Customer Reviews

The Giant Rat of Sumatra; from The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes

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

 

 

This book features Mycroft quite a bit, which I like. The story's title, "The Giant Rat Of Sumatra" comes from one of the many cases that Doyle mentioned in passing. These always drove his readers nuts, because we always wanted more stories about Holmes. The adventure keeps moving toward a confrontation between Sherlock Holmes and a young nemesis that Moriarty had once wanted as a protégé. The author has also taken a cue from Doyle's mention of Sumatra and worked a volcanic fact into his story. In actual history (the 1880s), a volcano called Krakatoa, which lies a few miles off Sumatra, blew up in a massive explosion, affecting worldwide weather for about a year. There is, admittedly, a little Jules Verne science fiction here, but I personally prefer this format over having a Holmes that rings false; i.e. a Holmes convenient enough to be embroiled in the kind of sex-infused tales that some authors know drive today's fiction market, or that subject him to the kind of impossible domestic situations that Doyle (despite his occasional graphicness, or even the morality implied in "The Cardboard Box"), would hardly have imagined.
I'm also glad the villain isn't overly psychologized so that I 'understand' him. Doyle never bothered a lot with overexplaning his characters, and this makes his stories appealing. With Doyle, good guys are good guys, and bad guys are bad guys. And when a good guy like Holmes has a bad fault, it isn't explained away. Holmes is an addict because he's bored, not because of some submerged lingering childhood psychosis that needs explaining so that I excuse his addition. Similarly, the best villains in Doyle are not excused, and do not excite sympathy; consequently we have a lot of fun loathing nasty guys like Charles Augustus Milverton, Baron Gruner, and Rodger Baskerville. So I'm relieved to find the characters in "The Giant Rat" (this title proves to be a double entendre for Moriarty), pigeonholed so that I can relax, and react to them faithfully. All in all, the author has made a definite attempt at keeping Doyle's Holmes intact, helped partly by the author's occasional humor, but mostly by the eerily-close imitation of cadence and phrase so identified with the original Doyle stories. If the villain is more thinly veiled than I would have liked, it's apparently because the tale is more of an adventure than a mystery. Four-and-a-half stars, then, for this fault, but given a choice between four and 5, I'll take the latter.

"The Giant Rat of Sumatra" is a delightful little book suitable for a quick dose of Holmes. Why not have some fun with the concept of Doyle's "lost" manuscripts? I found the author's treatment of this idea entertaining and thought provoking. The presentation of Holmes' brother is particularly refreshing and I was amused by his assistance to Holmes throughout the tale.

It would be a mistake to approach this clever little adventure with a Holmesian purist's zeal looking to pounce on any perceived lack of faithfulness to the originals; I say relax and enjoy a timely tale of hatred of civilization with authentic renderings of some of our most beloved companions.

The attractive cover matches the exotic sense of adventure suggested in the title, while the subdued "period" illustrations appropriately punctuate and supplement the text.

As a gift from a friend, it was a fine companion for a short bit of post-holiday relaxation by the fire.

If you are a dedicated follower of Holmes'adventures you will want to own this pastiche....just because. The plot is as acceptable as any; the bad guy is very bad and Holmes' manages to neutralize him with customary aplomb. The very real resonance with events throughout the world today is another strong plus. There are, however, two items disturbing enough that they are worthy of note. The first is a less than complete command of Watson's narrative voice. There are a number of sections wherein the voice has the ring of the late twentieth century rather than the late nineteenth. I noticed this trait more in this imitation than in any of the others which I have read thus far. More disturbing for this reader were some errors in proofreading/spelling which disturb the mood of urbane intellect which is a hallmark of Doyle's creation. Use of the substandard "alright" in this context in not acceptable; how could no one have caught it? Similarly, use of "taught" when "taut" is meant is hard to understand.

Not to put too strong a term to it, but this glorified short story sold as a novel stinks. There is no trace of the Master's hand in the writing. I see Mr. Gracely has tried again. Oh, well, practice makes perfection--or so they say. I would gladly give this, this BOOK a zero if I could. Quoth the Raven...