Where Sherlock Is Becoming Sherlock

Death Cloud by Andrew Lane
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked this pretty well; it's an entertaining young Sherlock Holmes novel, and it does some things right. 3 stars.

I almost gave it a 4. It's breezy (which is good, as it's a YA novel) and has pretty good action and good pacing.

But it isn't a great Sherlock Holmes novel. In fact, if this were just some random kid as the MC, I might have liked it more. As a pretty big Sherlock fan, I've read many, many different versions of the character, nearly always enjoying them, but the key (IMO) is getting Sherlock right. I don't think the author has done that.

In fairness, I think he's done exactly what he set out to do. He started with a normal kid and is showing us how he became Sherlock. But I don't think that works. This young man doesn't seem like he's observant or a good student or particularly knowledgeable about anything. I find it hard to imagine this iconic character, this best of all detectives, could ever have been an unimpressive young man. If he wasn't soaking up all kinds of information already, I don't know how he could ever achieve it as the adult we know.

I like the characters in the story, though, and their purpose is to turn this kid into Sherlock. The author created an American tutor who is teaching him how to notice things and how to think. To make him more active and self-reliant, the author has him befriend an independent young orphan who pushes him out of his comfort zone. And similarly, the teacher's daughter encourages him to be better than he is. All of this is meant to create the adult Sherlock we all know.

Though I liked the characters, I didn't love the overall dynamic. A Sherlock who isn't active and in charge isn't Sherlock.

Still, it was entertaining enough I think I'll buy the next one and try a bit more. Hoping for more.

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