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Moriarty (Otto Penzler Book) |
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Author:
John Gardner
By Harcourt
Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780151012527
ISBN: 0151012520
Label: Harcourt
Manufacturer: Harcourt
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: 2008-11-10
Publisher: Harcourt
Studio: Harcourt |
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Amazon.co.uk Review
John Gardner’s Moriarty is a posthumous novel, and that is a shame -- for several reasons. One, because it is the last book we will see from one of the most protean of crime thriller writers, a man who made a mark in a variety of different genres and whose prolific output never suffered a slackening of quality (as was the case with so many of his contemporaries and predecessors, such as Robert Ludlum and Alistair MacLean). Secondly, because this book is an adroit historical crime novel, an innovative entry in the field which is (these days) becoming a touch overcrowded. And finally (and most importantly), because Moriarty is one of the most intelligent and striking extensions of the character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as the arch nemesis of The Great Detective, Sherlock Holmes. Gardener had been such a capable practitioner in so many fields that it was no surprise when he proved so able at reinventing Doyle's master criminal. John Gardner had created the clever Boysie Oakes novels (ingenious parodies of Ian Fleming's Bond adventures) before very successfully taking up the Fleming legacy directly, and creating several new adventures for 007. Gardener's more serious thrillers (in the John le Carré/Len Deighton mould) featuring the agent Herbie Kruger were polished entries in the espionage field, and a series of novels featuring Moriarty demonstrated his mastery of a variety of genres. This last novel may be published after the author's death, but it's a fitting end to the series. Moriarty has been forced to flee England and live in America during the 1890s, but he returns to London in 1900 to find that his huge criminal empire has been rifled by the new crime boss idle Jack Idell. A grim and bloody battle ensues, delivered with all the panache that John Gardener demonstrated throughout this beguiling series. --Barry Forshaw
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Curses, Moriarty., 2008-12-14
I just loved this book! Maybe my view is slightly tinged with the deep regret that it is, in fact, the posthumous work of the author; one whom I've followed over the years as he created Boysie Oakes, new 007 stories and, of course, the biography in three parts of Sherlock Holmes's arch-nemesis, Professor James Moriarty.
Having returned from a successful crime binge in America, Moriarty was expecting to take over where he left off in London but finds a young pretender, Jack Idell, running what was Moriarty's crime empire.
Gardner was always good at painting a rewarding picture of his settings. In this book, Victorian England is superbly portrayed, the language as used by the criminal lowlifes skillfully employed (for those unsure of the words, there is a glossary). As ever, the story has interesting turns, an insider too close to home maybe for one but how he plots to regain his empire is a rollicking read for sure.
But whatever the story, it is the author who should be highly praised, if only for giving Moriarty a life we didn't know and, possibly, giving us pause to be just a little sympathetic! Regrettably, we've reached the end and this is certainly a fitting tribute to John Gardner.
"The world will know that I leave here under some great cloud", 2008-11-19
John Gardner's historical novel centers on the dark and violent underworld that circles around the criminal genius of Professor James Moriarty and his war against Sir Jack Idell. the evil criminal warlord who seems to be taking London by storm. Moriarty has just secretly returned to London, after escaping the clutches of Sherlock Holmes at Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland after reportedly enduring a fight to the death. Excited to be living at home at last, in the city that he so loves, Moriarty is comforted by the knowledge that his one true love Sal Hodges is still close by. It comes as a shock then to learn that many of Moriarty's loyal followers, his henchmen and "his boys" with whom he uses to bribe and torture those who would dare to step on his stamping ground have left to take up with Idell even as Idell seems to be effortlessly expanding his criminal enterprises throughout London. Frustrated at best, Moriarty discovers what he had long since suspected: that his family of villains can no longer be completely trusted with some forty percent leaving and defecting.
Certainly Idle Jack is considered a coming man in the criminal fraternity. He's proved his intelligence and he has plenty of contracts and is determined to reek profits from all the "pleasure houses" and also from the sale and prostitution of children. He has few scruples about his urges and desires, and other people's susceptibilities were never held much to the fore by him. But much to Moriarty's chagrin, he's now he's branching out to the selling of protection to commercial businesses on high streets, on the edge of illegality that Moriarty, has up until now run or took at least taken his cut from with quite a bit of success. Just one look hard into those cold grey eyes and you might possibly glimpse the real man - heartless and cruel: "Idle Jack, robber of innocence, a pillager of families, a thief of time and decency."
Moriarty realizes that he cannot depend entirely on the close members of his so-called Praetorian Guard, and he can depend only partly on his beloved Sal. He certainly hasn't lost any of his evil. From the outset is determined to get back at Jack. Divided by his very nature, Idell's clandestine organization has become an impossible burden that consumes Moriarty's soul, leaving him powerless and conflicted. From the opening act Moriarty's carefully laid manipulations begin. As he sits alone in his rooms on the second floor of the elegant house on the fringes of Westminster staring at a portrait above his mantel of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, the rationale for his life and his inspiration, the shaft of light that appears from her image makes his criminal labyrinth crystal clear in his mind.
The four men who comprise Moriarty's so-called Praetorian Guard, Ember, Albert Spear, the evil Chinee Lee Chow - running opium dens and dispensing cruel justice, and Tom Terrment, all become the major players in Moriarty's grand schemes. These are street men who specialize: the confidence sharks, and assassins. But only Spear and Terrment are the leading street gangers, the men who make the final decisions as Moriarty's special brand of fear begins to be broadcast out through the highways, byways and back alleys of London. A complex man who comprehends lust but not love, Moriarty constantly hammers at the number of men and women who appeared to have his employ but then have gone to try their luck with Jack. Certainly they must pay the highest penalty and as the story unfolds their grisly murders are played out against the fog shrouded freezing streets, silent cold and menacing, "the world constantly muffled by the think, bitter mist." It is the increasing suspicions of authorities that lead Moriarty to take the necessary terrible steps to enable his great plan for his future as the one superlative criminal mastermind in all of London.
As Gardner's narrative races around London from Oxford Street to Hyde Park to Marble Arch and St. Paul's, and then onto Brick Lane, all of the chop houses, the ale and saloon bars and comfortable drawing rooms of Park Lane provide the powerful backdrop to the action. The author's writing is rich with image and energy as London is constantly thickened with the scent of horse dung and humanity, the cat-and-mouse game to destroy Idell accelerating constantly through the side alleys and byways, the pervasive atmosphere of this great metropolis made all too real. Perhaps a more compelling story for those who have invested in Garner's previous Moriarty novels, this installment is still a solid and sharp look at the criminal underworld of Victorian England in the late 1890's where fear and promise inevitably become two sides of the same coin. Mike Leonard November 2008.
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