I love Sherlock Holmes adaptations. I really do. They have so much potential.

Especially with classics that are set in a modern context, there is a lot of room for new ideas that take the original into account, as well as relying on a well-known story as a foundation.

However, this potential sadly wasn‘t fully achieved with "Moriarty".

On the positive side, the amount of spotlight John Watson got was a really pleasant surprise, since he is usually regarded as just a sidekick. Furthermore, I liked getting some insight into his character, as well as the grief he dealt with after losing Sherlock.

It also had some really fascinating takes on Sherlock's adventures and pointed out some interesting flaws in his reasonings.

Sadly, this story wasn't free of those either, so there were some really intransparent motives (I know that there was manipulation involved, but I would have loved more insight into what exactly the words that pushed a character to murdering someone were, especially in such a terrifying fashion as the teardrop killers').

In addition, I had some problems with the character Zenisha Lestarade. At times it seemed like the only reason why she was written as a female character was to open up the possibility of her being a love interest to John, which had no real purpose in the grand scheme of the story.

What really dropped my rating, though, was Moriarty. He kept on insisting that he was better than Sherlock when in reality he was guilty of exactly the same actions, especially with the secrecy he so condemned when talking to John.

Some of my feelings towards the way this book shook out could also be chalked up to the fact that I didn‘t really get a great insight into what kind of story I would be getting myself into before starting it, since the blurb was the only information I could find online regarding this book.

To sum up, this book has a few problems. However, if you can look past them and want to read a story about a modern and sometimes quite funny take on Moriarty, give this a try.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sterling & Stone for providing me with this ARC in return for an honest review.