Title: The House of Silk (Sherlock Holmes by Anthony Horowitz #1)
Author: Anthony Horowitz
Genre: Adult, Mystery, Historical.
Publication Date: August 30th 2012
Publisher: Orion
Format: Paperback
Pages: 405
Rating: 5/5
It is November 1890 and London is gripped by a merciless winter. Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are enjoying tea by the fire when an agitated gentleman arrives unannounced at 221b Baker Street. He begs Holmes for help, telling the unnerving story of a scar-faced man with piercing eyes who has stalked him in recent weeks.
Intrigued, Holmes and Watson find themselves swiftly drawn into a series of puzzling and sinister events, stretching from the gas-lit streets of London to the teeming criminal underworld of Boston and the mysterious 'House of Silk'...
I feel that I should start this review by admitting that
I’ve never read any of the Sherlock Holmes books. That being said, I love
Sherlock Holmes – I love the BBC show (because Benedict) and the movies. I also
own about five different copies and collections of Sherlock stories. I honestly
don’t know why I haven’t read any of the originals yet.
I picked this one up because it was Sherlock related, but
also because I knew of Anthony Horowitz because of his Alex Rider series (I’ve
never read them, but I loved the movie as a child.) This sat on my shelves for
years after that and I probably never would have picked it up unless I’d seen
the sequel, Moriarty, in the bookstore (it has a pretty cover.) This was also
one of the books I picked out as part of my new Book Shame series.
This took me a good two weeks to get through – not because
it was boring or anything, but it is quite a slow book to start off with. I
also didn’t have a lot of time to read this past week, especially as I was
participating in RYBSAT. That being said, when I did actually pick this up I
found myself completely sucked in by the story. It was like there was nothing
else happening around me, my entire world just became Sherlock Holmes for that
time.
I think my favourite thing about Sherlock Holmes and the
whole mystery genre is the fact that I can never really guess where the story
is going. I know some people like to work out the mystery themselves, but I
don’t think it’s nearly as fun that way. I definitely did not see this one
coming, and I have to admit that there were parts that made me uncomfortable, I
think that’s the best way to put it without spoiling the book. It was still
really interesting to have all the dots joined together in the end.
All in all, I would definitely recommend this for Sherlock
lovers even if you haven’t dabbled in the books yet. And now, I’m going to go
obsess over Benedict Cumberbatch…I mean *cough* rewatch Sherlock.
