Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Interesting adventure starring everyone's favorite detective as a teen
Cons: Takes a little while to get going
Bottom Line:
A teenage Sherlock
Learning what would make him great
Thrilling Adventure
Young Sherlock and His Suspect Brother
Despite my love of mysteries, I know very little about
Sherlock Holmes. I was reminded of this
when I picked up Black Ice, the third
in a series about Holmes as a teen. Even
with my limited knowledge of the character, I still found the book enjoyable.
A teenage Sherlock and his mentor, Amyus Crowe, have
traveled into London
to visit Sherlock's brother Mycroft. But
when they arrive, they find a dazed Mycroft alone in a locked room with a dead
body. The man has been stabbed, and
Mycroft has the knife in his hand. Can
Sherlock prove his brother is innocent?
Where will this case lead?
At times, I felt like I should know who some of the
characters in the book were. I'm just
not sure if that's because they are part of the official Holmes stories or if
it's just because they were in earlier books in the series, which I haven't
read.
The book started out slowly.
We were almost 50 pages into it before the story really got going. Again, maybe those early pages would have
been more interesting if I'd read the earlier books.
I can say once things got going, I really enjoyed it. It's not the strongest mystery since the
mysteries are solved fairly early.
Instead, it's what those mysteries uncover that keeps you reading. It heads off into some interesting places,
yet every twist was believable.
Likewise, the characters were interesting. I can certainly see why the TV show Monk is often compared to Sherlock
Holmes based on how Sherlock and Mycroft are portrayed here. Yet the characters here are interesting
enough to stand on their own. Even if
I'd never heard the name Holmes before, I would have cared about the outcome. We really only get to know one or two others
enough, but they are interesting characters as well. The rest aren't on the page enough to be
fully fleshed out, but they certainly serve their purpose in the story well.
Author Andrew
Lane is British.
In fact, the book was published in 2011 while it is just coming out in
the states right now. As a result, there
are some British spellings and expressions, but teens, the target audience,
will have no trouble with it at all. I
see nothing in the writing that would trip them up at all.
I just don't recommend starting here. I think this book would mean more if read in
order. I'm certainly reminded why I like
to do that. But if you don't, you'll
still find yourself lost in the story of Black Ice.
NOTE: I received this book through the Amazon Vine
program. A shorter version of my honest
review also appears on Amazon.
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