Well, let’s get down to
it. Anthony Horowitz forces his way into our Sherlock Holmes’s world. I missed
the ‘The House of Silk’, the first of his series, so I plunged straight into foggy and murky
streets of London in ‘Moriarty’ chasing a complicated web.
Moriarty begins well,
tracking Holmes’ and Moriarty’s deaths by the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland.
Athenley Jones, a Scotland Yard Inspector and Frederick Chase, an American
private detective are thrust into the middle of this rigmarole. You must remember
Jones from ‘The Sign of Four’, whom Holmes had referred to as an ‘imbecile’, and
also ‘tenacious as a lobster’.
So, Jones has come all
the way to Switzerland to examine and solve what happened to Holmes, since he
and his arch enemy, Moriarty were there, having a confrontation. Moriarty is probably the corpse, going by the
looks of it.
Chase and Jones are
thrown together, and one can see their analytical views working beautifully together.
We almost find Holmes in Jones’ character and Chase, as Watson trying to play
the roles to perfection. What Jones has, one cannot miss, as he seems to have
followed, chased and imitated Holmes’ methods, precisely.
America’s criminal
masterminds, all seem to be in Victorian London, right
now. We start off with
Clarence Deveraux, who is looking to take over Moriarty’s place. This, he plans
to do with help from Scott Lavelle and the Mortlake brothers, all a part of the
American criminal background who have now, shifted to London.
 |
| Moriarty from Wikipedia |
One by one, all of them
keep falling and Jones who is behind them is thinking about the whys and hows
of the whole drama. Chase, who is involved more and more, as days go by is also
a part of the great murders and the mystery surrounding them. Who is the
teenager, Perry who seems to be a part of the whole thing? And Colonel
Sebastian Moran, an enemy of Holmes and duly described as ‘the second most
dangerous man in London’ after Moriarty also makes an appearance.
How does this complicated
story find its end or does it? Beautifully written, and with the true touches
of Conan Doyle, this story explores a little more of Holmes. With narrator,
Chase playing Watson to Jones’s Holmes, this mystery kept me to the edge of my
seat, alright.
 |
| Anthony Horowitz |
I cannot say that it is
a true Holmes and Watson mystery since they both are not there, even Moriarty
on whom the entire book is based seems to be ‘missing’ from this piece.
Puzzles, codes, sub-plots, violence aplenty, diseases galore and the American
mafia too! Also, the end is probably what takes the cake.
One point, I felt did
not fit in. The money, a Scotland Yard detective makes is probably not much, considering
he buys a toy for his daughter from London’s station, claiming that he got it Paris. However, his wife manages to take care of a fairly and luxurious house, with a
nanny plus a cook and a maid! A little too much, don’t you think?
Author: Anthony Horowitz
Genre: Fiction/ Crime Thriller
ISBN : 9781409109488
Publisher: Hachette India
Price: Rs 599/-
No comments:
Post a Comment