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gregory_hall's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.5
gtaper's review against another edition
4.0
I knew a twist was coming and I knew what it would be but I couldn’t pick the details which made this an exciting read. The beginning was a little slow why it gets 4 instead of 5.
daniromanos's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
4.0
dr_dick's review against another edition
4.0
well then...that was interesting. even though this book had a lot of the same elements of House of Silk, i don't think it measured up. that's not to say it's not a fun read.
julan1027's review against another edition
2.0
Days after Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty have plummeted over Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland two men meet over a dead body. Frederick Chase of Pinkerton's Detective Agency in the US, and Detective Athelney Jones of Scotland Yard find themselves standing over the corpse of a man believed to be Moriarty. Jones, a devoted student of Sherlock Holmes, has been sent to confirm the deaths of Holmes and Moriarty, while Chase has come on an entirely different mission. He tells Jones about an American criminal gang that has taken hold in London led by a man named Charles Devereaux. Chase is determined to destroy Devereaux and his gang because they killed his colleague, Pilgrim who had successfully infiltrated their criminal organization. According to Chase, Devereaux planned to team up with Moriarty to form a criminal enterprise that would be unstoppable and ruthless. The two men decide to work together to bring down Devereaux and his cohorts.
Not even close to to being in the same category as House of Silk.
This wasn't actually a Sherlock Holmes mystery because after Holmes goes over the falls, he and Watson never make an appearance in this book. Certainly people mention them, Jones is obsessed with Holmes, and other characters from original Holmes' stories make appearances, but I maintain that without Holmes and Watson it is not a Sherlock Holmes mystery and labeling it that way is inappropriate.
There was a lot of extremely graphic violence in this book. Way too violent for my taste. Yes, the American criminals were more ruthless than the British criminals, but that could have been shown by the number of bodies that piled up or just mentioning that the bodies had been tortured without going in to graphic details of the torture. (I will say that my husband didn't feel it was any more graphic than a lot of the adventure and spy novels he reads, but definitely 100 times more violent than the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's)
After an extremely slow start which was essentially a retelling of the story in which Holmes and Moriarty go over the Reichenbach Falls, it generally moved at a good pace. Bodies constantly piling up. New clues constantly emerging. I suspected that I knew what the major twist would be when I was about a quarter of the way through the book, and I was right. There was one surprise which I hadn't expected.
Most of the American gangsters spoke in predictable and repetitive ways. I got to the point where I was ready to scream the next time one of them snarled "You will pay for this." Some times they said it several times within a paragraph. Was the author being lazy or trying to show that the criminals had limited vocabularies? Either way, it became almost comical.
I wouldn't even say there was a real mystery. At least not for long. Once they identified Devereaux it was simply a matter of how to catch him.
I'm not sure the last two chapters were even necessary. Yes, I like books to wrap up all the loose ends, but I thought everything was pretty self-explanatory by that point. Or maybe I was just so annoyed with the book by that point that I no longer cared.
Major disappointment.
Not even close to to being in the same category as House of Silk.
This wasn't actually a Sherlock Holmes mystery because after Holmes goes over the falls, he and Watson never make an appearance in this book. Certainly people mention them, Jones is obsessed with Holmes, and other characters from original Holmes' stories make appearances, but I maintain that without Holmes and Watson it is not a Sherlock Holmes mystery and labeling it that way is inappropriate.
There was a lot of extremely graphic violence in this book. Way too violent for my taste. Yes, the American criminals were more ruthless than the British criminals, but that could have been shown by the number of bodies that piled up or just mentioning that the bodies had been tortured without going in to graphic details of the torture. (I will say that my husband didn't feel it was any more graphic than a lot of the adventure and spy novels he reads, but definitely 100 times more violent than the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's)
After an extremely slow start which was essentially a retelling of the story in which Holmes and Moriarty go over the Reichenbach Falls, it generally moved at a good pace. Bodies constantly piling up. New clues constantly emerging. I suspected that I knew what the major twist would be when I was about a quarter of the way through the book, and I was right. There was one surprise which I hadn't expected.
Most of the American gangsters spoke in predictable and repetitive ways. I got to the point where I was ready to scream the next time one of them snarled "You will pay for this." Some times they said it several times within a paragraph. Was the author being lazy or trying to show that the criminals had limited vocabularies? Either way, it became almost comical.
I wouldn't even say there was a real mystery. At least not for long. Once they identified Devereaux it was simply a matter of how to catch him.
I'm not sure the last two chapters were even necessary. Yes, I like books to wrap up all the loose ends, but I thought everything was pretty self-explanatory by that point. Or maybe I was just so annoyed with the book by that point that I no longer cared.
Major disappointment.
miakoda's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
mdstratts's review against another edition
4.0
I didn’t see the ending coming. And after having all of it pointed out, I felt like a knucklehead.
shawnaway's review against another edition
4.0
Great
This book was very entertaining. I recommend it is worth reading. Very Sherlock Holmes style, enjoyable. I would recommend this book.
This book was very entertaining. I recommend it is worth reading. Very Sherlock Holmes style, enjoyable. I would recommend this book.
squeakyshep's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0