn yn marw (2010) 1 copy
Bwthyn tro (2010) 1 copy
Ugursuz Yildiz (2010) 1 copy
Starting Out (1990) 1 copy
Foyle's War: Set 7, Episode 2: The Cage (2013) — Creator — 1 copy
Foyle's War: Set 7, Episode 3: Sunflower (2013) — Creator — 1 copy
Poisoned pen 1 copy

Associated Works

A Christmas Carol (1843) — Introduction, some editions — 24,451 copies
Guys Write for Guys Read (2005) — Contributor — 764 copies
Guys Read: Thriller (2011) — Contributor — 315 copies
OxCrimes (2014) — Contributor — 75 copies
Midnight Feast (2007) — Contributor — 10 copies
Red: The Waterstones Anthology (2012) — Contributor — 5 copies

Tagged

4-stars (235) action (738) adventure (1,944) Alex Rider (1,059) Anthony Horowitz (228) audiobook (230) children (231) children's (269) crime (804) crime fiction (197) detective (354) ebook (332) England (548) espionage (382) fantasy (721) favorite authors (377) fiction (3,179) historical fiction (160) horror (384) humor (189) Kindle (224) London (230) male author (409) murder (260) mystery (2,656) novel (257) own (522) ppbk (348) read (395) science fiction (206) series (1,099) Sherlock Holmes (335) short stories (164) spy (1,324) suspense (432) teen (252) thriller (884) to-read (1,815) YA (622) young adult (1,197)

Common Knowledge

Birthdate
1955-04-05
Gender
male
Nationality
UK
Birthplace
Stanmore, Middlesex, England, UK
Places of residence
North London, England, UK
Orford, Suffolk, England, UK
Education
University of York
Orley Farm, Harrow, Middlesex, England, UK
Occupations
screenwriter
novelist
creator of television series
Awards and honors
Order of the British Empire (Officer, 2014)
Agent
Jonathan Lloyd
Short biography
Anthony Horowitz's life might have been copied from the pages of Charles Dickens or the Brothers Grimm. Born in 1956 in Stanmore, Middlesex, to a family of wealth and status, Anthony was raised by nannies, surrounded by servants and chauffeurs. His father, a wealthy businessman, was, says Mr. Horowitz, "a fixer for Harold Wilson." What that means exactly is unclear -- "My father was a very secretive man," he says-- so an aura of suspicion and mystery surrounds both the word and the man. As unlikely as it might seem, Anthony's father, threatened with bankruptcy, withdrew all of his money from Swiss bank accounts in Zurich and deposited it in another account under a false name and then promptly died. His mother searched unsuccessfully for years in attempt to find the money, but it was never found. That too shaped Anthony's view of things. Today he says, "I think the only thing to do with money is spend it." His mother, whom he adored, eccentrically gave him a human skull for his 13th birthday. His grandmother, another Dickensian character, was mean-spirited and malevolent, a destructive force in his life. She was, he says, "a truly evil person", his first and worst arch villain. "My sister and I danced on her grave when she died," he now recalls.
A miserably unhappy and overweight child, Anthony had nowhere to turn for solace. "Family meals," he recalls, "had calories running into the thousands&. I was an astoundingly large, round child&." At the age of eight he was sent off to boarding school, a standard practice of the times and class in which he was raised. While being away from home came as an enormous relief, the school itself, Orley Farm, was a grand guignol horror with a headmaster who flogged the boys till they bled. "Once the headmaster told me to stand up in assembly and in front of the whole school said, 'This boy is so stupid he will not be coming to Christmas games tomorrow.' I have never totally recovered." To relieve his misery and that of the other boys, he not unsurprisingly made up tales of astounding revenge and retribution.

Anthony Horowitz is perhaps the busiest writer in England. He has been writing since the age of eight, and professionally since the age of twenty. He writes in a comfortable shed in his garden for up to ten hours per day. In addition to the highly successful Alex Rider books, he has also written episodes of several popular TV crime series, including Poirot, Murder in Mind, Midsomer Murders and Murder Most Horrid. He has written a television series Foyle's War, which recently aired in the United States, and he has written the libretto of a Broadway musical adapted from Dr. Seuss's book, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. His film script The Gathering has just finished production. And&oh yes&there are more Alex Rider novels in the works. Anthony has also written the Diamond Brothers series.

Members

Discussions

The House of Silk in Baker Street and Beyond (January 2012)

Reviews

It was okay.i found the presence of the author in the story very distracting. The constant name dropping and the classism were hard to stomach.
 
Flagged
cspiwak | 123 other reviews | Mar 6, 2024 |
A really unique take on a murder mystery---a story within a story. Totally enjoyable and engrossing. A great read
½
 
Flagged
susannelson | 232 other reviews | Feb 23, 2024 |
Enough with the fat shaming, already.
 
Flagged
Dracoster | 1 other review | Feb 21, 2024 |
These books are very entertaining. Good mystery and interesting look at the life of an author. Walks the line so well between truth and fiction. Some good laughs, interesting characters and a good puzzle.
 
Flagged
njcur | 62 other reviews | Feb 20, 2024 |

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Stuart Orme Director
Gavin Millar Director
Andy Hay Director
David Thacker Director
Giles Foster Director
Simon Langton Director
Robin May Author
Caroline Graham Author, Writer
Michael Kitchen Actor, Starring
Yuzuru Takasaki Illustrator
Kanako Damerum Illustrator
Jill Green Producer
Kenneth Ireland Contributor
Laurence Staig Contributor
Pete Johnson Contributor
John Gordon Contributor
Robert Westall Contributor
Guy de Maupassant Contributor
Bram Stoker Contributor
Roald Dahl Contributor
Stephen King Contributor
Max Brown Actor
Matthew Hall Screenwriter
Rosalind Ebbutt Costume Designer
Ian Farr Editor
Michael A. Walker Screenwriter
Simon Prebble Narrator, Narrator
Karlheinz Dürr Übersetzer
Werner Schmitz Übersetzer
Annick Le Goyat Translator, Traduction
Grey Evans Translator
Peter Lindforss Translator
Liam Daniel Photographer
Rupert Degas Narrator
Samantha Bond Narrator
David Wardle Cover artist
Derek Jacobi Narrator
Dan Stevens Narrator
Wolfram Ströle Translator
Lena Ollmark Translator
John Sessions Narrator
Ricardo Pelaez Illustrator
Mario Pulver TõLkija
Vilve Torn Toimetaja
Heigo Kütt Kujundaja
Annick Le Goyat Translator
Daniel Payne Illustrator
Jim Carroll Cover artist
Annemarie Kindt Translator

Statistics

Works
225
Also by
15
Members
66,868
Popularity
#202
Rating
4.0
Reviews
1,888
ISBNs
2,347
Languages
28
Favorited
72

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