Reviews

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

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uncle_nino's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

annebennett1957's review against another edition

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4.0

So good. No wonder this book is thought of as one of the best in the 'detective mystery genre'.

(Catching up on old reviews from pre-blogging and pre-Goodreads days. Written on 7/23/21 but the book was read years ago. I'm working off my notes.)

chalkletters's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Thanks to the crime fiction module I took at university, The Hound of the Baskervilles is probably the Sherlock Holmes story I have the most accurate memory of. I remembered the major twists before they happened, but this somehow only made it more thrilling to read, knowing in advance what Doctor Watson was about to find out.

It helps that the writing of The Hound of the Baskervilles is exciting anyway, perhaps because Doctor Watson and Sherlock Holmes are separated for so much of it, forcing Arthur Conan Doyle to give the reader a lot more of Watson's man-of-action than of Sherlock's deductions. This is both a puzzle mystery and a wild adventure on the moors of Yorkshire.

Despite how much time they spend apart, The Hound of the Baskervilles also provides some lovely moments in Doctor Watson and Sherlock's friendship: including the 'conductor of light' speech which inspires the heartwarming resolution in BBC Sherlock’s adaptation of this story.

Despite all this goodness, The Hound of the Baskervilles did still manage to include one moment which may make a modern reader unreasonably angry. Doctor Watson is adamant that they shouldn't let a serial murderer remain on the loose in England as a danger to the public, but has no problem shipping said murderer off to South America where he can be a danger to somebody else. As The West Wing's Will Bailey would say, 'Why is a Kundanese life worth [less] than an American life? I don't know, sir, but it is.' Even if it would relieve the tax payer, let's not send murderers to other countries as if we're happy for them to do their murdering there!

Nonetheless, I did enjoy The Hound of the Baskervilles! It's possibly my favourite Sherlock Holmes story so far on this particular reread. Not to mention, it provided me with a delightful image of Sherlock Holmes sitting in a cardboard box like a cat.

Content Warnings

rancidslopshop's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

nicolebonia's review against another edition

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4.0

Absorbing read but I don't think Doyle really meant for you to figure things out beforehand.

sarahglabb's review against another edition

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4.0

The Hound of the Baskervilles starts out in Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson’s apartment when Dr. Mortimor consults Sherlock Holmes about a very strange matter in Dartmoor around Baskerville Hall.

The base for the story is that Hugo Baskerville from a long time ago kidnapped a young woman. She escapes and Hugo goes after her. It ends horribly for the both of them. The lady dies from fright and exhaustion while Hugo dies from having his throat ripped out. The culprit is a giant dog from hell. This becomes the legend for the Baskerville Family.

It is recently discovered that Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead right outside of his house, and it is widely known around the parts that Sir Charles was afraid of the Hound. Deathly afraid apparently. Dr. Mortimor tells Sherlock Holmes this but doesn’t want him to investigate. He only wants to know if he should tell the new heir Henry Baskerville about this “hound from hell.”

The story goes along and of course Sherlock Holmes investigates it, or it wouldn’t be…you know a Sherlock Holmes mystery.

I was pleasantly surprised when I was reading this because it’s my second experience reading Sherlock Holmes and it really didn’t have a lot of the famous detective in it. Dr. John Watson shines in this novel and I loved that. There was a cool scene in the beginning of the novel when Holmes is actually complimenting Watson for his deduction of Doctor Mortimor’s walking cane. We also see when reading the novel that Dr. Watson can hold his own ground. He sends detailed reports to Holmes and keeps a very good eye on Sir Henry who he pretty much has to protect.

The Hound of the Baskervilles was a creepy story and as a reader I love the horror genre. I was genuinely scared at some parts for reading a book and that was a major plus. This book was far better than A Study in Scarlet. I suppose this was because it was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s first book(at least I think it is, please correct me if I’m wrong). Also, I’ve heard he’s rather better at writing short stories. This book does a fantastic job in tone and pacing compared to A Study in Scarlet.

I recently just got a lovely copy of Volume 1 of Sherlock Holmes the Complete Works and I will be reading the short stories soon and I cannot wait. I’m super excited. Hopefully, this will keep entertained while I wait for BBC’s Sherlock.