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A review by juliemawesome
Vanishing Girl by Shane Peacock
3.0
I received this as a review copy from LibraryThing, so I need to write my main review over there. I have not done that yet. I'm treating this as a warm-up.
Essentially this is the third in a series starring young Sherlock Holmes. I've lost track already of what his age is... 12, give or take 2 years?
A high society girl has been kidnapped, and he sets out to solve the case. In resourceful ways, being as how he lacks a lot of resources and the autonomy that being an adult (especially one with the blessing of the police) would give him.
I could believe this was Sherlock, although I do have some quibbles. I could believe in it being old London, though I have some other factual quibbles tangentially related to that.
Where this really fails is as a mystery. Way too much is given away if I'm spending 95% of the book just waiting for Sherlock to figure out what I've already figured out. I'm not a sophisticated mystery reader, but I'm not an idiot either.
The whole thing was also told in present tense, which was driving me up a wall until I finally got used to it. Not that I ever accepted it, but it stopped bugging me so much.
And yet somehow I still enjoyed it enough that I think it does merit those 3 stars I just gave it. Somehow. I may even seek out the first two in the series. Maybe.
A more detailed review to come over on LibraryThing. If I manage to get my butt over there to do it.
Essentially this is the third in a series starring young Sherlock Holmes. I've lost track already of what his age is... 12, give or take 2 years?
A high society girl has been kidnapped, and he sets out to solve the case. In resourceful ways, being as how he lacks a lot of resources and the autonomy that being an adult (especially one with the blessing of the police) would give him.
I could believe this was Sherlock, although I do have some quibbles. I could believe in it being old London, though I have some other factual quibbles tangentially related to that.
Where this really fails is as a mystery. Way too much is given away if I'm spending 95% of the book just waiting for Sherlock to figure out what I've already figured out. I'm not a sophisticated mystery reader, but I'm not an idiot either.
The whole thing was also told in present tense, which was driving me up a wall until I finally got used to it. Not that I ever accepted it, but it stopped bugging me so much.
And yet somehow I still enjoyed it enough that I think it does merit those 3 stars I just gave it. Somehow. I may even seek out the first two in the series. Maybe.
A more detailed review to come over on LibraryThing. If I manage to get my butt over there to do it.