Every now and then there come a fresh idea/perspective that in hindsight is so brilliantly obvious that it comes as a surprise that it took so long for someone to come to that conclusion. I remember thinking "why hadn't someone thought of that before." when I read the premise for 30 Days of Night.
The same thought came to me when I read Hound of the D'Urbervilles, if Professor Moriarty was the dark reflection of Sherlock Holmes, then it stood to reason that Col Moran was his Watson. This was something Doyle never used and certainly it hadn't appeared in any of the Moriarty centred pastiches I had read, certainly not in the two John Gardner works The Return of Moriarty and The Revenge of Moriarty.
Kim Newman is a genius. This fresh perspective on Moriarty and his organisation was a breath of fresh air and Newman manages to make a number of connections to other works of fiction the obvious one from the title is Tess of the D'Urbervilles. I regret not reading this sooner it was so much fun. I loved the appearance of Irene Adler, with her getting the better of Moriarty. "To Professor Moriarty she was always That Bitch" tells Col Moran.
Newman has long been a favourite writer of mine.
If you enjoy Newman's other works, Sherlockian fiction or literary mashups this this book for you
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