Moriarty

Horowitz took a risk in changing up Doyle's tried-and-true formula, one he imitated very well in House of Silk, but unfortunately the risk did not pay off.

Had Horowitz written this book as cleanly as his previous one, and had it been plotted and edited just as well, it might have worked. But this book never left the “that could be interesting” stage. It felt like he did not completely think it through and that the publisher rushed it to market.

At most Moriarty was mildly entertaining. With reluctance, I followed two new characters that Horowitz gave me no reason find interesting. For most of the book I knew almost nothing about them, had no idea why they continued to put themselves in the path of (unnecessarily excessive) bloodshed, and cared little whether or not they would succeed.

That was the book's biggest failing: it sacrificed many of the necessary conventions of writing and storytelling all for the sake of... the twist! Personally I cannot stand when authors make this mistake. It tends to happen more in thrillers than mysteries. It means that, unless I fall for the twist, the book falls flat. I want to be interested in the story even if I guess the ending, and that means having developed characters and a solid plot.

While other reviewers seemed taken aback by the ending, I was not, and I doubt avid fans of the mystery genre will be surprised. I had hoped for a double twist, perhaps with the reappearance of our great hero, Holmes, if only Horowitz would have pushed himself that much farther...