htetrasme's review
4.0
This was simply a fantastically enjoyable read. As a Sherlock Holmes fan I found the mysterious and ingenious "Mr. Mycroft" -- a rural beekeeper who it's strongly hinted is a certain famous detective a great deal of fun.
The real great strengths here though are Heard's prose -- readable, fine-tuned, and evocative -- and the delightful character he creates through it. Sydney Silchester comes through a fully-formed, believable, interesting example of a punctilious, particular, judgmental, superior, rude, reclusive, and temperamental -- yet still elusively likable -- fellow with every funny and quiet-but-potent sentence.
The atmosphere of rural claustrophobia and the juxtaposition of the huge danger made very believable from Hereford against the trivial-seeming manifestations of it are very well achieved. Heard, a philosopher, philosophizes just enough to be satisfying without being didactic. I'm very impressed with him as a writer and will be seeking out more of his books, starting with the two further books that chronicle Mr. Mycroft.
The real great strengths here though are Heard's prose -- readable, fine-tuned, and evocative -- and the delightful character he creates through it. Sydney Silchester comes through a fully-formed, believable, interesting example of a punctilious, particular, judgmental, superior, rude, reclusive, and temperamental -- yet still elusively likable -- fellow with every funny and quiet-but-potent sentence.
The atmosphere of rural claustrophobia and the juxtaposition of the huge danger made very believable from Hereford against the trivial-seeming manifestations of it are very well achieved. Heard, a philosopher, philosophizes just enough to be satisfying without being didactic. I'm very impressed with him as a writer and will be seeking out more of his books, starting with the two further books that chronicle Mr. Mycroft.
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