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    Moriarty
    Moriarty
    Moriarty
    Audiobook9 hours

    Moriarty

    Written by Anthony Horowitz

    Narrated by Julian Rhind-Tutt

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Narrated by Julian Rhind-Tutt

    “Anthony Horowitz throws down the gauntlet in his infernally clever Sherlock Holmes pastiche.” — Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review

    The game is once again afoot in this thrilling mystery from internationally bestselling author Anthony Horowitz, sanctioned by the Conan Doyle estate, that explores what really happened when Sherlock Holmes and his arch nemesis Professor Moriarty tumbled to their doom at the Reichenbach Falls.

    Horowitz’s nail-biting novel plunges us back into the dark and complex world of detective Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty—dubbed the Napoleon of crime” by Holmes—in the aftermath of their fateful struggle at the Reichenbach Falls.

    Days after the encounter at the Swiss waterfall, Pinkerton detective agent Frederick Chase arrives in Europe from New York. Moriarty’s death has left an immediate, poisonous vacuum in the criminal underworld, and there is no shortage of candidates to take his place—including one particularly fiendish criminal mastermind.

    Chase and Scotland Yard Inspector Athelney Jones, a devoted student of Holmes’s methods of investigation and deduction originally introduced by Conan Doyle in “The Sign of Four”, must forge a path through the darkest corners of England’s capital—from the elegant squares of Mayfair to the shadowy wharfs and alleyways of the London Docks—in pursuit of this sinister figure, a man much feared but seldom seen, who is determined to stake his claim as Moriarty’s successor.

    A riveting, deeply atmospheric tale of murder and menace from one of the only writers to earn the seal of approval from Conan Doyle’s estate, Moriarty breathes life into Holmes’s dark and fascinating world.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateDec 9, 2014
    ISBN9780062381590
    Moriarty
    Author

    Anthony Horowitz

    Anthony Horowitz is one of the UK’s most prolific and successful writers, unique in being active in both adult and YA fiction, TV, theater, and journalism. Several of his previous novels were instant New York Times bestsellers. His bestselling Alex Rider series for young adults has sold more than nineteen million copies worldwide and has become a hugely successful show on Amazon Prime TV. His breakthrough murder mystery, Magpie Murders, was adapted into a miniseries for PBS. He lives in London with his wife and dog.

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    Reviews for Moriarty

    4/5

    180 ratings51 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title to be an easy and entertaining listen, with fantastic narration. Some reviewers found the plot twist at the end to be predictable, but others enjoyed it and found it to be a saving grace. The story is filled with red herrings and interesting situations, paying homage to Arthur Conan Doyle's writings. While some reviewers found the story to be slow or too violent, overall, readers recommend this book as a good listen with a wonderful intrigue.

    What did you think?

