Customer Reviews

Sherlock in Love: A Novel

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

 

 

Rather than read this book, the prospective reader is advised to re-read The Seven Percent Solution by Nicholas Meyer. "Sherlock in Love" is perhaps the worst Holmsian pastiche that this reviewer has ever read. The author has no feeling for any of the historical periods about which she attempts to write. Unfortunately, the author has not been able to carry any sort of an authorial voice like that of either Conan Doyle or his, wonderful alter ego, Dr. John Watson. This is an extraordinary disappointment. A fine premise is lost in poor execution.

Initially, I was excited to read this book. Though not a Sherlock Holmes fan per se, I LOVED Ahab's Wife and am always on the lookout for books that take common "folklore" and look at it from another perspective (e.g. Wicked by Maguire). Anyway, though the beginning dragged, eventually I got into this book and was happy to read along to its conclusion. But at the end (which luckily came quickly - a fast read), I said to myself, "so what?". There were themes of feminism and magic and friendship that weren't well-developed. But I guess that is good - otherwise the book would have been longer and I might have just put it down.

The novel is not bad, excepting the part in which the author tries to insert a past case of the master. The line is correct and entertaining -up to the already mentioned part- and then the end, is a little too much for the Sherlock aficionado. It is not as bad as "The last Sherlock Holmes case" though.

I honestly think that the author was going to write a good book until she had to create the case of "Mad King Ludwig", from that point on, I felt she improvised and did not know how to get out of her own mess, leaving me with a sour after taste.

In her defense, I love Sherlock, and I think the original work is unbeatable. Against her, I also like to read about Holmes, almost everything that comes to me, and I am very understanding with all the pastiches, and do not compare them with the original.

Do I recommend it to the Holmes's followers? No, unless you just can't stop reading about Sherlock, are curious about it, and/or somebody lend it to you.

If you read it and liked it, you will like "Larry Millet's books".

An elderly Dr. Watson is trying to reconstruct events from his late friend Sherlock Holmes's past. What follows is an absolutely insipid romance(and barely one at that). The object of Holmes' "desire" is one of the more ridiculous characters to be introduced into the world of Holmes pastiches. My God, this book was so confoundingly stupid, I am having trouble finding the words to write this review. If you desperately want to read bad Holmes fiction, read The Last Sherlock Holmes Story, it's horrid, but at least the author had some sense of literary style. If all you really want is a quick, cheap, Holmes with a woman fix, there is a whole world of fanfiction out there, and its all free, baby. But if you want to read about Holmes having a meaningful relationship with a female, have a go at _The Beekeeper's Apprentice_ by Laurie R. King and the novels that follow. And I resent some remarks made by one of the reviewers about the LRK books. You can't just group them with all the other romances out there!!! But this is neither the time nor the place to get into the subtleties of Sherlockian factions.

The novel is not bad, excepting the part in which the author tries to insert a past case of the master. The line is correct and entertaining -up to the already mentioned part- and then the end, is a little too much for the Sherlock aficionado. It is not as bad as "The last Sherlock Holmes case" though.

I honestly think that the author was going to write a good book until she had to create the case of "Mad King Ludwig", from that point on, I felt she improvised and did not know how to get out of her own mess, leaving me with a sour after taste.

In her defense, I love Sherlock, and I think the original work is unbeatable. Against her, I also like to read about Holmes, almost everything that comes to me, and I am very understanding with all the pastiches, and do not compare them with the original.

Do I recommend it to the Holmes's followers? No, unless you just can't stop reading about Sherlock, are curious about it, and/or somebody lend it to you.

If you read it and liked it, you will like "Larry Millet's books".

This is, by no means, a good or great pastiche. And, without question, it isn't even in the same league as much-finer and more accomplised efforts by the likes of Michael Chabon, Mitch Cullin, and Laurie R. King. Even Caleb Carr's somewhat lackluster Holmes novel is a more valid effort than this one. Masterpiece? No, sorry. However, if one reads this novel without any knowledge of Holmes, Watson, the Conan Doyle canon, or the handful of fine Sherlock pastiches that are out there, it probably wouldn't be so bad. Otherwise, you'd be better served to engage yourself in Laurie R. King's very enjoyable Mary Russell series, Mitch Cullin's haunting and beautifully written A SLIGHT TRICK OF THE MIND, Nicolas Meyer's classic THE SEVEN PERCENT SOLUTION, and Michael Chabon's wonderfully realized novella THE FINAL SOLUTION.

This is one of the two or three worst parodies--I won't dignify them as pastiches--of Sherlock Holmes that I have ever read. The premise does not make sense, the book is badly written, and the denouement will leave a very bad taste in your mouth. If you are fond of Holmes avoid this book like the plague.

I love both Sena Jeter Naslund's other work, namely Ahab's Wife, and Arthur Conan Doyle's original Sherlock Holmes stories. So I'm rather shocked by the vitriol with which some people condemned this book.

I don't think that any Holmes fan should go into any of the modern homage novels expecting it to be a genuine addition to Doyle's canon of wonderful and entertaining tales. But Naslund successfully imitates his writing style, so well in fact that it colors over the discrepancies in character and plot from the original stories. I do not believe she could have created such a lovely imitation stylistically if she had not had great respect for and enjoyment of Sherlock Holmes (though her other work does prove her to be a great author in her own right).

That said, the Holmes in Naslund's book does not always behave or think like Doyle's Holmes. This quick read is an entertaining, tongue-in-cheek perspective on great literature, but if you are such a Holmes purist that you can't enjoy that type of homage, then this book is not for you. For anyone who can accept the differences, I advise picking this book up; it is very enjoyable, if not as thought provoking as Naslund's other work.

I'm not all that picky when it comes to Sherlock Holmes pastiche. Obviously, like everyone else, I love an authentic voice, historic details, a gorgeous writing style and accurate characterizations, but a book doesn't have to be perfect for me to put it on the keeper shelf. Nor am I opposed to plumbing Holmes' emotional depths, and even giving him some tragic past romance (or a seekrit Adler baby or young wife)--as long as it's done well and with respect for the character and canon. I could even handle "The Last Sherlock Holmes Story." So, even though I seriously weighted the negative reviews on this book, I gave it a shot. And no. Just....no. I've probably read well over 200 pastiches, in novel and short story form, and this was the worst ending I have ever read. It doesn't work, and it--seriously, Holmes has just never been that stupid, and I've seen nothing in Doyle or quality pastiche to indicate that, if he had any idea of the surprise "twist," he would even...no. Seriously, people. If I could make the cursor give this half a star, I would. Like I said, Holmes just does not deserve this.

This book did an excellent job of capturing the feeling of Doyle with an interesting twist of more modern ideas. I agree with others who have said the Ludwig portion was a bit off the track, but then again, it nicely bookmarks the first Holmes tale, A Study in Scarlet, in which we end up--kind of oddly--in Utah.

This wasn't the quality of Ahab's Wife, a book that needs 6 or 7 stars to rate it, but I don't think it was intended to be. I think it is a much lighter read.