Review: Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz – The Napoleonic Wars of Crime

Novel: Murder-mystery

Isn’t it a shame how little we get of the infamous Professor Moriarty in the original Sherlock Holmes series? I assumed, upon reading the title of this book, that it was going to dive into the Moriarty’s past, that it would be more about him than Sherlock Holmes (ala Horowitz’s previous book taking place in Conan Doyle’s universe, “The House of Silk”).

Alas, it was not to be so. The book is, for the most part, devoted to the work of two characters, Pinkerton Detective, Fredrick Chase, and Inspector Athelney Jones. These two meet at the Reichenbach Falls, post the great duel between Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes and meet up to inspect a body believed to be Moriarty’s.

They quickly discover that the man Chase had tracked to England, a crime-boss on par with Moriarty, had in fact been communicating with Moriarty (per Chase’s suspicions). They decide to team up in hopes of bringing down this dastardly wrongdoer and thus starts the main conflict of the book.

I must say, that my only issue with the story is that, during the middle of the book, I began to question why this took place in the same world as Sherlock Holmes. Yes, the book does tie up this doubt eventually, but I believe this is because the middle of the book is a little tedious, (the third and fourth quarters of the book, I believe, are the most action packed and interesting) and because we are following two leads who consistently reference Sherlock, Watson, and Moriarty, reminding us that these characters are not appearing.

Of course, there is a big reveal which very much makes up for this, but you have to be invested in the leads, which I was for the most part.

Now, Jones was a character from the original series, an inspector who appeared in “The Sign of Four.” I haven’t read that story, however, so both of these characters were completely new to me (especially since the whole thing is narrated by Chase, who has no ties to the original series, what with being American and all). He is obsessed with Holmes and his methods, and that makes for some interesting situations and conversations.

However, Chase never tries to disillusion Jones towards his fantasies of being the next Holmes (since [spoiler for a book which was published a century ago] as far as he knows, Holmes is dead as dust). Their friendship was believable, with the exception of this faltering. If anything, Chase fed into Jones’s delusion, which doesn’t make much sense, as Chase seems too sharp to become the Watson type, even when Jones proves himself to be quite a capable sleuth.

As far as crime, it works well, although there isn’t much mystery that the reader has a chance to figure out, all the reveals come almost as quickly as they arrive. But the story definitely has suspense, and once the pacing picks up its hard to tear yourself away. The villain is very threatening, and is another guy using power to get away with (literal) murder, reminding me of "The House of Silk."

          If you were looking for a story more devoted towards the character of Moriarty, I think this one is a good tribute, if a little lacking. 

            I’d rate it Good bordering on Great.

            Thank you for reading and have a great day!