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    • 4/5
      Very much enjoyed. And ending I just did not see coming.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed the twist at the end, but the book felt rather slow. Also, the audio mixing wasn’t the best. I had to turn the volume way up for the narrator but other characters were then too loud. I couldn’t listen to this in the car like I usually do.
    • 5/5
      A great writer. A great read. A great narrator. Wonderful plot twist. Worthy successor to Doyle.
    • 1/5
      Too clever. Too much violence. I am am normally a fan but i did not enjoy this at all.
    • 4/5
      Review based on ARC.Moriarty is the new book by Anthony Horowitz, touted as the only author approved by the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle. I understand [House of Silk] to be an excellent piece of "Holmes" literature, though I have not read it myself. Although I have not read Doyle myself, my husband is a big fan, I intend to read the books someday soon, and I am a huge fan of the BBC's newest Sherlock series and, in particular, think the actor cast as Moriarty therein has made him one of the more intriguing characters in literature. So I was rather excited to have won a copy of Moriarty.I was disappointed. The plot is interesting enough.. New York Pinkerton detective Chase heads to England in pursuit of one of the worst criminal masterminds America has seen, Clarence Devereux, who himself has purportedly headed to London to hook up with Moriarty in an effort to expand his criminal enterprise. However, Chase discovers that Moriarty and Holmes (and/or their cohorts) have just committed double homicide on one another at Reichenbach Falls. Chase follows the body, hoping to be given an opportunity to find a letter from Devereux to Moriarty discussing their suggested partnership. Thus he meets Scotland Yard investigator Athelney Jones, who has previously appeared in Watson's own explanations of Holmes investigations as a somewhat bumbling idiot. Jones has devoted many efforts to discerning Holmes' own investigation methods, and Chase and Jones create a sort of Holmes-Watson duo... like, the kid version.Together, they set forth to try to hunt down Devereux, bodies piling up left and right in the brutalist of manners as they go. All the while, Chase ponders the apparent ill-information Watson has provided regarding Reichenbach falls and contemplates what really happened, and how.So all that sounds great! And the plot wasn't bad. But... it wasn't really good either. It was choppy and weirdly paced and felt like ... it felt a little like a novice author. Which I know is not the case! And the conversations were weird -- they didn't feel normal even for the timeframe in which they were occurring. And it almost felt like Horowitz was trying to fit a puzzle and "make it work," rather than simply telling a story.However, as I say, it *was* interesting. And it had some compelling reveals and turns. And the ending certainly redeemed a lot of what happened in the rest of the book (though I won't even hint at what that means because it is worth discovering on your own). Also, there was some interesting foreshadowing.. Although the ultimate reveal was somewhat predictable and a little unbelievable, I enjoyed it all the same.So, overall? I thought this hyped-up book was not particularly well done. The language was inorganic, the relationships were stilted, and I just never felt like I was really there in the story... On the plus side, as mentioned, it was interesting, had some good plot development, and the end added a bit of credit.Recommended to .... well, I think this is best recommended to people who need more Holmes, however they can get it. And maybe recommended to other Holmes fans, just with the understanding that it's not amazing.THREE AND A HALF of 5 stars.
    • 5/5
      A Brilliant Homage to the legendary writings of Arthur Conan Doyle. The Reader of the audio book was well chosen.
    • 4/5
      Best plot twist ending ever!
    • 3/5
      The audio book was done so well! The narrator switched between characters and accents so well.
