Moriarty. John Gardner

After reading the first two of Gardner's Moriarty books, I still wasn't quite prepared for the realism of this final volume. Mr. Gardner spent a lot of effort on this book and it shows in a myriad of details. The bits of cant and the intriguing characters are expected from him, but the details of the places and people are superb. I was especially delighted with his description of the program from a Music Hall benefit for soldiers in the Boer War.On a more serious note, this final chronicle brings home the darker side of Moriarty's life more vividly than the earlier works. His own fastidious nature wars with his lust for power and he exposes himself more wantonly than in earlier chronicles. It feels as if Gardner wanted to explore the depths of Moriarty’s character in order to cleanse himself as a final step in completing the process of telling his story.There is a feeling of finality and of retribution in this book that is missing from the earlier volumes. The action and the ending are of far less import than the character exposure and the delecticious enjoyment of the time and place. The author has indulged himself in his love for the era and has gone to a lot of trouble to display it in all of its detail before his readers. The Professor is part of that era and his strengths and faults are displayed as exemplars of the times and the society. It is a total act of love from the artist.Reviewed by Philip K. Jones, January, 2009