Rosemarie S. reviewed The Last Sherlock Holmes Story (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) on + 69 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Well written 'last' adventure of Sherlock Holmes. A solution to the "Jack the Ripper" mystery is startling! Watson observes way more than he ever wanted. This is a real page turner and completely enjoyable read.
sphinx reviewed The Last Sherlock Holmes Story (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) on + 97 more book reviews
Please note: The following review (above the warning) might be slightly spoilery, though I've avoided revealing anything outright. Under the warning is spoiler territory.
Looking around the internet, I've noticed that reviews for this pastiche are pretty evenly split between one star and five stars, and now I know why that is. I've just finished reading the book and feel compelled to recommend it to others, with one caveat: if you've ever tried reading AU fan fiction about Holmes and Watson, and didn't enjoy it, then don't read this book. This story features an interpretation of canon that is dark and distressing, to say the least, and the descriptions included of the very real Whitechapel murders are vivid and gory, and very much not for anyone with delicate sensibilities.
That said, it was a very well-written pastiche - not perfect (I thought Watson was perhaps not quite as bright as he is in canon, and maybe a bit less complex than the somewhat moody fellow we are familiar with from the original stories), but certainly convincing enough that I could mostly lose myself in the tale rather than constantly critiquing the author's characterisation choices. The author's depiction of our favourite detective is fascinating, and Holmes's response to this most serious of cases is perfectly believable. I am not prone to crying over books, but my eyes were wet by the conclusion of this story, and I couldn't help thinking that it would make an excellent, if decidedly dark and morbid, film. For anyone who loves Sherlock Holmes, this will be a difficult read, but a very worthwhile one, if you can suspend what you believe and let the author lead you into the shadow realm of human nature, wherein lie our deepest fears.
SPOILERS BELOW!!
As Dark!Sherlock depictions go, this one is terrifying, memorable, and truly sad, even if you suspect you know the solution to the mystery, as I did. I was left with a deep imprint on my mind that is going to haunt me for some time, and colour my picture of Sherlock Holmes a little differently than it ever was before. I thought that Watson's reaction to learning the truth was very much in-character for him - refusing at first to see his best friend in this new, horrible light and struggling even at the end to lift a hand against Holmes, still wishing for the man he thought he knew to return.
The starkly realistic way that Holmes's mental illness is described in this book is what makes it so chilling. It fits seamlessly not only with canon (in the manner of reading between the lines), but also with a modern view of the workings of the mind. This is no one-dimensional horror-story villain bearing Sherlock Holmes's name, but a complex picture of an individual tortured by his own uncontrollable thoughts and impulses, struggling to elude and outwit his own inner shadow, which is compelling him to commit the hideous deeds that he carries out with all the lucidity and cunning his natural gifts have graced him with.
Watson claims to lose all sympathy for Holmes following his discovery of the truth, but his actions belie his words, and I found myself suffering along with him, unable to stop caring about Sherlock's fate, about this tormented man so stricken with horror at the darkness in himself that he physically runs from it in a vain attempt to leave it behind. Watson's lingering love for his dear friend doesn't go unreturned, either, I'm pleased to report, and that is another detail that made this story painful and believable for me, for it reflects their canon relationship so well. Watson is Holmes's world, as he always should be, even in the most dark and distressing of AUs.
This book is pure hurt with no comfort, but I'm glad that I read it, even so, and highly recommend it to anyone who can handle a boatload of angst with their Sherlock fic.
Looking around the internet, I've noticed that reviews for this pastiche are pretty evenly split between one star and five stars, and now I know why that is. I've just finished reading the book and feel compelled to recommend it to others, with one caveat: if you've ever tried reading AU fan fiction about Holmes and Watson, and didn't enjoy it, then don't read this book. This story features an interpretation of canon that is dark and distressing, to say the least, and the descriptions included of the very real Whitechapel murders are vivid and gory, and very much not for anyone with delicate sensibilities.
That said, it was a very well-written pastiche - not perfect (I thought Watson was perhaps not quite as bright as he is in canon, and maybe a bit less complex than the somewhat moody fellow we are familiar with from the original stories), but certainly convincing enough that I could mostly lose myself in the tale rather than constantly critiquing the author's characterisation choices. The author's depiction of our favourite detective is fascinating, and Holmes's response to this most serious of cases is perfectly believable. I am not prone to crying over books, but my eyes were wet by the conclusion of this story, and I couldn't help thinking that it would make an excellent, if decidedly dark and morbid, film. For anyone who loves Sherlock Holmes, this will be a difficult read, but a very worthwhile one, if you can suspend what you believe and let the author lead you into the shadow realm of human nature, wherein lie our deepest fears.
SPOILERS BELOW!!
As Dark!Sherlock depictions go, this one is terrifying, memorable, and truly sad, even if you suspect you know the solution to the mystery, as I did. I was left with a deep imprint on my mind that is going to haunt me for some time, and colour my picture of Sherlock Holmes a little differently than it ever was before. I thought that Watson's reaction to learning the truth was very much in-character for him - refusing at first to see his best friend in this new, horrible light and struggling even at the end to lift a hand against Holmes, still wishing for the man he thought he knew to return.
The starkly realistic way that Holmes's mental illness is described in this book is what makes it so chilling. It fits seamlessly not only with canon (in the manner of reading between the lines), but also with a modern view of the workings of the mind. This is no one-dimensional horror-story villain bearing Sherlock Holmes's name, but a complex picture of an individual tortured by his own uncontrollable thoughts and impulses, struggling to elude and outwit his own inner shadow, which is compelling him to commit the hideous deeds that he carries out with all the lucidity and cunning his natural gifts have graced him with.
Watson claims to lose all sympathy for Holmes following his discovery of the truth, but his actions belie his words, and I found myself suffering along with him, unable to stop caring about Sherlock's fate, about this tormented man so stricken with horror at the darkness in himself that he physically runs from it in a vain attempt to leave it behind. Watson's lingering love for his dear friend doesn't go unreturned, either, I'm pleased to report, and that is another detail that made this story painful and believable for me, for it reflects their canon relationship so well. Watson is Holmes's world, as he always should be, even in the most dark and distressing of AUs.
This book is pure hurt with no comfort, but I'm glad that I read it, even so, and highly recommend it to anyone who can handle a boatload of angst with their Sherlock fic.
