A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four
Two books in one review? What are these shenanigans? But it didn't
really make sense to separate these two books. They are the first two
books written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle about Sherlock Holmes and have a
similar structure. I also read them back to back and didn't want to do
two reviews that would basically say the same thing.
When I got my kindle for Christmas, the first thing I did was download every single Sherlock Holmes story from Gutenberg.org. I started reading A Study in Scarlet almost immediately. This picks up with Watson meeting Holmes, renting the rooms at 221 Baker Street with him, and helping him on a case for the first time. Halfway through the book, they catch the criminal and the book completely switches perspective. For the first half it's told in first person (Watson is the narrator) and takes place in London. Then it switches to a third person description of the Mormons, led by Brigham Young, traveling across the Utah desert and settling near the Great Salt Lake. I assumed that this was an entirely different story and stopped reading.
While traveling to San Diego recently, I came back to A Study in Scarlet for something to do on the plane. It soon became apparent that this sudden narrative switch was providing the background of the man who had committed the murders in the first half of the book. After a few chapters, the book switches back to Watson's narration. The criminal then confesses everything and goes to jail.
The second book is The Sign of the Four. It follows the same formula as A Study in Scarlet, without the sudden switch in narrative style halfway through. Instead, the criminal gives a rather long monologue that confirms everything Holmes has already deduced and fills in the motive. Really, if you've ever seen an episode of Law and Order, CSI, Criminal Minds, NCIS, Bones, Castle, Monk, Psych, or any other crime drama ever you already know the structure of any Sherlock Holmes story. There's nothing new here, though it might have been new when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first penned these stories.
The crimes themselves are pretty standard fare (for someone who will occasionally leave Law and Order on all day long). A Study in Scarlet revolves around a double murder motivated by love and revenge. The Sign of the Four focuses on a theft/murder, motivated by greed and revenge. The motive of the criminals is explained in depth.
Really, a lot of what's cool about Sherlock Holmes is Holmes himself. He has a single-minded pursuit of knowledge that results in some rather eccentric behavior. He is only interested in knowledge that is immediately pertinent to his work as a private detective. When Watson informs him that the Earth revolves around the sun, he retorts that such information is entirely useless and he'll be sure to forget it immediately. Then he feeds poison to a dog simply to find out what happens (the dog dies). As The Sign of the Four opens, he is sitting in an armchair shooting up. He tells Watson that he has been testing different combinations of cocaine and morphine for the past week in order to see how they affect him and has just injected a 70% cocaine blend into his system. All in the name of useful knowledge. The end of the book has him turning back to cocaine the second the criminal has been arrested.
The next book is The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a collection of short stories about the detective. I'm excited for this, because I imagine the stories will be somewhat less tedious. Holmes figures everything out so quickly that it's hard to fill even 100 pages with plot and you end up with half a book of monologuing or Mormon history. Short stories will be a welcome change.
When I got my kindle for Christmas, the first thing I did was download every single Sherlock Holmes story from Gutenberg.org. I started reading A Study in Scarlet almost immediately. This picks up with Watson meeting Holmes, renting the rooms at 221 Baker Street with him, and helping him on a case for the first time. Halfway through the book, they catch the criminal and the book completely switches perspective. For the first half it's told in first person (Watson is the narrator) and takes place in London. Then it switches to a third person description of the Mormons, led by Brigham Young, traveling across the Utah desert and settling near the Great Salt Lake. I assumed that this was an entirely different story and stopped reading.
While traveling to San Diego recently, I came back to A Study in Scarlet for something to do on the plane. It soon became apparent that this sudden narrative switch was providing the background of the man who had committed the murders in the first half of the book. After a few chapters, the book switches back to Watson's narration. The criminal then confesses everything and goes to jail.
The second book is The Sign of the Four. It follows the same formula as A Study in Scarlet, without the sudden switch in narrative style halfway through. Instead, the criminal gives a rather long monologue that confirms everything Holmes has already deduced and fills in the motive. Really, if you've ever seen an episode of Law and Order, CSI, Criminal Minds, NCIS, Bones, Castle, Monk, Psych, or any other crime drama ever you already know the structure of any Sherlock Holmes story. There's nothing new here, though it might have been new when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first penned these stories.
The crimes themselves are pretty standard fare (for someone who will occasionally leave Law and Order on all day long). A Study in Scarlet revolves around a double murder motivated by love and revenge. The Sign of the Four focuses on a theft/murder, motivated by greed and revenge. The motive of the criminals is explained in depth.
Really, a lot of what's cool about Sherlock Holmes is Holmes himself. He has a single-minded pursuit of knowledge that results in some rather eccentric behavior. He is only interested in knowledge that is immediately pertinent to his work as a private detective. When Watson informs him that the Earth revolves around the sun, he retorts that such information is entirely useless and he'll be sure to forget it immediately. Then he feeds poison to a dog simply to find out what happens (the dog dies). As The Sign of the Four opens, he is sitting in an armchair shooting up. He tells Watson that he has been testing different combinations of cocaine and morphine for the past week in order to see how they affect him and has just injected a 70% cocaine blend into his system. All in the name of useful knowledge. The end of the book has him turning back to cocaine the second the criminal has been arrested.
The next book is The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a collection of short stories about the detective. I'm excited for this, because I imagine the stories will be somewhat less tedious. Holmes figures everything out so quickly that it's hard to fill even 100 pages with plot and you end up with half a book of monologuing or Mormon history. Short stories will be a welcome change.
Comments
Post a Comment