The Blurred Man

Diamond Brothers #4

by Anthony Horowitz

The man in the photo is so blurry it’s impossible to make out what he really looks like. And that was before he was run over by a steamroller! His name was Lenny Smile and he ran a children’s charity called Dream Time, financed by millionaire author Joe Carter. Now Carter wants to know just what happened to Smile—and to the money. Unfortunately for him, he’s hired the Diamond Brothers—Tim, the world’s worst private detective, and his wise-cracking younger brother Nick—to solve the mystery!

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Fiction, Humor, Childrens, Crime, Adventure

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Anthony Horowitz, OBE is ranked alongside Enid Blyton and Mark A. Cooper as "The most original and best spy-kids authors of the century." (New York Times). Anthony has been writing since the age of eight, and professionally since the age of twenty. In addition to the highly successful Alex Rider books, he is also the writer and creator of award winning detective series Foyle’s War, and more recently event drama Collision, among his other television works he has written episodes for Poirot, Murder in Mind, Midsomer Murders and Murder Most Horrid. Anthony became patron to East Anglia Children’s Hospices in 2009.

On 19 January 2011, the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle announced that Horowitz was to be the writer of a new Sherlock Holmes novel, the first such effort to receive an official endorsement from them and to be entitled the House of Silk.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/anthon...

Reviews

[Grace DuBois · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very funny!!! A light-hearted quick read.

[Rogerio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Horrowitz's ideas for a plot are quite original. Just the concept of "blurred man" is already worth it the reading. This is a short and clever book, with a twist in the end.

[P H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too good for 3, but not good enough for 4
Very well written

[Elmari Kruger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these short stories, they are witty and brilliant

[Norma · Rating 4 out of 5]

( Format : Audiobook )
"More like Mondays."
It was half term, and Tim, the older of the two brothers, hsd a job: to find out what had happened to the man who ran a children's charity. So it was lucky his younger sibling was around to help out.
Short, funny and an easy read full of Horowitz humour:
Lee ' had the look of a model, the Airfix variety: all plastic.'

Nicely narrated by Nicholas Grace, the Blurred Man is basically, a well written fun children's detective story which will amuse adults, too.

[Lulu Anne Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started reading this series as a child and never finished them, so I’m starting up again as an adult to finish the series and I think I’m enjoying them more now than as a kid.

A great, funny interactive story with play-on words and jokes.

A nice quick super read too. Horowitz is a brilliant author and writes on a level that anyone can connect too.

[Jemma · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot shorter than the previous books!
I think I liked it better though, because it was the only one that I didn't work out the plot twist before it happened.

[Lillian Slater · Rating 3 out of 5]

These brothers are hilarious!

[Sana Zameer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read - November 2018
Reread September - 2022

[Emma Punter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was okay I guess.

[Adam Humphreys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another blast from the past revisiting The Diamond Brothers, fast paced, clever and rather funny book, worth a read

[ash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richtig gut!! Anthony Horowitz ist ein super Autor! Auch diese kurze Geschichte hat mich mitgerissen! :D

[Ruby Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was very quick, witty and funny 😄

[Toby G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you looking for a murder mystery book without of all the seriousness well if that sounds promising this is the book for you.

I recommend this book to you if you enjoy suspense and mystery, but it's also got a good hint of comedy which balances it well with the suspense and drama.

The Blurred Man is the 4th book of the Diamond Brothers series and features the regular characters Tim diamond and his younger but more intelligent brother Nick Diamond. One day the private detectives get a request to look into a suspicious death by ʷᵃⁱᵗ ᵈⁱᵈ ⁱ ʳᵉᵃᵈ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ʳⁱᵍʰᵗ ʸᵉˢ ⁱ ᵈⁱᵈ a steamroller the deceased victim is Lenny Smile the owner of a kid’s charity called dream time which makes kids dreams come true. they go to Lennys co-workers to get some answers but they won’t confess anything will they find out what happened or will the mystery be flattened?

some reasons i like this book are that there are still mystery and suspense but without the complete seriousness and more silly funny humour and the other reason is the process of finding out the crime it doesn't drag out and leave the reader bored but it also doesn't go to quickly and leave the reader asking questions and confused.

One thing that could make the Diamond Brothers series better is more books of it I NEED MORE!!!!!!

So go over to your to your book store or an audio book app and get it today.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Horowitz book ticked off the list! And another good time with the Diamond Brothers too boot!

This story follows Nick and Tim as they are charged by grieving American Mr Carter to find out what happened to his friend Lenny Smile, who has died under strange and unusual circumstances. As usual, the Diamond brothers uncover a twisted web of deceit that may land them in grave danger.

I’m still loving these stories and I’m loving that they are shorter now as well so it feels a little bit more like your in a fast paced detective story.

[Jocelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I have to say, I was bit worried about going into a mental asylum with Tim. I wondered if they'd let him out again."

This is probably my 3rd time reading The Blurred Man and just like the others I have read in this series it never gets less funny! I think this book would make a brilliant TV Movie (Nick Harper from the TV show 'My Family' is just as I imagine Tim) and the flight of the Boris-killers would be hilarious.

[Adhesh Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Blurred Man might just be one of the best Diamond Brothers books ever (second only to I Know What You Did Last Wednesday)! Basically, there's this man named Lenny Smile who's steamrolled. There's this guy who thinks he's been murdered and a hilarious investigation takes place after that, full of twists, turns and surprises!

[Mella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this series progressively gets better. This mystery saw Nick and Tim investigating the death of Lenny Smile. It was short only about 80 pages but it packed a lot into those 80 and it remained funny and interesting.

[Hamza Khan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, but when compared to South by South East. I liked the the character of Joe Carter.he seemed to be Intelligent.
Just like books, Tim was so stupid in this one also, and Nick as usual was too smart and found out who THE BLURRED MAN was.

[Jana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the first few installments of this series as a kid, but this one felt more forced. Maybe I'm just too old, but I think not. Still an enjoyable ride, but nowhere near the glory of I Know What You Did Last Wednesday.

[Gabby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice short but enjoyable read, just enough clues that you can miss the twist if not paying attention. Enjoyed this book more than the others and think you really can see the contrasting ages between Nic and Tim.

[15GuilderA · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good but not as intruiging as the other ones because it was shorter than the others and it didn't make me want to desperately carry on reading.

[Kushnuma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Blurred Man is book 4 in the Diamond Brothers series.

This one was a very quick read, with unexpected twists.

[R.W. Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read. Fun, quick and plenty of puns!

[parijat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series way too much.

[Satsuki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a really good one and im really proud of Anthony. I enjoyed this book and it made me even buy the book so i had my own copy

[Priyanka · Rating 3 out of 5]

~~~3.5 stars~~~

It was not as good as other books in this series but it was still enjoyable.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fabulous book in the diamond brothers series.
The characters were fantastic and worked well together.
Lots of laughs.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books by this author are supposedly aimed at children, but I think they have another level which adults appreciate. I don't think this particular book is one of the best in the series, but it still amused me.

[Zoe Harvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one might have fallen a little *flat*