I have read enough of A.Horowitz, to know that this is a writer, that can take me down "HIS" imaginary path to work my thoughts around several iconic stories Ergo I gave a copy of this book To my daughter and her children to read

I could easily have believed this was an original Sherlock Holmes story. The writing style seemed very authentic, even if it seemed bloodier than I recall the original stories being (although it's been a while since I read them). It took me a little while to get into it, but I found it quite entertaining as the two detectives chase around London trying to bring down a gang of American criminals that have moved onto the turf of the recently deceased criminal mastermind Moriarty.

Sherlock Holmes is dead! What an excellent selling point for a book; it made me want to read it. I think half of me was disgusted and the other half, deeply intrigued. First point to note, I have been a little cryptic in my review because if I said too much, I would spoil the marvellous ending which, of course, makes this book into something quite superb. Sherlock Holmes and his archenemy, Moriarty, are both dead: they have fallen over a cliff after a struggle. Moriarty’s body is found with a coded note that casts suspicion on a rival crime lord. The protagonists of this novel are two detectives: Jones and Chase. Athelney Jones is a Sherlock Holmes imitation; Holmes and Jones even sound the same. He has spent his professional life looking up to the master of deduction and has spent months perfecting his techniques. The Watson to Horowitz’s Holmes, is Frederick Chase an American agent tracking a former suspect which leads him into the heart of British crime. A good crime novel needs to keep the reader guessing; it needs to keep them suspecting everyone and questioning their motives: scrutinising their characters. This has achieved it masterfully. Each new character that was introduced could have been a new link to the crime lord or a suspect. The plot was incredibly fast, even for a book of this genre. Two out of three chapters ended with a point that made me want to read more than I usually would. Towards the end, it somehow becomes even faster and more intense. The ending of this is one of the most shocking things I’ve read in a novel. Ok, so the clues are there in the book and they are very, very subtle. I do believe that very few people reading this, if any, will guess the ending. No doubt, some people in their reviews will say, “I knew from the start.” I disbelieve anybody who says this. I had suspicious, but they were unfounded. Towards the end of the book, I did have a feeling something was going to happen; that something more had to be revealed and I was glad when it did because, it changed the book from a standard crime story to something very clever. Indeed, the author has been incredibly deceptive! I would recommend this to any fans of Sherlock Holmes; once you’ve reached the ending you will understand why.

I really enjoyed reading Moriarty, but I felt that the ending really undermined the rest of the book. Our two Detectives work well together and reference Holmes/Watson very naturally while also highlighting flaws in the original characters themselves. The development of the plot was exciting, having many interesting encounters both mentally and physically made the book a gripping read. There is one massive flaw (from my opinion.) And that is the desire to throw you off the trail, to prevent you from figuring out the ending to the book. For me, a good reveal connects all the dots, little bits of information that were previously irrelevant suddenly make all the difference but with Moriarty, the reveal feels so outlandish that my natural reaction was to reject it entirely as a 'cop out'. I feel the setup for such a reveal could've been much more intelligent and, failing that, could simply be replaced with an alternative ending. It really undermined the book for me.

First of all I must admit that I haven't actually read the first in this series (I didn't realise it was part of a series when I bought it) but I don't think that is a particular issue as this seems to stand very much on its own. I loved the beginning and end of this book with its intriguing start and its shock of an ending, which the cynic in me was kind of expecting but was still surprised by. But I found there was a good bit of the middle that seemed to drag more than it needed to, possibly adding a bit too much complexity or trying to be a bit too clever (not sure which). Having read a few of Conan Doyle's work I always enjoyed how concise they were kept and how all of the events and information seemed relevent without the need for explanation when Holmes revealed all. Here I found this wasn't quite the case, which spoilt things a little bit but then Doyle is a tough act to follow. If it wasn't for that bit of dragging in the middle this would probably have gotten 4 stars but I found this slowed the story too much and meant that the end needed a bit more explanation. Still, I did enjoy it and will hunt down the others in the series.