      The story overall was a little slow for me. I did figure out the big twist about 20 maybe 30% in so it wasn’t a shock to me. I will say the ending was rather abrupt and did shock me. I still don’t know how I feel about it!
    • 4/5
      This is the second Sherlock Holmes novel by anthony Horowitz and I've listened to them both as audiobooks. I enjoyed the first immensely, this one not as much. 'Moriarty' has a good storyline, starting with the death of Sherlock Holmes and his rival Moriarty. There's mystery afoot, violence aplenty and just when you think the......but I won't say anymore! What I didn't enjoy this time was the narration of the audiobook, I didn't like the VOICE of the narrator. I suppose I shouldn't let this fact detract from my rating, but I do, because as an audiobook I feel the CHOICE of 'voice' to narrate is all important!
    • 5/5
      Athelney Jones is an assiduous student of Holmes’ methods, monographs, and chronicles as relayed by the faithful Dr. John Watson. Jones is at Reichenbach Falls shortly after the tragic accident that has apparently taken the lives of Holmes and his arch nemesis Professor Moriarty. Here he meets Frederick Chase, a Pinkerton agent in pursuit of the ruthless American criminal mastermind, Clarence Devereux. Devereux brings a level of violence and cruelty to his takeover of Moriarty’s gang never imagined or seen in Britain. Jones and Chase join forces to find the elusive Devereux and end the bloodshed.It’s apparent why Mr. Horowitz has the endorsement of the A. Conan Doyle estate. MORIARTY strongly evokes the atmosphere of the Victorian era and Conan Doyles’ Holmes. MORIARTY neither tries to be nor compete with the iconic consulting detective but complements him and his adventures. Minor characters re-introduced as major players, referencing the stories as events in the recent past, and having a room full of Scotland Yard Inspectors discuss Holmes and his successes inventively highlight Holmes while passing the stage over to Jones and Chase.Athelney Jones is an interesting protagonist chock full of admirable qualities. None of his encounters with Holmes showed him in a positive light but they inspired his desire to improve his detecting abilities. It’s easy to identify with Jones.Frederick Chase, a Pinkerton agent, is a bit of a duck out of water. He badly needs the assistance and entree Jones can provide. He defers to Jones in many instances while contributing when and how he can. Jones and Chase form an alliance of necessity that occasionally veers toward an unlikely budding friendship with an eye to potential partnership. Gritty, briskly paced, and hard to put down MORIARTY hurtles the reader to its startling conclusion. Undeniably one of the best historical mysteries I’ve read this year.4.5 stars Reviewed for Miss Ivy's Book Nook Take II, Manic Readers, & Novels Alive TV
    • 4/5
      I did enjoy the book. I thought the writing was good, reminding stylistically original Sherlock Holmes stories. The problem is that I suspected the ending almost right from the beginning, which means that it wasn't a very good mystery.
    • 4/5
      It’s May, 1891, and the world is ringing with the news that Sherlock Holmes and his arch-enemy Professor James Moriarty plunged to their death at the Reichenbach Falls; narrator Frederick Chase, a Pinkerton agent, has followed master criminal Clarence Devereux from America, having learned he and Moriarty plan to combine resources, creating a trans-Atlantic crime empire. Moriarty may be dead but Devereux is at large and taking over vthe London underworld: Chase combines forces with Holmes-wannabe Inspector Athelney Jones, searching everywhere from the most sordid slums and seediest clubs all the way to the US embassy as they hunt the elusive evil genius. Neither Sherlock Holmes nor the faithful Watson make an appearance, yet Moriarty is immersed in enough period atmosphere to satisfy even Conan Doyle; the mystery deepens, the body count grows and the suspense mounts until all is revealed in startling final twist which is [spoiler alert] worthy of Agatha Christie herself.
    • 3/5
      I love this author’s Hawthorne series & Susan Ryland series. Absolutely can’t recommend them enough.

