While a young medical student at Edinburgh Arthur Conan Doyle famously studied under the remarkable Dr Joseph Bell, who was a pioneer in criminal investigation. The Night Calls chronicles their most frightening and disturbing case - the encounter with the man who was later presented in expurgated form as Moriarty. Beginning with a series of bizarre and outlandish assaults on women in the brothels of Edinburgh, the story moves to the medical facility of the city's university, which is itself being disrupted by the violent struggle for women's educational rights. Here Doyle meets a fellow student, young Elizabeth Scott, who has many enemies, among them a crazed misogynist student called Crawford and the smiling hypocritical patron of the university, Henry Carlisle. Yet slowly Bell begins to realise that the increasingly freakish crimes they are investigating reflect an entirely new and terrifying kind of criminal who is not susceptible to the old methods. The Night Calls takes them from the evil heart of old Edinburgh into what Bell calls their 'fight against the future' and to London itself, where Doyle again faces his nemesis with terrifying results -
Earlier I had noted that this book picks up right where [b:The Patient's Eyes|1366110|The Patient's Eyes|David Pirie|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1183021338s/1366110.jpg|1355936] leaves off. It tells the full story of what is continually hinted at in the first book, and I find it slightly odd that David Pirie paced his trilogy the way he did. The Patient's Eyes is almost like a prologue to the full story that's covered in this book and, from what I can tell from this book's ending, [b:The Dark Water|26759|Dark Water|Kōji Suzuki|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386921123s/26759.jpg|27439] as well.
In any case, whereas The Patient's Eyes only got a 3-star rating from me, this book gets a full 4. Its mystery is far more engrossing and disturbing and the fictional version of Arthur Conan Doyle is much more interesting this time around. Pirie also provides a little more background about his research on Doyle and how it guided this novel.
It ends on a startling cliffhanger, and I'm looking forward to picking up the third book (I called it a trilogy before, although I admit I have no idea if it is - I can't find any information online about whether another book is expected).
Reading updates
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Started reading
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30 August, 2008:
Finished reading
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30 August, 2008:
Reviewed