Book Review: Moriarty
The game is afoot once again...
I still vividly remember reading The House of Silk three years ago, feverishly turning over the pages to know what the mystery was, until the shocking final reveal came and caught me unawares. The case, featuring Holmes and Watson, captured the essence and the world of 221 Baker Street so well that it earned the official endorsement of Conan Doyle Estate. Moriarty, once again written by Anthony Horowitz, the only novelist authorised to write the Holmesian sequels (he is also writing the next James Bond novel by the way!), is a solid follow-up that's well-constructed, cleverly narrated and one that's convincingly tinged with a coat of Victorian nostalgia.
Moriarty is also a story without Holmes and Watson. For it builds upon the events immediately following The Final Problem at the Reichenbach Falls, trying to piece together as to what really happened to Sherlock Holmes and his arch nemesis Professor Moriarty in the aftermath of their fateful struggle. Did both of them die? We do know that Holmes did survive the fall when he resurfaced in The Adventure of the Empty House (this after public pressure forced Sir Doyle to bring him back to life!), but what about the 'Napolean of Crime' aka Moriarty?
Thus we get to see another dynamic duo in action, Athelney Jones, a detective inspector from Scotland Yard, and an American private detective named Frederick Chase, the new Holmes and Watson who meet at Switzerland over a corpse found at the scene of the Swiss waterfall. The corpse is that of Moriarty's, they learn, but his death has been a blessing in disguise in the criminal underworld, for a new American mastermind has now risen to take Moriarty's place, a fiend so cruel, ruthless and fiercely determined to engulf London in a web of menace and murder that it's up to Jones and Chase to uncover his identity and stop it before it's all too late.
Athelney Jones, if you remember, appears as a minor character in The Sign of Four and The Adventure of the Six Napoleans, and his humiliation at having not been able to crack the cases all by himself spurs him to ardently follow the steps of his 'master' and master the art of detection. The mystery in itself is gripping and expertly handled with a great wicked twist towards the end. Jones and Chase are believable as they slip into the shoes of Holmes and Watson and the camaraderie they share is something to watch out for. Taut, fast-paced and incredibly deceptive, Anthony Horowitz pulls off a stunning whodunit. A must read for all Sherlock Holmes fans out there!
I still vividly remember reading The House of Silk three years ago, feverishly turning over the pages to know what the mystery was, until the shocking final reveal came and caught me unawares. The case, featuring Holmes and Watson, captured the essence and the world of 221 Baker Street so well that it earned the official endorsement of Conan Doyle Estate. Moriarty, once again written by Anthony Horowitz, the only novelist authorised to write the Holmesian sequels (he is also writing the next James Bond novel by the way!), is a solid follow-up that's well-constructed, cleverly narrated and one that's convincingly tinged with a coat of Victorian nostalgia.
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| Moriarty |
Thus we get to see another dynamic duo in action, Athelney Jones, a detective inspector from Scotland Yard, and an American private detective named Frederick Chase, the new Holmes and Watson who meet at Switzerland over a corpse found at the scene of the Swiss waterfall. The corpse is that of Moriarty's, they learn, but his death has been a blessing in disguise in the criminal underworld, for a new American mastermind has now risen to take Moriarty's place, a fiend so cruel, ruthless and fiercely determined to engulf London in a web of menace and murder that it's up to Jones and Chase to uncover his identity and stop it before it's all too late.
Athelney Jones, if you remember, appears as a minor character in The Sign of Four and The Adventure of the Six Napoleans, and his humiliation at having not been able to crack the cases all by himself spurs him to ardently follow the steps of his 'master' and master the art of detection. The mystery in itself is gripping and expertly handled with a great wicked twist towards the end. Jones and Chase are believable as they slip into the shoes of Holmes and Watson and the camaraderie they share is something to watch out for. Taut, fast-paced and incredibly deceptive, Anthony Horowitz pulls off a stunning whodunit. A must read for all Sherlock Holmes fans out there!
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