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Sherlock Holmes And The Ghosts Of Bly: And Other New Adventures Of The Great Detective (2010)

by Donald Thomas(Favorite Author)

3.25 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1605981346 (ISBN13: 9781605981345)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Pegasus

series

Sherlock Holmes

review 1: Since the main novel in this collection is based on the Turn of the Screw it is obvious that the author is knowledgeable about not just Sherlock Holmes. He has a scholarly voice and I very much like his portrayal of Watson. He falls a little short on Holmes because he falls a little short on story. His narrative is labored. The Ghosts of Bly could have been 50 pages shorter and been better for it. The other two mysteries were too long as well. The first story had a bad name. I know that's picky, but that's the way it was.The segment named Sherlock Holmes The Actor, I expected it to be a "biographical" sketch of Holmes time on stage. While it touched on that it spent more time on his employer, who was the victim in the last tale.I will read more by Thomas, but this ... moreis not my favorite Holmes tale.
review 2: I have been reading the new Sherlock Holmes books by Donald Thomas back to back. I have to admit that my first instinct was why anyone would want to recreate Sherlock Holmes, the enigma? Also, with the mental image of that we already have of Holmes, it would be difficult for any author to make us fall in love with his version. In the end, I guess, it is a fact that we want the legends to live on forever and give us more and more. So, I tried to wipe clean my mind of the Sherlock who has reigned in my mind for quite long, in order to be able to accept this newer version.There are four stories in this instalment - The Case of the Boy’s Honour, The Case of the Ghosts at Bly, Sherlock Holmes: The Actor and The Case of the Matinee Idol. The first story deals about a soldier in training in the Royal Naval Academy just before the World War I. Sherlock turns around the case completely. The Case of ghosts at Bly shows us Sherlock setting a woman free when she herself was convinced of her own guilt. The third story gives us a glance at Sherlock as a Theatre actor and also sets up the stage for the fourth story where a popular actor is found murdered.Without giving away much of the plot, I can only say that these four stories are very different from each other in terms of plot, twists and action. Donald Thomas’s Sherlock Holmes is everything that the original Sherlock stood for, only a notch below though. Also, there was something missing in the dynamics between Sherlock and Watson. I just can’t put a finger on what exactly it was – whether their friendship in general or their dialogues or their reaction to each other. The setting, the plots and the characters were all acceptable but the one thing that kept bugging me was the pace. Sherlock is beyond ordinary and as such he always worked at an extraordinary pace. I missed the fast pace of Arthur Conan Doyle a lot. But yes, Donald Thomas has done an excellent job with his narration style. Overall, Donald Thomas has managed to produce a couple of good stories that entertained me well. He had a humungous shoe to fill in and he has risen way above my expectations. I would surely suggest Sherlock fans to give this one a try with an open mind. less

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