Lock & Mori by Heather W. Petty

Title: Lock & Mori (Lock & Mori #1)
Author: Heather W. Petty
Release Date: September 15, 2015
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Pages: 256
Source: ARC received at 4th Ontario Book Blogger Meet-Up courtesy of Simon & Schuster Canada
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Overall: 2.5 STARS

Summary:

In modern-day London, two brilliant high school students—one Sherlock Holmes and a Miss James “Mori” Moriarty—meet. A murder will bring them together. The truth very well might drive them apart.

Before they were mortal enemies, they were much more…

FACT: Someone has been murdered in London’s Regent’s Park. The police have no leads.

FACT: Miss James “Mori” Moriarty and Sherlock “Lock” Holmes should be hitting the books on a school night. Instead, they are out crashing a crime scene.

FACT: Lock has challenged Mori to solve the case before he does. Challenge accepted.

FACT: Despite agreeing to Lock’s one rule—they must share every clue with each other—Mori is keeping secrets.

OBSERVATION: Sometimes you can’t trust the people closest to you with matters of the heart. And after this case, Mori may never trust Lock again. 

My Thoughts: 
When a murder occurs in London's Regent Park, the police think it's only a mugging gone wrong, but Sherlock "Lock" Holmes and James "Mori" Moriarty believe the clues left behind at the crime scene suggest otherwise. Unwilling to leave the investigation in the hands of the incompetent detectives, Lock challenges Mori to solve the case before he does.

Mori has no interest in joining Lock's game, not when her life is falling apart. Ever since her mother passed away six months ago, her alcoholic father has become verbally and physically abusive. Her parents always had a volatile relationship, but she never imagined her dad could transform into such a monster. But when Mori learns the murder victim knew her mother, she is determined to discovered the truth on her own.

While I felt awful for Mori's home situation, it doesn't excuse the fact that Mori is cold, selfish, and honestly needs to get over herself. Everything is always about her. She insists she's trying to protect her younger brothers from their father, yet we barely even meet them in the novel. She always seems to be leaving them at home alone to fend for themselves while she escapes to the park to avoid her father. And because her dad is a detective, Mori has convinced herself that no one will help her family.

Mori likes to think she's so smart and above everything, but her intelligence is more related to having a good memory than anything else. In reality, she's oblivious to her surroundings or anything that doesn't revolve around her. I thought Moriarty is supposed to be a mastermind, someone to equal Sherlock's brilliance? I think the book was trying to set the pieces in motion for Mori to eventually become Lock's rival/enemy, but Mori's actions just didn't really make much sense.

I wouldn't really say an instalove forms between Lock and Mori, mostly because it felt so one-sided on Lock's part. Mori just wanted to feel a personal connection to someone, and it didn't seem like she genuinely cared about Lock, especially since it seemed all she did was lie and keep secrets from him when they weren't busy kissing. Lock tries to support and help Mori, but in her grief and anger, she creates animosity between them that's all in her head. And Lock just takes whatever scraps of affection Mori is willing to throw at him.

Lock reminded me of an adorable, curious puppy. He wasn't the eccentric genius I'd imagined he would be like when we first meet him experimenting in his very own lab at school, which was then never mentioned again, strangely enough. Lock likes to make observations about everyone around him, but his role was mainly just limited to being a love interest in the novel, which was kind of a shame.

I wanted to like Heather W. Petty's Lock & Mori, I really did, but I was just left feeling so disappointed when I turned the last page. This modern interpretation of Sherlock Holmes missed the mark for me. It was a half-hearted attempt at being a mystery novel, and it failed to convince me that a believable rivalry between Lock and Mori could form. Lock was simply too smitten with Mori, and Mori isn't half as clever as she think she is. While Lock & Mori is the first book in a trilogy, I'm not really interested in reading the sequel.