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3.33 AVERAGE
3.33 AVERAGE
This was a great take and update on the famous Homes and Watson duo.
The pacing and narrative voice were pretty good for the first two-thirds, but it became really ponderous toward the end. It has a surprising and disturbing twist ending that the author actually totally spells out for you right from the beginning, but you keep telling yourself, "Yeah right, Watson's got it wrong, I know how these stories go..." I can't say it's a particularly uplifting look at Holmes, but it's certainly different.
Also, it contains this passage: "What was I to do? 221B or not to 221B? That was the question..." I gave it a whole extra star for that one line.
Also, it contains this passage: "What was I to do? 221B or not to 221B? That was the question..." I gave it a whole extra star for that one line.
Didn't even finish this one and I usually push through. Took me three nights to read almost 100 pages. I don't like the writing style.
Four stars because I think the writing is very good, and I rather liked how Didbin managed to answer my "But what about the...?" questions by the end. It's definitely an odd book, and I couldn't quite buy into this particular version of Holmes. I do wonder how I would have reacted had I not actually already known the twist going in, but there's nothing to be done about that.
I think there must be a hardcore Holmes scholar who's donating stuff to the library bit by bit because I keep finding lovely editions of the Holmes stories to take home, and today I found this.
The writing style was very simple for something supposedly written in the Victorian age, although this was explained by Watson admitting ACD wrote the stories himself, aside from this one. But the central idea was interesting to say the least. I had guessed it before starting, something some other reviewers didn't, but I've always seen Holmes's dark side, and found it more believable than I'd like to think. So, a truly interesting alternate look at Holmes. Might provide me with fanfic fodder later on ;)
The writing style was very simple for something supposedly written in the Victorian age, although this was explained by Watson admitting ACD wrote the stories himself, aside from this one. But the central idea was interesting to say the least. I had guessed it before starting, something some other reviewers didn't, but I've always seen Holmes's dark side, and found it more believable than I'd like to think. So, a truly interesting alternate look at Holmes. Might provide me with fanfic fodder later on ;)
The first two-thirds of this novel were perfect. Holmes chasing Jack the Ripper while Watson romances his fiancee in secret. Excellent execution of the Doyle prose style. But then...disaster struck. The ending and "plot twist" were horrific. Michael Dibdin's lucky I'm still willing to give him another shot with Ratking after the stunt he pulled.