Hi there!
Welcome back to another exciting day here at Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.
Today, we're playing host to a TLC Book Tour (Hi, Trish!). It stars the work of an author many of you may know and features a few choice characters readers have shown their devotion for the world over. Know whom I am speaking of yet? What's that? Oh you DO, do you now. Oh....you read the title of the post. Gotcha. ~ahem~ Well, for those of you that didn't pay attention to that little spoiler, allow me to introduce today's blog tour guest and book of choice....
by
Anthony Horowitz
9780062377180
Harper
About the book....
...Days after the encounter at the Swiss waterfall, Pinkerton detective agent Frederick Chase arrives in Europe from New York. Moriarty’s death has left an immediate, poisonous vacuum in the criminal underworld, and there is no shortage of candidates to take his place—including one particularly fiendish criminal mastermind.
Chase and Scotland Yard Inspector Athelney Jones, a devoted student of Holmes’s methods of investigation and deduction originally introduced by Conan Doyle in “The Sign of Four”, must forge a path through the darkest corners of England’s capital—from the elegant squares of Mayfair to the shadowy wharfs and alleyways of the London Docks—in pursuit of this sinister figure, a man much feared but seldom seen, who is determined to stake his claim as Moriarty’s successor.
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First things first....I am a Sherlock Holmes fan.
I've read some of the original works. I've dabbled in several of the series that present this literary detective as a mere boy searching for his true path in life. I've even fancied buying one of the action figures over at GoneReading.com (oh come on, you know you want one!). Yep. While I'm not one of the more rabid, chomping-at-the-bit-to-get-my-hands-on-everything-Sherlockian, I am definitely a fan. That being said...
Upon cracking the spine on this book, I was all set for the game to be afoot. A mystery to solve. Riddles to puzzle out. Deaths to...avoid. In short, I was looking for all those things you love about the original stories. What did I get? Hmm...a good question for certain but not something I can answer in the least amount of words. Initially, I was drawn in. The characters were interesting, the circumstances curious and the means by which the puzzle was being solved, very Holmes-ish. It was right up my alley....but....about a third of the way into the book, my attention started to wain. It wasn't that the story was bad or the twists uninteresting, but the writing became rather dry leaving me to make a decision....press onward in the hopes of things turning around, or stop cold in my tracks. Now, fair readers, those of you that assumed the latter was my choice are most certainly not regulars on my site... ~chuckle~
When the going got tough, the tough...kept reading. Page in and page out, I sought the silver lining and in the last quarter of the books, things got...interesting. Oh Chase was just as unsteady as he became more and more frustrated by the prospect of losing his quarry, but Athelney Jones helped balance him out with all his Sherlockian wit. The story molded and shaped itself into something altogether different than at first glimpsed and the last four chapters or so...were INCREDIBLE! No, really! I was all....WHHHHAAATTT?! Back to the page was I glued, and in due course my diligence was rewarded with an ending not only fit for a Sherlock Holmes adventure but titillating enough that it'll take even the biggest fans by surprise. It's JUST THAT GOOD.
In conclusion, if you're a fan of Sherlock Holmes, or simply love mystery, adventure, and deaths most unfortunate, you are in for a treat. For those that haven't experienced the written world of the great detective as of yet, it reads quite like the more recent films play; in short even the film fans have something to look forward to. Recommended read for older teens through adults readers due to the unfortunate ends some characters meet along the way; no need to trouble the wee ones with the mayhem quite yet even if the arena is a most enjoyable one.
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About the author....
Anthony Horowitz is the author of the international bestseller The House of Silk and the New York Times number one bestselling Alex Rider series for Young Adults. As a television screenwriter he created both Midsomer Murders and the BAFTA-winning Foyle’s War, both of which were featured on PBS’s Masterpiece Mystery. He regularly contributes to a wide variety of national newspapers and magazines, and in January 2014 was awarded an OBE for his services to literature. He lives in London.
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Special thanks to Trish at TLC Book Tours for the chance to participate in this tour as well as the ARC for review. (THANKS!) For more information on the title, author, publisher, or tour, feel free to click through the links provided above. This book reached publication this past December via Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, so be on the lookout for it on a bookstore shelf, or a virtual retailer of your choosing.
Until next time....happy reading!
1 comment:
I'm a big Sherlock fan and can't wait to get to this book! I'm so glad the ending was worth it!
Thanks for being on the tour!
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