Plot Summary From Rear of Book cover: “Dead bodies are found on the streets of London with wounds that can only be explained as the work of ferocious creatures not native to the city. Shelock Holmes is visited by his brother, Mycroft, who is only too aware that the bodies are the calling card of Dr. Moreau, a vivisectionist who was working for the British Government, following in the footsteps of Charles Darwin, before his experiments attracted negative attention and the work was halted.  Mycroft believes that Moureau’s experiments continue and he charges his brother with tracking the rogue scientist down before matters escalate any further.”

If you are a fan of any of the many incarnations of Sherlock Holmes one might find author Guy Adams’ newest book to be an enjoyable execration into a realm of Holmes that is not usually touched on, science fiction. The book isn’t of the same exact flavor of the originals done by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but any new Holmes story reflects the time of its writing. The book moves along at a brisk pace taking Holmes and Watson from the sewers of London to the countryside in search of the truth of the matter.  Several ravished bodies had been found in London and it was clear these were not done by human hands.

The way the story moved along and the style of writing, I felt it was very visual. Stories like this could translate well into a comic book or graphic novel.  For the reader, who is a fan of the latest Sherlock Holmes movies with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law this story could fit into a movie treatment quite well.  The whole aspect of Mycroft’s power in the British government reminded me of Mycroft’s treatment of the character  Billy Wilder’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, someone who is connected and works at the highest of secret levels in the government. 

One thing the book didn’t have is that real sense of Holmes working as a detective.  There are times you feel he is just there along for the ride. Holmes even jokes about this matter at one point in the book, so the author and the character aren’t setting you up.  If you are reading it and say, “Holmes isn’t using his mind” like you would expect, Holmes even said so much.  I didn’t mind this treatment of Holmes too much, as his methods on how he ended up getting where he had to be was pure Holmes.

As the book cover shows, there are creatures in this book.  An army of animal human sorts is truly represented and even a sharktopus makes an appearance.   The whole character of Dr. Moreau  is from the pages of H.G Wells, and the author added several other characters from Wells and even Sir Arthur Doyle’s Lost World. The story takes on some action that shakes the core of the British government.  The action is strong and interesting, the only thing is the ending is a bit choppy, it jumps around from one character to another and you end up replaying some scenes you already have read. 

As I said at the beginning, I would recommend this book to fans of Sherlock Holmes.   It was a good read overall.  

*Guest posted by Tom – husband of Amy*