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Hound Of The DUrbervilles (2000)

by Kim Newman(Favorite Author)

4.1 of 5 Votes: 3

languge

English

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review 1: A good fun read.Having first read Sherlock Holmes at the age of 10 or so, he has been around most of my life and I know the stories backwards. Although Morarty is a minor character in Conan Doyle's stories, only appearing in a couple, he is seen as the criminal opposite to the great detective. And so we have the world from his point of view. Newman provides a twist by making Moran the Watson to Moriarty's Holmes. Then he adds to the fun by bringing in other fictional characters from the period as well as little references to all manner of things. There are probably loads of references that just passed me by, but I enjoyed the ones I did get.Moran is a much more colourful character than Watson ever was but Moriarty is even more of a blank page than Holmes. I did enjoy... more all the opposites, the madam as opposed to Mrs Hudson, keeping wasps rather than bees ( though Holmes only did that after retiring), etc. Very enjoyable. Shame there doesn't appear to be a series.
review 2: This is as close as you can get to a good book written about Professor Jimmy Bleedin' Moriarty. With not much reference material, the author uses not only canon to create this villainous persona- books, TV and movies, plus spice of imagination and sheer originality had contribution to this piece, if you like any novel or work regarding the sleuth, this book will suit you (I recommend trying to fish out the hidden references)! The story is like cracked mirror of Sherlock Holmes, everything is turned around the spectrum. Professor Moriarty is a villainous mastermind, who rules with cold hand above the criminal network, but also contributes in name of science. He's mysterious, creepy and dreadfully unique. It really makes you wonder how did Holmes killed him, if he did, (the ending makes you wonder.) He is like red thread running on redder canvas, holding everything together but unnoticed, linking crime with crime without even been heard of, If this guy wants you dead- you are; even when being the focal character he has limited screen time, while his chronicler Sebastian Moran takes the lead. His narration cannot be compared to one of Watson- and neither his personality. He's racist, sexist, shots many profanities and innuendos. He is politically impaired, and with cold blood slaughters anyone Moriarty points to. Yet their relationship is rather cold and divided. His dark narration is interesting, you can take is as both horrific and humorous. I take the latter, as some cruelties made me giggle. Character of Holmes is not as common as you would expect, he is nearly not existing. Worry not, bunch of other characters take his place, can I point out at Stent and Adler? They are smashing page stealers. The book is original, humorous, with various references to canon and context, sleek and casted with wonderful characters (no, don't try to make them as your role models). It had some downs. Like original, it is split into cases and some cases are better than the others. Even when I liked idea of the Red Planet, the execution of it was almost ridiculous. And Hound of d'urbervilles acted on my nerves- and resulted me slipping it. Do not get discouraged, this book is worthy anything especially picking up. less

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