Customer Reviews

Against the Brotherhood: A Mycroft Holmes Novel

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Against the Brotherhood is an enjoyable read. However, it does not fare so well as a story about Sherlock Holmes' older brother, Mycroft.

Mycroft appears in two of the original stories by Sir Arhtur Conan Doyle, and is mentioned in a few others. He is a genius, works for the British government and rarely varies his daily, sedentary routine.

Therein lies the rub. These books read like an espionage/spy series set in Victorian England. Mycroft is a far more active person than Doyle gave us. He crawls long distances, carries a body up a hill and travels across the continent. In the beginning of the second novel in the series, Mycroft literally turns into The Flash when a bomb is discovered. It feels like Quinn Fawcett (pen name for two authors) wanted to write a James Bond-type of series set in Victorian England and plugged Mycroft Holmes in.

Holmes isn't even the main character. Patterson Guthrie is Holmes' secretary and he narrates. Except for at the end of each chapter, when a 'journal' entry is made by Mycroft's manservant. This change interrupts the flow and is merely a cheap device to easily impart information.

If you are looking for more of Mycroft as Doyle created him, you won't find it here. And since each cover prominently notes that the series is authorized by Sir Arthur's daughter, you might reasonably expect that.

Thus, I found it to be a nice book, but misleading. Expect a good spy tale, not a Mycroft Holmes case, and you will be pleased.

I've always wondered about Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock Holmes's mysterious sibling. He appeared only in a few of Conan Doyle's stories and (if I remember correctly) made an appearance in Nicholas Meyer's "The Seven Percent Solution". However, until now, Mycroft has remained largely in the background, a figure on the periphery of Sherlock's better-documented exploits.

Fortunately for us, author Quinn Fawcett, with endorsement by none other than Dame Jean Conan Doyle herself, has fashioned a new crime series which pulls Mycroft from the shadows and into his rightful place in detective fiction. "Against The Brotherhood", the first novel in Fawcett's series, also introduces the reader to Mycroft's capable secretary Paterson Guthrie, his worthy houseman Philip Tyers and a stimulating new cast of characters and villains that is worthy both of the Conan Doyle family endorsement and the regard and enjoyment of the millions of faithful Sherlock devotees.

In "Against The Brotherhood", Mycroft and Guthrie find themselves pitted against a mysterious, blood-thirsty organization of ruthless men, set on destroying the world's great governments through various underhanded, clandestine and (quite often) murderous and bloody methods. The novel contains many hair-raising moments, as Mycroft sends Guthrie undercover to penetrate the mysterious "Brotherhood" and, in so doing, puts his secretary's life at stake for, if Guthrie's real identity is discovered by the very group he is trying to infiltrate, they will stop at nothing to silence him - forever, and in VERY nasty ways.

In fashioning Mycroft Holmes (who has sometimes been called "Sherlock's smarter brother"), Fawcett gives us not so much a smarter sibling (for to be sure, brains run in that family in spades) but a "kinder, gentler" sibling. He is brilliant without his brother's arrogance, and more human. There is far less of Sherlock's chilly remoteness, and one senses that Mycroft is psychologically better-adjusted than his brother, who has many inner demons driving him. The two, when compared together, make a stimulating contrast.

Likewise, Guthrie is no Watson, although he, like Watson, faithfully records the exploits of his employer. Each of Guthrie's chapters is capped by an entry from Tyers's private diary, which provides extra information about the main plot while spinning a side plot concerning the approaching death of Tyers's elderly mother. Guthrie is a courageous character, willing to do more than what's required of him and able to stand his ground in a tight spot. And there are plenty of those in "Against The Brotherhood".

I've just started the second Mycroft Holmes novel, "Embassy Row", fast on the heels of completing this one, and I'm finding that situations, characters and references carry over from one novel to the next. Therefore, I believe it would be best to begin this series at the beginning, with "Against The Brotherhood", in order to follow the references to past exploits that will be made in future novels.

I definitely feel that Sherlock Holmes fans will appreciate the new focus on his brother, Mycroft, and Quinn Fawcett has done an excellent job in breathing life into a little-known literary creation. I highly recommend this admirable and fun-to-read series.

For five years I have been undergoing treatment which greatly limited my attention span. The best I could do was 'look at' The U.S.A. Today. I spent the last week browsing various "listamania" lists at Amazon.com. Based upon listamania recommendations, I ordered 10 books--some from Amazon, others from the library. The first book I chose to read was this Mycroft Holmes book. I'm hooked again on reading. I know I will spend all night reading this book. This an old feeling rekindled. Thanks to all 'listamania" posters. You have helped me to begin reclaiming my intellectual heritage.