      For this book it’s very easy listening. As again I’m very familiar with these narrators and they do fantastic work bringing the story to life.

      The only problem is I didn’t think the big plot twist at the end was that unexpected. It really was the only solution. And this is even pointed out too.

      If you want something just simply entertaining this is great. However, I wanted more of a challenge. Still it’s lots of simple fun if you can suspend a lot of reality. And as I said the narrators do such a great job.
    • 3/5
      “But the man had hereditary tendencies of the most diabolical kind. A criminal strain ran in his blood.”Professor Moriarty is a criminal mastermind and nemesis of the brilliant detective Sherlock Holmes. Moriarty brings to life occurrences following the disappearance of the duo after they vanished into the mist of Reichenbach Falls, Switzerland. Picking up the narrative of this story is Pinkerton agent Frederick Chase who has traveled to Europe intent on following the trail of an American criminal by the name of Clarence Devereux who supposedly intends on taking over Moriarty’s criminal activity now that he’s gone. When the trail leads Chase to Reichenbach Falls where Inspector Athelney Jones of Scotland Yard is investigating the incident, the two inevitably team up to assist one another.Leaving Switzerland, Chase and Jones travel back to London intent on determining the identity of Devereux but shortly into their investigation, the brutality begins. Their first key witness is brutally murdered as well as his entire household with no apparent reasoning behind the extravagant violence. Unfortunately, this ends up being only a sneak peak as to what’s in store for the rest of their investigation. Dark and dangerous, the longer the search continues the more mysterious things begin to appear. The mystery felt very jerky and was missing a cohesive flow in comparison to Silk. The evidence that Jones would find which inevitably took them to the next location to search for more clues felt like they were being pulled out of thin air rather than when Holmes would discover evidence and would then rationalize how he came to that conclusion it always led to an a-ha! moment that lacked perfect sense once explained. Jones modeled his life and habits after Holmes and made a decent attempt at learning his tricks of the trade and while he might have transformed himself into a clever copy he was still highly identifiable as far from the real thing.Watson played narrator in Silk and did a superb job, but in Moriarty we’re given Frederick Chase, and suffice it to say I definitely missed Watson. It’s easy enough to compare the two books (Silk definitely comes out on top) however, the two are so vastly different in several regards that it’s a disservice to do so. When comparing Moriarty to the original canon, it’s bound to disappoint, however, judging on its own merits it’s a fairly solid mystery with an incredibly shocking twist that makes you rethink everything that came before. I had my suspicions that all was not as it appeared, and I was right, but my guesses were still far from the truth.It’s not necessary to enjoy this story even if you haven’t read all of the Holmes classics, however, I would definitely recommend you’re at least familiar with The Sign of the Four and especially the short story The Final Problem. Moriarty definitely felt less authentic as a pastiche than Silk did but for Holmes fans looking for anything to scratch that itch, this will satisfy it albeit temporarily.
    • 5/5
      The game, to quote a famous detective, is afoot and the story of Moriarty is in hands every bit as capable as those of Sir Arthur himself as he chronicled the exploits of the great Sherlock Holmes.Briefly, so as not to divulge story spoilers, diffuse clues, or give away twists of plot . . . just after Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty have tumbled over the Reichenbach Falls, Scotland Yard Inspector Athelney Jones joins Pinkerton detective Agent Frederick Chase in hunting down the fiendish American criminal mastermind, Clarence Devereux, who has relocated from New York to London. This book is their story.“Moriarty” is true to the characters and settings readers expect to find in a Sherlock Holmes tale; the requisite suspense, excitement, surprises, peril, and plot twists keep the narrative moving along at breakneck speed. Fortunately, this telling is not lacking in those obvious little details that everyone misses but which, in retrospect, are patently obvious. It’s a page-turning mystery, ending with a twist worthy of the great detective himself. Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      Did not like the ending. Otherwise, a good rendition of the Victorian mystery story that Watson would have told.
    • 4/5
      Five days after Holmes and Moriarty's final conflict at Reichenbach Falls, Pinkerton's senior investigator, Frederick Chase, encounters Inspector Athelney Jones, a Scotland Yard detective who learned much from Sherlock Holmes. Although on separate investigations, the two come to identify the body of Moriarty. Moriarty's death leaves a vacancy for in London's underground, which is now being sought to be filled by an American criminal mastermind, Clarence Devereux. The quest to catch Devereux may be difficult since he is a agoraphobic and rarely seen. This Victorian age mystery reminded me of Sherlock Holmes stories. Chase serves in the Watson role as the sidekick and narrator for the adventure while Jones substitutes for Holmes with his astute observations and deductive reasoning abilities. I would recommend reading this novel if for nothing else than one of the best twists I have read since Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.
    • 4/5
