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A review by esdeecarlson
The Return of the Pharaoh: From the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D. by Nicholas Meyer
4.0
**This book was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.**
Meyer’s pastiche is predictably excellent; his writing takes great pains to match Doyle’s, and his footnotes “explaining” discrepancies and references in “Watson’s journal” add a delightful touch of reality to the scene.
The setting is the real star of the show. Beautifully painted by “Watson’s” excited prose, Egypt, from the health clinic to the Khan El-Khalili to the desolate sands of the desert, is a fabulous setting to drop the famed Holmes and Watson into, and Meyer clearly appreciates that. The only downside is that Holmes and Watson are complete Egyptological novices, and so any reader familiar with late Victorian Egyptology will probably cringe as experts in the field are forced to spend time during the digging season explaining the most basic of concepts to them, which I rather feel Holmes might have acquired by skimming a book. That said, most readers will not be familiar, so this should not be a detriment, and it is fun to see a cameo from Howard Carter.
The very best part of this book, however, is the relationship between Holmes and Watson. As the two are thrown into one of their most dangerous cases yet, we get to see the deep and fervent friendship between the two men in a way that nonetheless stays perfectly true to their characters.
Meyer’s pastiche is predictably excellent; his writing takes great pains to match Doyle’s, and his footnotes “explaining” discrepancies and references in “Watson’s journal” add a delightful touch of reality to the scene.
The setting is the real star of the show. Beautifully painted by “Watson’s” excited prose, Egypt, from the health clinic to the Khan El-Khalili to the desolate sands of the desert, is a fabulous setting to drop the famed Holmes and Watson into, and Meyer clearly appreciates that. The only downside is that Holmes and Watson are complete Egyptological novices, and so any reader familiar with late Victorian Egyptology will probably cringe as experts in the field are forced to spend time during the digging season explaining the most basic of concepts to them, which I rather feel Holmes might have acquired by skimming a book. That said, most readers will not be familiar, so this should not be a detriment, and it is fun to see a cameo from Howard Carter.
The very best part of this book, however, is the relationship between Holmes and Watson. As the two are thrown into one of their most dangerous cases yet, we get to see the deep and fervent friendship between the two men in a way that nonetheless stays perfectly true to their characters.