Quinn Fawcett has begun a series of books relating to Mycroft Holmes, the older and more intelligent brother of the better known Sherlock. Mycroft has been a figure of fascination since he first appeared in 'The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter' in 1893, and has often been featured in stories as the man behind the Victorian British secret service.

Mr. Fawcett also takes this view. He also endeavours to retain Mycroft's depiction as an armchair theorist, although not to the extent that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did, the depiction is at least fairly consistent (unlike, for instance, the depiction in Glen Petrie's 'The Hampstead Poisonings').

It is therefore unsurprising to find that the book is largely narrated in the first person by Mycroft's secretary, Paterson Erskine Guthrie, who is also Mycroft's agent in the field. While Mycroft eventually follows Guthrie into the field later in the novel (and there is an excellent explanation of why no-one notices this), Guthrie is principally in the spotlight, and thus preserving the wonder of his employer's intelligence - much as Dr. Watson does in the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Holmes and Guthrie are pitted against the Brotherhood, a secret society who have plans against the many governments of Europe, who are a very nasty bunch.

While spy thrillers are not normally a genre of choice for me, this book was quite an entertaining read. And if you enjoy this, there are another three books (at least!) in the series.

I was not expecting to enjoy this book very much, since it lacks the younger Holmes brother, Sherlock, but I found I loved it. Guthrie, and Mycroft through Guthrie's eyes, proved to be interesting characters, and the plot kept me entertained. The only fault I can find with this book is that Mycroft was not in it as much as I would have expected, this being his series and all. But that will not keep me from reading the next book in the series, which I am looking forward to doing!

Recently I read the beginning of "Embassy Row", by the same authors, with the same players, on the publisher's site. I'm really conflicted about the pace and style.

The authors recreated a bourgeois Victorian flat so vividly that I felt old drapes, smelled a coal fire, and imagined animals in the grain of darkening woodwork. I wanted to vacuum those Persian carpets properly. I felt the hand-sewn buttons and brass tacks of Mycroft's bony sofa, toyed with an imaginary smoking stand and drummed my fingers on his Indian brassware. As he dined on roast pork with vegetables and nosed an old brandy, I salivated.

When Mycroft spoke, I heard the precise tones of actor Charles Gray in a dinner jacket, his fluted shirt still spotless, dropping snippets of Parisian French and guardedly sharing intricacies of his profession with trusted friends. What beautiful, world-building prose!

Yet when those gentlemen lit their cigars, I'd leave the room, for, while reupholstering an era, we'd neglected the plot. NOTHING MATERIAL HAD HAPPENED YET!

If ruffians dispatched Mycroft and friends to the hospital, I'd burgle his flat and have German agents remove those verbal furnishings to an auction house. That's because, as a distracted reader, I preferred a brisk, lucid, journalistic style.

In fairness to the authors, I did stay with their china, umbrellas, and carriages until the free sample ended. Then I looked him/them up on Amazon. Yes, their prose was eminently readable, whereas an equivalent sampling of Sir Walter Scott would drive me to television.

Would I buy their book? Next November I might. I'd read half the chapters, skim the rest, and wrap the book as a gift. But that's a personal bias. Others with fewer distractions would enjoy the authors' inspired reproductions in their entirety.

Mycroft Holmes is only mentioned in a few of Sherlock's adventures and this look at his life and one of his adventures by Quinn Fawcett makes for fun reading. With just a few basics to work with, Fawcett creates a plausible world for Mycroft to inhabit. The adventure, dealing with political intrigue and occult trappings, moves along well and many details of Mycroft's activities are explained. The inclusion of two different perspectives on the adventure (one from Mycroft's adventuring secretary, one from his butler) add to the interesting format Fawcett uses to move the plot along. Good fun in Victorian espionage.

Fawcett has perfectly captured the Victorian zen with this addition to the Holmes tapestry. As most fans know, Mycroft, Sherlock's older and "smarter" brother is the brain of the British government's intelligence and counterintelligence services of the period, and Fawcett convincingly populates the time and place.

The prose is wonderful, particularly the dialogue, which perfectly captures the essence of the highly articulate and oh-so-English main characters. It's a pleasure to read an author that places such an emphasis on the quality of the dialogue.

The story itself moves forward with real momentum; I found it increasingly difficult to put the book down as I progressed through it.

