A review by branomir
The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle

5.0

Another wonderful Holmes read, I'm becoming quite the fan it seems. There's something truly wholesome about reading these novels, dated as they may be in some aspects, it really is the type of book to curl up with a cup of tea on a stormy evening. I should definitely do a Fall reread at some point.
What I really love about Doyle's approach is that he manages to avoid making a Holmes a complete Gary Stu by giving him several flaws. He's highly antisocial, suffers from grave moodswings and substance abuse and lacks knowlegde a large number of fields. He wouldn't be a very likeable character to follow, so in comes Doyle's genius by giving us the story through the perspective of the very amiable Watson. Both giving us a far more pleasant person to follow who sort of substitutes for the reader and who also brings out the softer side of Holmes as Watson seems to be the only person he truly likes.

Great fun, highly recommended.