Sherlock Holmes - The Stuff of Nightmares
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It’s the autumn of 1890, and a spate of bombings has hit London. The newspapers are full of fevered speculation about anarchists, anti-monarchists and Fenians. But one man suspects an even more sinister hand behind the violence. Sherlock Holmes believes Professor Moriarty is orchestrating a nationwide campaign of terror, but to what end? At the same time, a bizarrely garbed figure has been spotted on the rooftops and in the grimy back alleys of the capital. He moves with the extraordinary agility of a latter-day Spring-heeled Jack. He possesses weaponry and armour of unprecedented sophistication. He is known only by the name Baron Cauchemar, and he appears to be a scourge of crime and villainy. But is this masked man truly the force for good that he seems? Is he connected somehow to the bombings? Holmes and his faithful companion Dr Watson are about to embark on one of their strangest and most exhilarating adventures yet.
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This was a fun read. Perfect Watson style=5, One key scene= -2, Great fun adventure=+1*
I've been reading a lot of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, so it was interesting to try this “pastiche” story. I had reached 1890 in the “real” Sherlock stories, so I thought that I would step sideways into Mr Lovegrove's version to see how it went.
The result was interesting. Coming fresh from the originals I can say with authority that James Lovegrove has the characters and tone spot on. Absolute bulls-eye. There are many scenes particularly Holmes' first visit to the Vicomte de Villegrand that I could easily believe were lost papers from Sir Arthur himself (if not from Dr Watson).
While most of the book was not quite as far fetched as the blurb/cover implies, the scenes with the “Baron” were often a little far fetched for a Holmes novel, with the very notable exception of a key scene the visit to his lair which was Holmes gold. That said, all characters stayed perfectly in character throughout, which to me allowed James Lovegrove to somehow pull it off.
There was just one moment at the very end (coming hot on the heels of a brilliant Sir Arthur style showdown) where I did feel it had overstepped the mark when the train turned out to be a transformer/battlemech and I was knocked out of the book for a moment. That was too far fetched and not needed. I did press on however and was very glad I did because within a few moments we were back in the swing again and Holmes was dealing with things with his usual mixture of insight and quick reflexes.
So overall, if you are a Holmes purist, probably stay away. If you love the characters of Holmes and Watson and want a rip-roaring adventure/mystery with a Conan Doyle style romance backstory, then give this a go.
