Exit Sherlock Holmes [Mass Market Paperback]

Robert Lee Hall (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Playboy Press; First Thus edition (1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0872165116
• ISBN-13: 978-0872165113
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,765,016 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The once and future Holmes, November 13, 2006

By 

William Timothy Lukeman - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Exit Sherlock Holmes (Mass Market Paperback)

The 1970s saw a torrent of Holmes pastiches, many of them solid & enjoyable, some truly awful, and a small handful that went in unexpected & fascinating directions. This is one of the best of that small handful, offering a unique take on the origins of Sherlock Holmes, far removed from the usual pastiche ... and in the process, giving us a much warmer, three-dimensional Holmes than is usually encountered. Watson occasionally spoke of glimpsing that Holmes in the Canonical stories, and here that premise is developed quite convincingly. Why did Holmes conceal so much of his past, and strive to remain emotionally detached from even his closest friend? How could Mycroft Holmes occasionally *be* the English government? What was the mysterious link between Holmes & his arch-enemy Moriarity? I won't give anything way! But I will highly recommend this richly satisfying pastiche, in which many secrets are revealed, Watson once again shows his true mettle, and the epic struggle between Holmes & Moriarity is concluded at last. If you can track down a copy, snap it up immediately!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alternative futures..., July 23, 2004

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Exit Sherlock Holmes (Hardcover)

Robert Lee Hall is author of many tales of the real historical figure, Benjamin Franklin, cast in a new light, as a Holmes-like detective in London of his day. It therefore makes sense that, like many authors, Robert Lee Hall turned his hand to an alternative Sherlock Holmes tale, doing the turnabout of weaving the fictional character into real historical events.

Sherlock Holmes is one of the best known detectives in the world -- so famous in fact, that 221B Baker Street in London continues to get mail adddressed to this fictional character almost a century after he would have died had he been a real person. There are groups of people -- Sherlockians and Holmesians, the distinction between which is rather subtle -- who delight in retelling the tales; it has become somewhat traditional to try to fill in the gaps, things left out of the 'canonical' stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- 56 short stories and 4 novels. The official tales allude to happenings beyond them -- some authors take up the point there, and others create fanciful tales altogether.

This tale by Hall creates an alternative ending to Holmes. Conan Doyle tried to kill off Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls, and later resurrected him in an ingenious way. Hall has here resurrected Holmes' arch-enemy in a similar fashion, to return to become a problem not only to London through his criminal activities, but this time to threaten the world.

Hall does what many post-Conan Doyle writers do -- he takes the minor characters and side-bars from the canonical stories and develops them in greater detail. Here we have much more information about Moriarity, just who he is and what his intentions are. We are also introduced to Holmes' mysterious (and often described as smarter) brother Mycroft. Like the much-better known 'Seven-Percent Solution', it gives intriguing alternative theories to just what the relationships are; unlike the other novel, the trouble is not all in Sherlock Holmes' mind.

One of the interesting ideas advanced here is that Holmes did not in fact carry out his final cases, but that these were done by others (most especially Wiggins, developed here as a full character, much more than the canonical bit-player as leader of the Baker Street Irregulars); Hall also carries the fiction that Conan Doyle was the literary agent of a 'real' Dr. Watson.

There is a bit of science fiction here as well, which explains how Moriarty and Holmes are so evenly matched. Watson is introduced ahead of its time to concepts such as test-tube babies and modern technological achievements; Holmes' attempts to stop the first world war prove to be futile, but Watson, Wiggins and others manage to make the conflict not as devasting as it might have been, we are led to believe. But how does this all fit with Moriarty and Holmes?

P.D. James praised this book, as did the Times Literary Supplement. It is worthy of praise, and worthy of inclusion in the post-Conan Doyle Holmesian literary corpus.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sherlock Holmes mixed with Sci Fi- Way ahead of its time, January 30, 2002

By 

DARBY KERN (Green Bay, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Exit Sherlock Holmes (Hardcover)

Exit Sherlock Holmes was the first Non-Doyle Sherlock Holmes book I ever read, so I naturally have fond memories of it. However, reading it again I was surprised at how well it held up after all those years.
The villain is Moriarty, but not the Moriarty you'd expect. Watson points out that the only other time he saw the Professor was on the back of a speeding train and he didn't get a good look at him. That becomes very important in this novel.
I could tell you more but it would give away major plot points. Let me say that this book is more relevant today than it was in the seventies, when it was written. Mister Hall did a great job using Watson's "voice" and Doctor Doyles style of writing, something missing from many Holmes stories of late.
Return to 1895, where people are not what they've seemed to be and others are not who they've claimed to be. You'll be glad you did!