Highly recommended to Holmes fans, or any reader with an interest in Victorian settings.

This is a book of extremes, some good, some bad, and some just plain ridiculous. These extremes combine to make it rather bland overall.

In the positive category, the author does a great job of recreating the Victorian Era. The plot is also good. While not original, the idea of having secret societies controlling European politics behind the scenes is just the kind of plot gimmick to appeal to conspiracy theorists and make for an interesting story. My favorite aspect of Against the Brotherhood was the way the narrator acknowledged that killing someone, even when necessary or in self-defense, disgusts a sensitive person and damages his soul. It's rare to find a book that honestly deals with the damaging effects killing has on the psyche of the killer.

In the negative category, the book is touted as "A Mycroft Holmes Novel" on the cover, but he's really a supporting character. The main character is his secretary, Patterson Guthrie, who narrates the story while undertaking a secret mission for Holmes on the Continent to make sure an important treaty gets to England.

Mycroft only becomes a major character in the second half of the book, during which he pulls strings, advises Guthrie, and assumes disguises and fake accents. This reminded me of The Hound of the Baskervilles, in which Sherlock Holmes is absent for 40% of the story while John Watson reports on his own activities in the field, with Holmes turning up for the climax and conclusion of the book.

Brotherhood also has a subplot about the mother of Mycroft's valet being on her deathbed. This is referred to so frequently I thought sure it would turn out to have some relevance to the rest of the story, but it doesn't. Apparently it was only stuck in to show the reader what a great guy Mycroft is for allowing his servant to take lots of time off to be with his dying mother. That may have been a remarkable concession in the Victorian Era, but to a modern reader it just seems like common decency, and therefore silly to make such a big deal out of it.

The biggest problem with this book is that Mycroft is such a complete Gary Stu. Sherlock Holmes is the best-loved character in fiction because he's so *real*. Sure, he's a brilliant, witty, super-competent Renaissance man, but he's also mercurial, self-destructive, and something of a jerk, especially in the stories before "The Final Problem." And for all his posturing about being a "thinking machine," his intense emotions are frequently discernible to the reader.

Mycroft Holmes is also a brilliant, super-competent Renaissance man (although he's not particularly witty, and in this book he's not self-destructive), but he's so laid-back as to be phlegmatic. This is carried to such a ludicrous extreme that he remains utterly unflappable even during a series of life-threatening crises in the last few chapters of the book. He also is just as great an actor, and just as much a man of action, as Sherlock is at his best.

In the most ridiculous Gary Stu scene of all, Mycroft carries a severely injured man over his shoulder for what must be at least two miles. (The good guys had walked briskly for over half an hour from where they left their horses to reach the castle they attacked.) This would be an extremely difficult feat even for a young, healthy man in perfect training; for a middle-aged, morbidly obese couch potato like Mycroft, it would bring on a heart attack, stroke, or both. This reminded me of a similarly absurd scene in another Sherlockian pastiche, The Beekeeper's Apprentice, in which a teenaged Mary Russell cracks a bone in her foot rescuing a little girl. Then she climbs down a tree and runs several blocks, all while carrying the child, and despite her injured foot. Preposterous!

I guess--oops, sorry, Sherlock--I *deduce* we're supposed to believe Mycroft is just husky rather than fat, but in the Sherlock Holmes story, "The Greek Interpreter," he is described by the physician narrator as "absolutely corpulent," and having "a broad, fat hand like the flipper of a seal." That's not the description of a man who is big and muscular, but of one who is morbidly obese.

Worst of all for the book, the most interesting character by far is not one of the principals, but an assassin from a rival cabal who unites with Holmes and Guthrie to help them defeat the bad guys. I'm being deliberately vague so as not to give anything away, but I found this person far more intriguing and exciting than any of the major characters. The conclusion is set up so this person can return in future novels, but it would have been a far more interesting book if that character had been the main one in the first place. Then the tale could have been about how this person became an assassin, and the character's adventures as a member of this secret organization. In other words, Fawcett committed the novelist's cardinal sin of creating a supporting character who is more interesting than his main characters.

This is not a bad book, but it's not all that great, either. I recommend checking it out of the library or buying it cheap used. I give it two-and-a-half stars.

I've always been curious about the activities of Mycroft outside of his appearances in the Doyle stories. Fawcett cptures the essence of Doyle's characteres and the feel of late Victorian London. I was heartily impressed by his work and look forward to reading the sequel.