The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Veiled Detective

Considering that this new past between Holmes and Watson is so radically different from other Holmes books written, this was surprisingly good. A fast fun read. I still won't believe it.

It is difficult to write a helpful review without being a bit of a spoiler. So, if you're a purist, I wouldn't want to ruin the fun for you, so you may want to stop reading now. However, what I reveal is not about the ending. You figure out the stuff I'm about to talk about pretty quickly. So... that said, when I began reading this book it took me a little while to figure out what was happening. We meet a man named John Walker, who bears a striking resemblance to our old friend, John Watson. Eventually, we learn that Moriarty, truly an evil genius with his fingers in every pie, knows of Holmes existence, is fascinated by him, and begins playing with him like a cat plays with a mouse. I cringed as it began to appear that Holmes' entire life was a mirage created and controlled by Moriarty. Enough said, accept to tell you that Holmes lives up to his reputation, Holmes and Watson remain impressive men in this story, and I expect it will pull you in and hold your attention. I enjoyed this book very much.

In this "what if" tale of master sleuth Sherlock Homes, author David Stuart Davies proposes: What if almost everything you knew about Holmes and his associates were a carefully-crafted lie orchestrated by the mind of Holmes' nemesis Professor Moriarty? I won't reveal everything here, but it all starts with a disgraced Army doctor named John Walker, who's "given an offer he can't refuse" by the good Professor... who wants to keep young Sherlock from interfering with his criminal plans, but at the same time, relishes the challenge of matching wits with the detective's genius. What follows is a story which covers at least 3 classic Holmes tales, though NOT as they were written in their original form. Those stories -- it's revealed -- were altered, not only to make Sherlock's adventures more exciting to readers, but also to cover up certain vile crimes committed by Mr. Holmes in his quest for "justice," which would have certainly led him to the gallows! As a rule, I don't like re-imaginings of classic characters, nor the tendency of many modern writers to "darken" them by having them act in ways alien to their original incarnations, so they seem more "contemporary" to current audiences. However, this is a very well-done pastiche of Conan Doyle's characters and is a fairly quick and entertained read. I easily recommend it!