Sherlock Holmes #2
I’m not the biggest Sherlock Holmes fangirl, but when Anthony Horowitz came to the bookstore I work at, I figured I should pick out one of his books to read, and to break out of my reading comfort zone!
Synopsis
Internationally bestselling author Anthony Horowitz’s nail-biting new novel plunges us back into the dark and complex world of Detective Sherlock Holmes and Professor James Moriarty in the aftermath of their fateful struggle at the Reichenbach Falls.
Days after Holmes and Moriarty disappear into the waterfall’s churning depths, Frederick Chase, a senior investigator at New York’s infamous Pinkerton Detective Agency, arrives in Switzerland. Chase brings with him a dire warning: Moriarty’s death has left a convenient vacancy in London’s criminal underworld. There is not shortage of candidates to take his place – including one particularly fiendish criminal mastermind.
Chase is assisted by Inspector Athelney Jones, a Scotland Yard detective and devoted student of Holmes’s methods of deduction, whom Conan Doyle introduced in The Sign of Four. The two men join forces and fighter their way through the sinuous streets of Victorian London in pursuit of this sinister figure, a man much feared but seldom seen, who is determined to stake his claim as Moriarty’s successor.
Review
Technically, this is the second in Horowitz’s Sherlock-revival novels, but it can certainly be read by itself. Certain events in Conan Doyle’s established Sherlock catalog are referenced, but prior knowledge or reading in regards to said titles are not necessary for full enjoyment of Moriarty.
In starting the narrative in Switzerland, immediately after the Reichenbach Falls incident, Horowitz leaves the plot of Moriarty completely open. I always have wondered how authors who pick up already established stories/characters/settings go about deciding how they are going to make their works unique and Horowitz answers that question brilliant – fill in the gaps!
Our narrator, Chase, and companion, Jones, are after an American criminal mastermind who breaks all the rules of Moriarty’s gentleman criminal code of conduct. Determined to squash the new threat to London, they crisscross London in an effort to eradicate not only the leader, but the entire gang.
Close to the end, there is, of course, a major twist and it is challenging now to go back and review the book without giving away my newfound knowledge upon finishing the book. It took awhile to really get into the narrative, but once I did, it was indeed a page-turner!
Rating: 7 out of 10 stars
Celebration of Books 
Great summerisation of the book.
LikeLike