The Fifth Heart

by Dan Simmons

Paperback Edition, 664 pages

Originally published 2015

“Henry James hated epilogues and refused to use them in his fiction. He said that life granted us no “epilogues”, so why should art or literature?”

In a similar vein to the brilliant Drood Dan Simmons now focuses on a different historical duo. On a trip to France Henry James makes the decision to end his life only to find intervention in the unlikeliest of people; the fictional detective genius made real Sherlock Holmes. James gets roped into traveling with Holmes to America to investigate the apparent suicide of Clover Adams seven years previous. Her brother doesn’t believe the suicide verdict and hires Holmes to delve a little deeper.

The crux of the story is the suicide investigation but an intriguing subplot, and what interested me the most before picking up The Fifth Heart, was Sherlock Holmes realisation that he might not be real and is instead a fictional character. This was an interesting idea and i was fascinated to see how it would play out. Sadly it’s completely underutilised to the point of barely being featured. Holmes does ask a few people their opinion on his reality crisis but he never becomes fully committed to exploring his theory. If i’ve missed the point of the Sherlock Holmes existential crisis then the author should have been clearer because as the reader it seemed completely pointless. There is a scene that did make me think of the Deadpool movie, which drew an audible sigh of disappointment.

Without the ‘Am i real?’ subplot fully explored The Fifth Heart is just an average Sherlock Holmes novel with the inclusion of other famous historical characters. This isn’t the Dan Simmons that impressed me so much with The Terror, Ilium and Hyperion but a more watered down version. Give this one a miss and read Drood, which stars Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. It’s way better.

My score – 3/5

Moriarty

Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz 

Hardback Edition, 310 pages

Published 23rd October 2014 by Orion

Moriarty is the follow up, but not a direct sequel, to the 2011 book The House of Silk. It takes place immediately after the infamous events at the Reichenbach Falls, in which both Holmes and Moriarty are thought to have plummeted to their deaths in a violent watery grave.

I believe this was a bold move by Anthony Horowitz as he presents us with a Sherlock Holmes novel minus Sherlock Holmes himself. The synopsis does sound very intriguing. Moriarty is thought to be dead but there is little rest for the streets of London because there is another big cheese criminal mastermind running the show; Mr Clarence Devereux from America has snuck in.

Our narrator is Frederick Chase who does an average job of filling in for Dr Watson. His opening line pulls you in: “Does anyone really believe what happened at the Reichenbach Falls?”. He immediately creates mystery surrounding the deaths and for the first hundred pages it works. I was hooked. We are given brief glimpses at the brutal new criminal, Clarence Devereux, who is made to sound infinitely more worse than Moriarty. The books good guy is Athelney Jones, a Sherlock Holmes wanna be, who is doing his best to fill the great detectives shoes.

The major issue with this book is the absence of Holmes. What makes Moriarty such a brilliant bad guy is his duelling relationship with Sherlock. You can’t have a cool sounding antagonist without the plan foiling protagonist. It just doesn’t work. Sherlock Holmes on his own is good enough for any book, throw in Moriarty and you have an even better book. But Moriarty by himself turns the book into a borefest.

Clarence Devereux is never really believable as a devious crime lord, especially one said to be more evil than Moriarty. During his appearances he comes across as a whining, pathetic cheap imitation. We’re never really told any specific details of his crimes just that he’s a bad man. By the two hundred page mark the book was running out of the small amount of steam it had and I really didn’t care how it was going to finish. Even the ending, which was a pleasant surprise, didn’t reignite my interest.

Moriarty is a case of ‘second album syndrome’. It was a nice idea but the execution was poor. What Horowitz should have written is another Sherlock Holmes Novel and stuck to the formula that worked so well in the House of Silk. Very disappointing.

 

 

 

 

The House of Silk

The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz 

Paperback Edition, 405 pages

Published 30th August 2012 by Orion

Endorsed by the Conan Doyle estate The House of Silk was my first foray into a literary version of Sherlock Holmes. I’ve seen the two Robert Downey Jr films (classics!) and a version of Hound of the Baskervilles but never read any of the original stories.  Despite my lack of experience I still felt i was being re-introduced to an old friend.

Dr Watson eases us in with a welcome full of foreshadowing and the story starts in a typical investigative fashion when Holmes and Watson (in the familiar surroundings of 221b Baker Street with the long suffering Mrs Hudson) are paid a visit by a man who’s convinced he’s being stalked and begs the master detective to investigate. What ensues is a fantastic adventure full of wit, outrageous theories, an adequate quota of twists and a very well thought-out plot, which isn’t as simple as it first seems.

I was impressed by the way the story flows, almost effortlessly, from page to page as if this wasn’t the first time Anthony Horowitz had written a Sherlock Holmes book. There’s no unnecessary back story or reminders as to who the characters are so it felt as if Horowitz picked up where Conan Doyle  left off.

There is a second Sherlock Holmes book, Moriarty, which I will definitely read based on this brilliant outing.