Holmes is just days away from bringing down the biggest criminal ringleader in London. But his quick and wicked foe is as cautious and intelligent as he. When Moriarty learns of Holmes' plans against him he releases an evil on England the likes of which no civilised man had ever seen. In a desperate attempt to save England and perhaps the known world, Holmes and his trusty friend Watson travel across Europe to find the source of Moriarty's new found power and end him and his wicked plan for good. With the aid of every friend and ally they can find, the two detectives make regular and efficient usage of their shared experience of boxing, fencing and firearms in a bloodthirsty adventure.
Nick S. Thomas, is a novelist, martial arts instructor and military history enthusiast. Author of the bestselling 'Battle Earth' series and is co-founder of the prestigious Academy of Historical Fencing.
Nick has worked full time as an author for over a decade and also still designs his own novel art, as well as that of his brothers, fellow novelist Michael G Thomas.
As well as the pursuit of historical materials to transcribe, translate and interpret, Nick enjoys writing works of historical fiction, fantasy, and science-fiction. He is also an avid military history enthusiast. A collector and restorer of WW2 military vehicles, as well as antique edged weaponry.
This is a zombie book, with an author who really loves describing zombie attacks and has a weaponry fetish. As others have said, Sherlock and Watson feel like an afterthought. I did love some of the side characters involved, but compared to other Sherlock spin-offs, this one left a bit to be desired. The amount of zombie violence became less shocking and more annoying as the book went on.
I did have fun with the narration, because it was done by a friend of mine! :)
I really wanted to like this book, and it got off to a great start. Unfortunately it never went anywhere. Instead it became a big repeating circle, new town, another zombie attack ... and the band of heroes were terrible shots which really annoyed me. Finally I put this onto my small 'did not finish' shelf.
one of the more natural blendings of literature and zombies i've read yet. the language and some of the action fit the Sherlock realm well. buttt the book itself was rather bad, and the zombie aspect was lackluster. on the overall side of things, it felt like nothing happened. it was all so glossed over. entire battles summed up in a sentence or two leaving me, 100 pages in, wondering if anything had actually occurred. nothing left an impact, it was all a series of sentences.
the zombies were things, and the tale wasn't truly affected by them. you could have replaced them with a flood, or rabid rats.. anything, really, as it was missing part of the zombie genre i feel MAKES the zombie genre: the breakdown of society when your best friend may be suddenly trying to eat you, or worse, kill you for your supplies. it felt one note. it felt young and uninvolved.
the only thing that stuck with me was early in the book when Sherlock kills everyone bitten on a train, in what seems to be cold blood, and Watson describes Sherlock's internal strengths. it was the only real detail put into the book, and as a fan of the BBC Sherlock, i found myself seeing a layer to Cumberbatch's version right in time for the return of the show.
for some reason my brain won't brain right now. i give up writing. back to chocolate.
I absolutely love Sherlock Holmes, and up until this book, I've enjoyed every incarnation of him and his story. But I'm not really going to count this as a Sherlock Holmes story, just because, well, it wasn't.
The names "Holmes" and "Watson" could've been replaced and I wouldn't have seen any similarities between them and the canon characters. As far as I can remember, Sherlock made no deductions whatsoever. And what about lady's man Watson? I think he mentioned his wife, who could possibly be turned into a zombie at this point, maybe twice.
Even looking past the fact that it wasn't a Sherlock Holmes story, the whole zombie-adventure aspect wasn't really that captivating either. I love a good thriller as much as the next girl, and zombies are a plus, but I found myself actually yawning as I read it. There were very few points when I was actually interested in finding out what happened.
Many authors and popular media have been trying to take advantage of Sherlock Holmes' popularity for many years, especially so in the last decade. Some have been more successful than others. Unfortunately, Thomas' work lies closer to the unsuccessful end of the spectrum. Like another reviewer mentioned, the story would not have made a difference if you replaced Sherlock Holmes and John Watson with say, Sam and Barry running away from zombies. As a book that was based upon one of the world's most famous detectives, this was truly disappointing.
If you are a fan of zombie literature however, this may be an entertaining read if you are not looking for a literary work of art. This was essentially a book about running away from, and killing zombies. That's it. If this is what you are looking for, its a great read. Otherwise, move on.
I read this Kindle edition and it was full of mistakes. Words ran together and sentences ended with commas. They used "meat" instead of "meet" at one point. Other than that, it was quite violent and directed towards men who like guns. Every gun was precious and described in detail over and over. One battle with zombies led to another battle with zombies. There are only so many ways you can describe blowing a zombie's head off.
I couldn't get past page 30 of this book. It sounded like it was written by a fifth grader, what with all the excessive commas and generally awful grammar. Plus, it butchered one of the best Holmes stories ("The Final Problem") by throwing in random zombie fight scenes: that is truly the only thing that makes this story different from the original. Ug.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I just gave up half way. This book was a zombie book with a character called Sherlock Holmes in it. There was none of the Holmes style detection and the language had an element modern English thrown in. A thirteen year old may have found the zombie fight in every chapter interesting so I wont throw this book out but rather save it for when my son is a little older.
Sorry folks this book is NOT a Sherlock story - this is Zombie, kill'em and destroy them book. Not for the fan of Doyle. As a bookstore owner, will recc to YA's looking for something fun to read with mentioning of Holmes/Watson. Overall I could see this made into a movie a 30 min special at best.
I am a huge Holmes fan and I enjoy a good zombie mashup so this looked like a fun read. It is the Holmes story "The Final Problem", rewritten with Zombies. The idea had more potential but in the end I really just thought it was ok.
it's trash literature, So I'm not expecting much, but it's boring trash literature. Holmes is boring and the zombies are boring. I want more zombies and more ridiculousness, So it can be enjoyable schlocky fiction. Still better than Twilight and the last few Mary Russell novels though.