Reviews - The Hound of the Baskervilles Illustrated

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4.3k reviews for:

The Hound of the Baskervilles Illustrated

Arthur Conan Doyle

4.0 AVERAGE

markmags's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

readingrobyn's review against another edition

4.0

This is the final Sherlock novel for me to read, now with all four under my belt, I'm excited to say that this one was probably my favourite.

The Hound of the Baskervilles has a mystery that edges on the supernatural as our Sherlock and Watson duo go up against a Hell dog in the bleak English country side. This mystery was just plain ol' fun to get into. I loved how the idea of the Hell dog constantly hinged on reality. If a hound is really involved how would such madness actually translate to murder?

Much to my surprise most of the book is spent with just Dr. Watson solo (as Sherlock is predisposed) and I found that this worked really well. Watson sort of comes into his own, he's still just the observer, but is decidedly working to collect facts and clues without Sherlock's guidance. That fact alone really played into the mystery, we didn't always have Sherlock looking two steps ahead. Instead we were introduced to a situation where the murderer is still lurking, and with a doubt planning to strike again, without Sherlock there to see it coming.

This book has a very different feel then my second favourite Sherlock novel [b:The Valley of Fear|736131|The Valley of Fear |Arthur Conan Doyle|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177850131s/736131.jpg|1343585]. This one is a continuous story, more about the chase and trying to pin down the killer then understanding the crime. The reason this book is probably my favourite has a lot to do with the ending, so I won't go into that here, but the excitement created with those final events was excellent!

In the end, this book has gotten me really looking forward to reading more Sherlock and getting into those short stories sooner rather then later!

drewknew's review against another edition

4.0

Have reviewed this here: http://oneexwidow.blogspot.com/2010/11/hound-of-baskervilles.html

thesaltybrunette's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

wahistorian's review against another edition

4.0

I believe this is my first Sherlock Holmes, so I admit it was difficult to keep the screen images of Holmes out of my mind while I read; as I read Holmes' analysis, it was Jeremy Brett's voice I heard, for example. But there were many surprises for me about this book, when measured against my expectations. The biggest one was that it is not a thriller, despite the number of times Doyle used the word in the text (and despite the lunging dog on the front cover). The author himself called it a "creeper," and it certainly was that: though Sir Charles Baskerville mysteriously dies, apparently of fright, at the beginning of the book, the reader is carried along not by any definite foreboding, but more by the experience of creeping along with Dr. Watson as he protects the next heir to the Baskerville estate. For me, then, the book became a complicated examination of the ties that bind--Watson to Holmes, servant to master, kin to kin--and how one interloper can threaten them. Every red herring introduced (escaped convict, mysterious bearded stranger, disgruntled houseman, scarlet woman), though ultimately not responsible for the crime at the book's center, still challenges the established social order. In the end, it is really only Watson and Holmes' friendship that emerges unscathed.