      It was entertaining. We are drawned into the world of Sherlock Holmes and Professor MOriarty right after their death at the Reichebach fall. We follow a investigation of Scotland Yard into the arrival of a new crime Lord. Clarence Devereux, is an american criminal and he intends on taking over the criminal world of England. He is like nothing Scotland Yard as ever seen.
    • 2/5
      Moriarty is one of those novels that looks very appealing, starts off in a very appealing way...and becomes rapidly less appealing the longer it goes on. Its major problem is that, from the word "go," it lets you know that there's going to be some sort of revelation or twist - the very nature of the book's premise ("What if the incident at the Reichenbach Falls isn't the end of the story?") pretty much ensures that. You, as the reader, know that there is some information that Dr. John H. Watson or Arthur Conan Doyle either kept from you or unwittingly obscured, and the narrator of this current tale as good as promises to reveal all. Any reader worth his or her salt, then, is going to be on the alert, and I would be lying if I didn't say that in the course of the first twenty pages, I had already come up with three entirely separate "twists" that seemed more or less probable based on the information I had already obtained.The very first one turned out to be correct. And I suck at solving mysteries.I'm not sure what game Anthony Horowitz thought he was playing with this novel; if he'd gone for a more straightforward approach it would have been a lot better. As an experienced dramatist and novelist, Horowitz has a deft hand with action, a good command of pace, and a skill at defining characters quickly. (His one obvious short-coming - an over-reliance on dialogue - is probably down to his career as a screenwriter first and foremost.) He clearly has a lot of fun writing these kinds of stories and he wants you, the reader, to have fun, too. With Moriarty, though, he's appealing to one of the oldest, most well-read and cynical "fandoms" of all - Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts have read it all, and they are not easily misled. Indeed, Horowitz is clearly a massive fan himself, and he runs loops around himself to answer little bits of Sherlockian errata: are there two Moriartys? Are Inspectors Athelney and Peter Jones related? How did Moriarty come to exert influence on American crime in The Valley of Fear? It goes on and on, and if you manage to not be distracted by it, it functions as excellent fan fiction.With that kind of box-ticking going on, though, you'd think Horowitz would give his readers credit for being people who...well...like to connect things. Yet the parlor tricks that Horowitz attempts in this book are so simplistic that when the truth finally comes, there's a screamingly obvious sense of "Yes, and...?" I can't believe any but the most inexperienced reader wouldn't have known something was coming, and - especially in the second half - that renders a light, entertaining read into more of a timekeeping exercise. If the twist hasn't at least crossed your mind by the time of the reveal, well...I haven't read The House of Silk, although I presume that - as a more traditional Sherlock Holmes adventure - it has no real connection to Moriarty. I'd certainly be more interested to read that than a follow-up to this current work, despite an obvious hook at the end that suggests the potential for a series. (For what it's worth, I'm not sure who would actually want to read that series. It's...not an exciting premise.) I would only hope that there, and in any further Sherlockian endeavors, Horowitz focuses on telling an interesting story. Leave the tricks and traps and someone else.
    • 3/5
      I was overjoyed to see a book 2 in this series.Anthony Horowitz does provide the readers with a thrilling although slow story that climaxes with a mind blowing ending. I enjoyed this novel for the author's ability to simulate the Victorian/Sherlockian (is that a word?) environment espoused in original Sherlock Holmes novels. The story reads like a Sir Conan Doyle original down to the author's particular prose. However, House of Silk was better.Moriarty contains believable characters with just the right amount of precarious situations to keep the story alive and the reader wanting more. What it doesn't contain is the man himself, Sherlock Holmes or Dr. Watson. But this story is not about them. I enjoyed the novel but did have an issue with Horowitz's repetitive use of the antagonist's name in conversations between Frederick Chase and Inspector Anthelney Jones. It was as if they had to remind each other of who they were chasing.Of the two, my favorite was House of Silk but Moriarty should still be read for its complementary writing style to that of the originals.
    • 5/5
      Sherlock Holmes is one of the most enduring of fictional characters. Thousands of visitors flock each year to see his London address (even though 221b Baker Street has now been subsumed into the headquarters of a major high street bank), and more films have been made about him than any other single character. Many writers have tried to reincarnate the masterful detective and recreate the Conan Doyle's style, some more capably than others, but none have caught the Holmes zeitgeist as deftly as Anthony Horowitz.Horowitz is, of course, an accomplished writer of long standing having written novels, screenplays (he created both the Foyle's War and Midsomer Murders television series) and his books for children including the highly successful Alex Rider sequence. His most recent previous novel, The House of Silk, was commissioned by the Conan Doyle Estate, the first time that it had endorsed another writer to add to the Holmes canon. That book was a great success, receiving critical acclaim and securing high sales.Moriarty puts a slightly different twist on things, and is set in the immediate aftermath of the fight at the Reichenbach Falls. The story is narrated by