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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Exciting opening, mildly interesting middle, deteriorating to absurdity - not Holmes, by any measure,
By ginnyk "ginnyk" (Glenside, PA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Shadow of Reichenbach Falls (Hardcover)
I'm really glad I got this book from the library. It starts out with excitement, the struggle at Reichenbach Falls, the rescue of a drowning man who turns out to have traumatic amnesia and turns out to be Holmes. Then there is the rescue from a doctor, blackmailed by Moriarity, who attempts to kill Holmes, and other rescues from Moriarity himself. Key actors are Anna, Moriarity's daughter, along with Carnacki, who is writing this letter to - Watson, I guess. The book then segues into Moriarity's biography, in which he recalls his history and why he turned to crime. He turned to crime when he tracked and killed Jack the Ripper who - oh horrors! - turns out to be demon-possessed, and the demon possesses Moriarity. Things plod along, Moriarity conducts his life of crime (using research created by his wife, who was killed by the Ripper), battles with Holmes, the events of this story occur, Moriarity is killed, and the demon possesses Holmes, who then turns to crime. In the end, Holmes is rescued by Carnacki dissipating the demon through an electricity driven pentacle.
This is so far from what writing about Holmes should be, I can't find enough derogatory words. If you want to read stories much closer to Holmes, postulating his post-retirement life and without supernatural beings, try Laurie King's novels. But don't, please don't waste your money on this book.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Definitely not Holmesian,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Shadow of Reichenbach Falls (Hardcover)
Proported to be the story of Sherlock Holmes right after his fall at Reichenbach Falls with Prof. Moriarty, it is disappointing.
Mr. King starts out with Moriarty chasing an amnesiac Holmes and deftly inserts Moriarty's life and his rise to be the king of crime that makes for a good story. The whole thing then goes off the tracks when the book started to be the Exorcist. Sherlock Holmes' fan will be as disappointed as I was.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Toss It Over the Falls,
By Larry Latham (Tulsa, OK United States) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Shadow of Reichenbach Falls (Hardcover)
In retrospect, I'd have gotten more enjoyment from setting my twenty bucks on fire, plus I'd only be out a few minutes time rather than the several hours trudging through this mess.
The iniital idea sounds exciting, but the writer pushes that over the falls, too, almost right from the beginning. Even given that Carnacki is a younger version of the one in the Hodgson stories, I never for a moment buy the protagonist of this story as the same character. Holmes spends most of the novel lost in amnesia, and King is at such great pains to not reveal who he or his nemesis is that it sets up the expectation of a twist. It never comes. Amnesia, I suppose, is an excuse for Holmes not acting in any way that you would recognize from Doyle's stories. Midway through, the narrative switches over to the diary of Moriarty -again, a totally new character stamped with a famous name. It's tedious and rambling, with the occult shoehorned in so forcefully near the end that my feet hurt.
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