Review: Moriarty. A Novel

Welcome to the first review of 2020, “Moriarty. A Novel” by Anthony Horowitz. I made a list of books at the beginning of the year which I had bought in e-book format over the course of the years and never read for some reason or other and “Moriarty. A Novel” was on that list. What with all that social distancing and stuff, I decided to look into the book and found myself forging through it and enjoying the ride.

What I had expected is not what I got, which is good. I’m an avid reader and a writer and you learn to see patterns that way. Sometimes, that takes the surprise out of a good many plot twists, but not in this case. I was completely surprised when the twist came, despite the fact that there are many subtle hints beforehand which you can easily identify after the twist. Good writing, no question.

First of all, I had expected for the book to tell me more about Professor Moriarty (yes, that one), which didn’t really happen. There’s one scene which goes into his background, giving a look into how and why he became the ‘Napoleon of Crime’, but for most of the book, he’s not the main focus - and for a reason.

The novel has an introduction which suggests a Watson perspective, but the story begins in Meiringen a few days after the confrontation between Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Fall. A body has been fished out of the river below the fall which fits with the description of Professor Moriarty. The first-person narrator, who introduces himself as Frederick Chase, a Pinkerton agent, wants to take a look at the corpse, but is not allowed to do so by the local police, so he approached Detective Inspector Athelney Jones of Scotland Yard for a permission to tag along. (Jones is a verified inspector in the Sherlock Holmes canon, featuring, among other stories, in “The Sign of Four”.)

After they have searched the body, Chase confides in Jones that he’s been looking for the professor because there were hints that Moriarty was working with an American crime lord whom Chase wants to catch, among other reasons, for killing a friend and colleague a little earlier in London. From there on, Jones and Chase travel together and work on finding said crime lord, a man called Deveraux whose looks aren’t known. They find themselves in dangerous situations, are threatened, almost killed. They form a friendship and there’s even talk of continuing together, especially as Jones finds himself on the verge of being fired after infiltrating the American consulate.

With rising stakes, the story steers towards a finale which feels a little like a let-down - until the twist. I will no spoil that one here, it would be a shame to take that moment of utter surprise from you. Just let me say there’s a reason why the first-person narrator introduces himself with ‘you can call me Frederick Chase’.

The novel is a delight to read for the first time. The writing is fluent and pulls the reader along. The characters are engaging and are given enough depth so the reader cares about them. The world is well-researched and it’s clear the author has read their Sherlock Holmes and can fit in all those little extras which make this novel, despite not containing Sherlock Holmes or Dr. Watson, feel like a true Sherlock Holmes story. Using a Watson perspective helps, of course, with Chase claiming he’s not a deductive type, but arrives at the solution of his cases more through perseverance and hard work. Jones, on the other hand, is striving to be like Sherlock Holmes, having studied the great detective’s methods and doing his best to emulate them. It doesn’t always work, of course.

The story gets personal with both, Chase telling Jones early how and why he became a Pinkerton man, Jones introducing him to his wife and daughter. Chase cares for Jones’ well-being, warning him off the case several times, especially with the inspector having a family. They look out for each other, they fight side by side, they risk their lives for each other. On every other turn, however, they’re thwarted. Clearly, there’s someone working against them. Is it the man they’re after? Is he behind the adolescent boy who threatens Chase with a razor and seems more than capable of killing? Is he the man who travels in a coach, picking the boy up before the telegraph room of Scotland Yard (which happens to be next to Jones’ office) is blown up?

Those questions do get answers in the end, there’s nothing which the plot rustled up which is not answered. All plot arcs are brought to a conclusion, even if some of those arcs end tragically.

I realize I’m coming back to the twist which I won’t spoil here again. It’s just that I don’t have seen this kind of twist done quite so well and convincing in a long while and thus I really enjoyed it. Getting surprised by a book gets harder the more you have read and the more time you’ve invested in writing yourself.

Foreboding is heavy in this book, but also very well done. From carefully chosen expressions, such as ‘you can call me Frederick Chase’ instead of ‘my name is Frederick Chase’ over a suggestion to bury the body of Moriarty under the name of a missing cook, so the crime lord would think that Moriarty is still alive, up to the moment of the twist, there are small hints hidden well which you will spot the second time through, of course.

First person is a difficult point of view if you want to pull this off, it’s much easier in third person perspective, because then, we know we’re not necessarily getting all of the thoughts or all the knowledge of the character. Yet, by very much concentrating on the here and now, by very detailed descriptions of where the characters are and what is happening, Horowitz manages to keep his big twist hidden well. There’s only a handful of chapters where ‘Frederick Chase’ (you should already have picked up that the narrator is not Frederick Chase) steps back from the story to explain more, breaking the fourth wall in the progress and addressing the reader directly. Most of the time, the reader is riding along on his shoulder, seeing what he is seeing, going through the story as it happens, getting thoughts and emotions which come with the situation. There’s no ruminating about the past or the future, no reminiscence about Chase’s life. From the moment Jones - and the reader - are aware of his past, nothing more is said about it.

“Moriarty. A Novel” is a great book to read, provided you enjoy Sherlock Holmes novels and the setting as a such. It is well-written, definitely by someone who knows his way around the canon. It has a great plot twist just as you think the climax is past. I can guarantee that, if you like this kind of novel at all, you’ll definitely enjoy reading it, so I fully recommend it.