Frederick Chase, an American investigator from Pinkerton's Agency (which would eventually evolve into the FBI) who has travelled to the small Swiss town of Meiringen, near to the famous Reichenbach Falls. There he is met by Inspector Athelney Jones (one of the Scotland Yard inspectors with whom Holmes had collaborated in some of his earlier adventures) where they attempt to identify a body that has been pulled from the river. On the basis of their inspection they agree that this is probably the corpse of Moriarty.Chase goes on to explain that Pinkerton's Agency has been investigating the rise of Clarence Devereux, an American gangster who has become the kingpin of a huge criminal network extending all throughout the States. Pinkerton's believe that he had been in negotiations with Moriarty with a view to establishing a transatlantic criminal empire. Chase and Jones agree to work together to try to discover how far those plans had progressed, and return to London.Horowitz mimics Conan Doyle's style very closely - I haven't read anything else that comes so close to the tone, pace and style of the original Sherlock Holmes stories. He even has the same ability to conjure London locations. Athelney Jones had been disturbed by his pervious encounters with Holmes, and had sworn to learn from the great detective's methodology. He has certainly come a long way, and demonstrates his own 'cold reading' skills to Chase at every opportunity. He has also developed some of Holmes's disdain for the lack of insight of several of the Scotland Yard detectives. There is one particularly poignant scene in which Chase and Jones meet Lestrade and a couple of the other detectives whom Holmes had, inadvertently, humiliated in the past, and they all trade memories of the great man. There are also several resonances to some of the original stories such as 'The Red-Headed League' and 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'. This is an enthralling novel in its own right, and a worthy homage to the Sherlock Holmes collection.
    • 4/5
      Holmes and Watson without either. I think this book is best for Sherlock skeptics, fans who are not worshippers of the great detective, because this is how most of the stories really should go. Or at least one of them should. Next I want the novel in which things don't work out so neatly for the villain, either. Except that leads to the messy modern mysteries, so maybe never mind. Possibly Laurie King makes better use of post-Doyle Sherlock except that I just enjoyed reading this novel more than any of the Mary Russell series.
    • 4/5
      Moriarty is a spin-off of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novels published in 2014 and written by Anthony Horowitz. Chronologically it is set directly after Sherlock Holmes' supposed death at Reichenbach Falls and covers the time during which Holmes had disappeared from the scene. Therefore, the novel features neither Sherlock Holmes nor his sidekick John Watson. Yet, some of the original characters are included in the book. These are mainly detectives of Scotland Yard, such as Lestrade and Athelney Jones, and, obviously, Professor Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes' nemesis. Readers of the orginal Holmes novels might wonder how that is possible as Moriarty is also considered to have died at Reichenbach Falls. But this is something that should be resolved by reading this novel.The plot of Moriarty is easily told. An agent of the American Pinkerton agency, Frederick Chase, follows the mysterious criminal Clarence Devereux to London in order to arrest him. Devereux wants to build up a large criminal network together with Professor Moriarty, who, however, is said to have died at Reichenbach Falls. Right at the beginning of the novel, Frederick Chase and Athelney Jones of Scotland Yard become acquainted as their paths cross due to the investigation of the Reichenbach Falls incident and the capture of Clarence Devereux, both of which have Professor Moriarty as a common denominator. Quickly, the two detectives join forces and continue to investigate together. They unravel a criminal network in London and things start to become more dangerous as the novel goes on.While I enjoyed reading Moriarty, there was the issue of the narrator that bugged me from the beginning. I was completely annoyed by the fact that the spelling was British English throughout the novel although Horowitz chose Frederick Chase, an American, as his narrator. My first idea was that Frederick Chase is actually Sherlock Holmes in disguise as I already knew from the original Sherlock Holmes novels that the famous detective had not died. Several clues pointed in this direction. Yet, it turned out to be wrong soon enough. The issue of the narrator is resolved towards the end and I have to say that I was quite attracted by what Horowitz did there. At first I was appalled because I was misled by the narrator but then this is exactly the point that I eventually came to like most about Moriarty. The novel has its plot twists and its fair share of problems that are solved by deduction on the part of Athelney Jones. Yet, in my opinion it is not as good as the original Sherlock Holmes stories and novels.On the whole, Moriarty is a worthwhile reading experience but nothing all too special. 3.5 stars.
    • 3/5
      I picked this book up on a lark (the first I've read by Anthony Horowitz); I just sort of stumbled across it. I've always been a big Sherlock Holmes fan, so I was excited to read this "spin off." I think Horowitz found a proper "gap" in the Sherlockian universe with room to build a story. However, it felt TOO brief (if that's a logical claim for a nearly-300-page novel).
    • 5/5
      Must read. Wonderful intrigue but very long. The story of great Sherlock Holmes though essential.
    • 5/5
      Loved it. Somewhat predictable if you spend your time exploring this genre but Horowitz never disappoints.
