Customer Reviews

The Surrogate Assassin

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Christopher Leppek has transplanted the great British detective to American soil to explore one of America's greatest crimes, the assassination of Lincoln. His attention to the facts in the true crime only make this story more appealing. He has played fairly with the reader by offering his fictional alternative explanation, to the point where I momentarily considered John Wilkes Booth in an entirely new light.

Leppek captures the rhythms of Arthur Conan Doyle admirably. Holmes's American fans (and fans of the number of Holmes knock-offs this century) should love this story. And before it is classified as merely a mindless mystery entertainment, it should be appreciated for its expertly handled message (properly posed by a contemporary journalist): History is not always what it seems.

Good work, Chris. "The Surrogate Assassin" gave me several hours of pleasureable and challenging reading.

This book is less an adventure of Sherlock Holmes than it is a re-examination of the Lincoln assassination and the role of John Wilkes Booth. The author uses Holmes (and utilises every horrid, tired cliche' in doing so) as a vehicle to put forth his own theory regarding the assassination. There are significant flaws in the reasoning he forces through Holmes to reach his conclusion (for instance, there is a key error of fact which no educated Englishman, particularly Holmes, could possibly have made). Overall, though, the writer does an admirable job of breathing life into this period of American history. The historic people and places who hitherto have been mere names are vividly drawn and can be clearly seen and heard by the reader. Although I won't give it a place of honour on my shelf of Holmes pastiches, it is still worth reading for entertainment.

One of the best latter-day Sherlockian works I've read--and I've read a lot of them. The author does a masterful job of portraying the Holmes and Watson we've grown to love, while placing them into a completely alien environment--the United States. Many have tried this and failed, but Christopher Leppek does a near-perfect job. The plot is appropriately dramatic and, while historically unlikely, it's skillfully constructed and has a definite ring of authenticity. It's pure fiction, of course, but a good author can persuade his reader not to care-- and I found Mr. Leppeck to be a very good author.

Skip the intro with the usual lost manuscript bumpf and dive into what must rank as the best Holmes pastiche of recent years. Leppek presents his readers with an intricately plotted and well researched story. More importantly <g> he recreates the authentic feel of the characters. The dialogue between Holmes and Watson rings true, a rare feat in the world of the Holmes pastiche. Finally a Holmes in America novel with all the right elements! Read on...

This has to be one of the best Holmes pastiches ever to come along. Leppek obviously knows his history, has a passion for it, and has woven it in brilliantly with what Conan Doyle revealed about Holmes' background. His characters, both Holmes and Watson, and the people introduced in this book, are solid and well-defined, and his grasp of history and ability to communicate it to his readers is simply incredible. My only problem with this book lies in some minor inconsistencies in the beginning chapters--first, Watson seems to know very little about Holmes (this is set shortly after A Study in Scarlet), then they appear to have a long history together: Holmes is presented as just starting out as a consulting detective, then suddenly he seems to be well-known by complete strangers in America. This is only mildly distracting, however, and in no way diminishes the impact of the book as a whole. All in all, a wonderful debut!

As a supreme Booth family armchair scholar, I moved mountains to find this book and would you believe it, in my curiosity to see how many pages it had, I saw the name of the "surrogate assassin" on the last page before I had even started reading the book! So as I read it, I could see the clues. Still, I enjoyed it thoroughly and recommend it to anyone with even a slight interest in mysteries, Sherlock Holmes, the Lincoln Assassination, or the Booth family.

I started this book with the knowledge that Holmes pastiches are often less than satisfying. I was pleasantly surprised by the plot and the faithfulness of the author to the characters of Holmes and Watson. Watson's style is close, but only close. From time to time, little anachronisms of speech slip in, and spoil the mood for the attentive reader and Holmesian. But overall the effect is a sure one, and this volume stands head and shoulders above recent Holmes offerings, like the Whitechapel Horrors, etc.

Sherlock Holmes is approached by his estranged cousin, the actor Edwin Booth, regarding a series of attempts on his life. Edwin is the elder brother of the infamous John Wilkes Booth, and it is his story that Holmes must investigate to resolve the mystery of the assassination attempts on his cousin's life.

Covering some of the same ground as Barrie Roberts' 'Sherlock Holmes and the Royal Flush', I ended up reading these two book in a fairly close period of time. This allows me to compare how the two authors put facts from John Wilkes Booth's life and death into their books. The problem is - it would be a dead giveaway on their plotlines to do so! Suffice to say, 'The Surrogate Assassin' takes the issues in a more active and head-on way.

I found Christopher Leppek's writing style quite readable, and his portrayal of Holmes and Watson well within my view of how the characters should be written. However, I did find some of the facts a little contradictory with the writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Holmes' creator. For instance, he makes casual reference to Mycroft Holmes, who Watson would not even know of for several years to come! Mind you, Doyle was pretty careless about such things as well (for instance, Moriarty's appearance in 'The Valley of Fear') so one shouldn't be too harsh.

As a supreme Booth family armchair scholar, I moved mountains to find this book and would you believe it, in my curiosity to see how many pages it had, I saw the name of the "surrogate assassin" on the last page before I had even started reading the book! So as I read it, I could see the clues. Still, I enjoyed it thoroughly and recommend it to anyone with even a slight interest in mysteries, Sherlock Holmes, the Lincoln Assassination, or the Booth family.

A very interesting theory re: the Lincoln Assassination, and while I don't buy it, the book was enjoyable nonetheless. It does have, at its heart, a family drama, and Leppek took the maiden name of Edwin & John Wilkes Booth's mother, Mary Ann Holmes, to give Sherlock an added closeness to the case. It also provides an out for Leppek's Edwin Booth to be more forthcoming about the painful matter of his brother when, had Holmes been an outsider, he would have remained tight-lipped and uncooperative.

There are elements that make it drift away from a novel and more of a didactic recounting of the assassination, and those parts of the book tend to sag with pages of Sherlockian monologues about assassination details and convenient knowledge about whatever dilemma is at hand. But then again, Doyle's stories are full of such traits. In that respect, Leppek's book has a truly vintage feel to it.

A quick, fun read, and it's probably the only fiction I know of to have Edwin Booth as a main character, so that was a plus for me.