Moriarty
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- £2.99
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
Bestselling British novelist John Gardner published two books purporting to be the true history of Professor James Moriarty, archenemy of Sherlock Holmes, the Napoleon of crime. The books - The Return of Moriarty and The Revenge of Moriarty - were praised as stand-alone volumes set in a vividly accurate Victorian London and a stunning vision of the underworld of the time, inhabited by the kind
of men and women who lived and preyed on the society of the late 19th century.
Now it is the turn of the century and Moriarty has been away from London for several years, realizing his plans to set up crime syndicates in major U. S. cities. He is suddenly called back to London where his vast criminal society has been overrun by a rival concern led by the shadowy Sir Jordan 'Mad Jack' de Levant - a supposed gentleman hoodlum who is acting on behalf of the leaders of well-known criminal elements in France, Italy, Spain and Germany. Moriarty lives again and revolts against the upstart criminals who have attempted to oust him from his rightful place as king of all criminal endeavour.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A derivative plot mars the long-awaited sequel to The Return of Moriarty (1974) and The Revenge of Moriarty (1975), in which Gardner reimagined Sherlock Holmes's arch-nemesis as a Victorian godfather, and radically revised Doyle's account of the two men's fateful confrontation at the Reichenbach Falls. After surviving that encounter, Moriarty rapidly resolidified his hold on the London underworld in the first book and embarked on an audacious attempt to disgrace the sleuth in the second. In 1900, the professor returns to London, as he did in The Return of Moriarty, where he again pursues a traitor in his ranks. Fans of the previous volumes may notice some problems of continuity as well as passages of the professor's reminiscences that appear lifted almost verbatim from Return. Holmes himself barely gets a passing mention. A reference at the end suggests Gardner (1926 2007) was planning a fourth and final reckoning between Moriarty and Holmes.
Customer Reviews
Cracking read
I enjoyed this book immensely and I urge you to do the same. It is unusual to see the world from the villain’s point of view - I was surprised to find that Moriarty became a kind of anti-hero to me - despite being a totally despicable man I was rooting for him and wanted him to succeed. I particularly enjoyed the vernacular and slang from the period. I will now read the other Moriarty books by the same author. All in all a cracker.