    • 4/5
      Horowitz follows up on his authorized Sherlock Holmes novel House of Silk with this mystery set in 1891 immediately after Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarity are believed to have fallen from Reichenbach Falls.  The narrator is Frederick Chase, a Pinkerton detective who travels to Switzerland seeking American criminal mastermind Clarence Devereux whom he believes will rendez-vous with Moriarity.  In the wake of the supposed deaths of Moriarity and Holmes, Chase joins up with Scotland Yard detective Athelney Jones who displays a skill in deductive reasoning. Based on the title, one wonders if Jones is Moriarity in disguise?  Or Holmes in disguise?  I won't tell.  Chase and Jones return to London to continue the search for Devereux and find themselves pulled into the brutally violent underworld of expatriate American criminals.  It's a gripping mystery with a lots of twists and turns, and a great companion to the Holmes' canon.  The performance of Rhind-Tutt and Jacobi on the audiobook is particularly entrancing.
    • 3/5
      Just supposed to be a fun mystery. Horowitz delivered. Very readable. The mystery is a bit clever—but enough information is given that a clever reader should be able to solve it. Still, I found the quick wrap up at the end to be a bit of a disappointment. It ended both too soon and too quickly. The book also tends more to the thriller side than to mystery, and for this I preferred Horowitz's first Sherlock Holmes mystery.
    • 3/5
      Liked Horowitz's House of Silk well enough to give this second foray by the author into the world of Sherlock Holmes a try. Another competent effort, though I had trouble warming to this tale for several reasons. The action in this novel takes place in the days/weeks following Reichenbach Falls, which may be one reason I wasn’t as engaged by the tale as I might have been – a Sherlock Holmes novel without Sherlock Holmes (or Watson, who’s barely mentioned here) poses certain limitations. Then, you have to wade through many chapters of explication and action until you encounter anything like a classic Arthur Conan Doyle puzzle: from two men standing over a bedraggled corpse in Switzerland (Moriarty? Not Moriarty?), we transition to Scotland Yard, where self-appointed Holmes protégé Inspector Athelney Jones, working in harness with a U.S. Pinkerton agent named Chase, endeavor to thwart American gangsters intent upon assuming control of London’s criminal underworld in Moriarty’s wake. Eventually you realize all the pages of explication in these chapters are necessary and relevant, but that doesn’t make them any less uneventful – plus, I suspect people who pick up Sherlock Holmes books in hopes of being challenged by a series of primarily intellectual, aesthetic puzzles may not find the pulpy gangster milieu of these chapters - featuring cartoonishly evil gangster brothers, several brutish but unimaginative murders, a bombing, a street shooting, and a sociopathic street child – particularly engaging. Eventually the plot does present us with a twist that Arthur Conan Doyle would have, I think, wholly approved. I just wish that I hadn’t had to wade through so much Alex Rider-like content to get there (Horowitz is also the author of the hugely popular Alex Rider spy story series for young adults), and some of the more glaring improbabilities posited by the tale’s resolution continue to rankle. To be fair, though, the argument could be made that ACD’s original “The Final Problem” short story, on which this tale is based, contained fully as many improbabilities, and I did appreciate how Horowitz’s tale cleverly stitched these into an alternative history that is atmospheric, well written, imaginative, and deeply respectful of the original Holmes canon.
    • 4/5
      In his second Sherlock Holmes novel, Anthony Horowitz explores the period between Holmes' "death" in "The Final Problem" and his return in "The Adventure of the Empty House". Horowitz approaches the story from a unique perspective: a Sherlock Holmes story with neither Holmes nor Watson. Instead, Scotland Yard Inspector Athelney Jones (from "The Sign of the Four") fills the Holmes role while partnering with a Pinkerton detective, Frederick Chase, who takes the place of Watson. Together, these two attempt to track down an American master criminal named Clarence Devereaux.Jones and Chase believe that Devereaux had been in contact with the late Professor Moriarty just prior to his death and, following news of both Moriarty's and Holmes' death, the American will attempt to seize control of London's criminal underworld, filling the vacuum left by Moriarty. The story continually contrasts the gentlemanly criminality of Moriarty with the gangster-like work of Devereaux, setting up Horowitz's twist ending.Horowitz demonstrated his affinity for Moriarty in his previous novel, The Silk House, in which the Napoleon of Crime has a minor cameo and actually aides Watson and Holmes to rid England of a criminal enterprise even he finds reprehensible. Moriarty continues this trend of elevating the Professor's character while retaining his status of criminal mastermind. The story, while interesting in its own right, feels tangential to the Holmes canon at times, despite minor cameos from Inspector G. Lestrade and Inspector Tobias Gregson. Only when Horowitz reveals his twist ending, which I shall not divulge here, does the reader suddenly find this story immediately fitting into the canon with goosebump-inducing results.Moriarty is a worthy successor to The House of Silk while featuring a different enough story that it can stand on its own. Both works demonstrate Horowitz's commitment to the canon, as evidenced by the Conan Doyle Estate's official endorsement of this work. In short, Moriarty is sure to entertain new and old fans of Sherlock Holmes and his world.