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A review by dorhastings
The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I read many a Sherlock Holmes story years ago, and I've read three of Anthony Horowitz's "Hawthorne and Horowitz Mysteries", so that was my setup for this particular novel. Given that I have, in general, appreciated both collections, I was in a good mood and fair preparation for this book.
It's sort of stunning to me that I didn't think of Holmes and Watson as I was reading the Hawthorne and Horowitz Mysteries. I know it's not an uncommon pattern (to have a detective or private investigator and a layperson), but I felt the connection quite a lot in Horowitz's own pair (and interesting to think that Horowitz got the family of Arthur Conan Doyle's blessing prior to publishing his first Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery). Hawthorne and Horowitz, as a dynamic, is actually my least favorite aspect of those books, and I was grateful to not see too much of the "aww that's cute that you can't see these things that are super obvious to me" dynamic (though of course there was some).
The idea behind this book is pretty unique, I think. Watson is near the end of his life, and he's already published a good lot of Sherlock Holmes episodes. He is revisiting an old case (it doesn't appear to be one of Holmes's last cases, but in it, he is already well-established as a famous private detective) that is darker and more gruesome than the others, such that Watson intends to have it published well after his own death (and Sherlock Holmes is already dead). This is indeed a pretty dark book when you get to the ending, with some hints of it earlier on that I don't remember from the original set (but then, that's how it was). So if you're expecting another run-of-the-mill Sherlock Holmes books, just be aware that there will be some dark and sensitive content.
I like that one mystery starts, but another takes up most of the entirety of the book. Horowitz is always particularly good at making sure every plotline gets wrapped up in the end, and the case is no different from this book. If you're paying attention (and I've given up on doing this most of the time), the first mystery doesn't really feel "solved" when we move on to the next case, and it's addressed super concisely in the last chapter.
I did enjoy the read; in fact, I read most of it in a day of travel, and normally I'm not really in the mood to read much when I'm going from plane to layover to next plane. I was jamming through the short epilogue as my last plane was descending (I had to finish!). I'm glad I read the book, and I will likely read at least the other book, Moriarty. There is probably more Watson in Horowitz's books than in the original mysteries by Conan Doyle, likely because the focus was always meant to be on Sherlock Holmes, so I'm glad that Horowitz is including Watson a little more. He's slightly less bumbling than Horowitz is in the Hawthorne and Horowitz Mysteries (I cannot stand Horowitz in the series).
Now, it's been a minute since I've read Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, but I don't know if the original Sherlock would, for example, be so upset that he inadvertently put a child in danger that he would then burn down the old school of the House of Silk (SILC?), but perhaps that's not the point. This isn't exactly Conan Doyle's Sherlock, and maybe he shouldn't be. I can certainly see that he might be so bothered by something that he could not function without resolving the situation. So I feel a bit weird about that, but I also like that Horowitz is writing his own Sherlock that bears obvious resemblance to the original.
It's sort of stunning to me that I didn't think of Holmes and Watson as I was reading the Hawthorne and Horowitz Mysteries. I know it's not an uncommon pattern (to have a detective or private investigator and a layperson), but I felt the connection quite a lot in Horowitz's own pair (and interesting to think that Horowitz got the family of Arthur Conan Doyle's blessing prior to publishing his first Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery). Hawthorne and Horowitz, as a dynamic, is actually my least favorite aspect of those books, and I was grateful to not see too much of the "aww that's cute that you can't see these things that are super obvious to me" dynamic (though of course there was some).
The idea behind this book is pretty unique, I think. Watson is near the end of his life, and he's already published a good lot of Sherlock Holmes episodes. He is revisiting an old case (it doesn't appear to be one of Holmes's last cases, but in it, he is already well-established as a famous private detective) that is darker and more gruesome than the others, such that Watson intends to have it published well after his own death (and Sherlock Holmes is already dead). This is indeed a pretty dark book when you get to the ending, with some hints of it earlier on that I don't remember from the original set (but then, that's how it was). So if you're expecting another run-of-the-mill Sherlock Holmes books, just be aware that there will be some dark and sensitive content.
I like that one mystery starts, but another takes up most of the entirety of the book. Horowitz is always particularly good at making sure every plotline gets wrapped up in the end, and the case is no different from this book. If you're paying attention (and I've given up on doing this most of the time), the first mystery doesn't really feel "solved" when we move on to the next case, and it's addressed super concisely in the last chapter.
I did enjoy the read; in fact, I read most of it in a day of travel, and normally I'm not really in the mood to read much when I'm going from plane to layover to next plane. I was jamming through the short epilogue as my last plane was descending (I had to finish!). I'm glad I read the book, and I will likely read at least the other book, Moriarty. There is probably more Watson in Horowitz's books than in the original mysteries by Conan Doyle, likely because the focus was always meant to be on Sherlock Holmes, so I'm glad that Horowitz is including Watson a little more. He's slightly less bumbling than Horowitz is in the Hawthorne and Horowitz Mysteries (I cannot stand Horowitz in the series).
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, and Drug use