The House of Silk: The Bestselling Sherlock Holmes Novel

by Anthony Horowitz

The Sunday Times bestselling official Sherlock Holmes mystery. THE GAME'S AFOOT...It is November 1890, and London is gripped by a merciless winter. Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are enjoying tea by the fire when an agitated gentleman arrives unannounced at 221b Baker Street. He begs Holmes for help, telling the unnerving story of a scar-faced man with piercing eyes who has stalked him in recent weeks. Intrigued, Holmes and Watson find themselves swiftly drawn into a series of puzzling and sinister events, stretching from the gaslit streets of London to the teeming criminal underworld of Boston and the mysterious 'House of Silk' ...

• ISBN10: 1409135985
• ISBN13: 9781409135982
• Publish Date: 30 August 2012 (first published 1 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 22 September 2015
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
• Imprint: Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[Rinn]

Well I was not expecting that ending!

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

A fine art dealer comes begging for Sherlock’s help, as he has been menaced by a strange man; a wanted man that has followed him all the way from America. Art dealer named Edmund Carstairs then finds his home robbed, family threatened and then his client murdered. Unwillingly Holmes and Watson find themselves in a conspiracy connecting London to the Boston underground by an opium den known as the House of Silk.

For the first time in One hundred and twenty five years the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate have officially authorised a Sherlock Holmes novel. Anthony Horowitz’s novel tries to capture the style and feel of the original Sherlock novels but I never really felt that he got Arthur Conan Doyle’s style right. It felt stripped back and less complex than the Sherlock novels I’ve actually read and then there is a slight modernisation to the writing that can be very difficult to hide.

Watson is back as the unreliable narrator documenting their adventures, while the mystery and conspiracy in House of Silk are well plotted and play out rather well. I tend to think this is more of a Robert Downey Jnr’s style Sherlock Holmes rather than the Conan Doyle one. Diehard fans will probably enjoy another adventure but I can’t help but wonder if this book would be better played out with some original characters.

House of Silk came off rather dull in parts and while I haven’t read many Sherlock novels I can’t help but compare it with the ones I have read and Anthony Horowitz’s attempt was close but never felt the same. Tiny little things like the phrase “the game is afoot” being changed to “the game’s afoot” really helped show the differences.

While I did enjoy House of Silk as a novel, I don’t think there was anything spectacular about it. While this an officially authorised Sherlock novel (debatable, Caleb Carr’s The Italian Secretary and Lyndsay Faye’s Dust and Shadow are both approved by the estate) it is not the same. I think I would rather read a Benedict Cumberbatch style Sherlock novel rather than another attempt at trying to replicate Conan Doyle’s style and plots.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2013/03/03/book-review-house-of-silk/

[MurderByDeath]

Disappointing. I felt the author maligned both Holmes and Watson: Holmes by making him less than the analytical genius he is, allowing him to fall into traps and burdening him with humility and an overactive conscience, and Watson by making him a man so in love with his own voice and eloquence that he rambles on and on and on. So many times, I was reduced to yelling at the playback, telling him to shut up already and move on. 

I found the plot awkward as well, with the author trying too hard to tie the very different story lines into one cohesive plot. Not anything I'd recommend to Holmes fans.