This review contains spoilers.

The book was okay, but I did have some issues with it. First of all, it wasn't much of a mystery. It was a mystery for Sherlock to figure out but there was nothing for the reader to figure out. Second, the author kept repeating himself and I would have expected an editor to catch it but apparently not. There were a couple of times where Sherlock turned away and then in the very next paragraph he turned away again.

There were other things that made me feel like the author wrote a paragraph and then later wrote a paragraph and inserted it in without making sure everything flowed together. In the scene where Sherlock and Ginny are trying to get away from the Baron, Ginny runs to the windows and pulls down the draperies but a couple of paragraphs later she is sitting next to Sherlock on a chair. What did she do - run across the room and yank down the drapes, then decide she should go sit back in the chair like a good prisoner? It didn't make any sense.

Then there was the whole scene with the Baron and his little marionette thing. He has servants who pull on ropes that are tied to him to make him move around, because he was trampled by horses and he's paralyzed. No, he's not paralyzed, he can move his arms and is a master swordsman. No, he can only move his arms because his servants interpret what move he wants to make and then operate the ropes to make it happen. Because they've had so much practice, which is mentioned three times during that scene, in case you missed it the first time.

It also felt unfinished. Obviously there is going to be a sequel, but there were so many unanswered questions it felt more like the book ended in the middle rather than had a proper ending. What's the deal with Mrs. Eglantine? Why is she no friend to the Holmes family? Why was she seen with some of the murder victims? Is she part of the plot, or just a shady character lurking about staircases in the foyer?

And I'm sorry, but the American Amyus lets his daughter wander around wearing only riding breeches? This is Victorian England. I think there was a stricter dress code for the ladies, no matter what country they are from. I realize she is the spunky love interest who will probably die in a future book, unless she disguises herself as Dr. Watson because she becomes so fond of men's attire. And we know she is spunky because she wears riding breeches and rides her horse through the country unsupervised. May I have another cliché, please? Maybe she will grow up and go off to live in a romance novel someday.

I didn't hate the book. It just had some editorial issues and realism issues. I found Amyus to be an interesting character and I wanted to know more about him. In fact, I think I liked all the secondary characters better than Sherlock, and wanted to know more about them. Why does his aunt talk to herself? What is Matty's back story? What does Mycroft really do? But Sherlock just left me kind of cold.


Product Description
It is the summer of 1868, and Sherlock Holmes is fourteen. On break from boarding school, he is staying with eccentric strangers—his uncle and aunt—in their vast house in Hampshire. When two local people die from symptoms that resemble the plague, Holmes begins to investigate what really killed them, helped by his new tutor, an American named Amyus Crowe. So begins Sherlock’s true education in detection, as he discovers the dastardly crimes of a brilliantly sinister villain of exquisitely malign intent.