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Eye of the Crow (The Boy Sherlock Holmes, #1)

Shane Peacock

Start date: November 16, 2013

Why we're reading this: Book for novel study #1
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Dec 11, 2013 Jeremy rated it it was amazing

*Warning* *Spoiler Alert*
Sherlock Holmes is a thirteen year old boy in London of 1867 in the book The Eye of the Crow by Shane Peacock. His father, a poor Jew with exceptional observation skills. His mother is highborn in a Noble family. After marrying a Jewish man her family disowned her. Their marriage makes them social outcasts and their son a reject too. Their family is poor. Sherlock is bullied and pestered at school, and friendless. He feels like a worthless nobody, but soon he will be in *Warning* *Spoiler Alert*
Sherlock Holmes is a thirteen year old boy in London of 1867 in the book The Eye of the Crow by Shane Peacock. His father, a poor Jew with exceptional observation skills. His mother is highborn in a Noble family. After marrying a Jewish man her family disowned her. Their marriage makes them social outcasts and their son a reject too. Their family is poor. Sherlock is bullied and pestered at school, and friendless. He feels like a worthless nobody, but soon he will be in the middle of a brutal murder.

Sherlock skips school because he finds the streets of Trafalgar Square more exciting than his time in a classroom. He has been taught observation skills from his talented father. As he wanders through the streets, his eye is caught by the headline “MURDER” on his favorite newspaper. An Arab younger then 19 year old is framed, but when he is taken to jail, their eyes meet and the Arab mouths “I didn’t do it” to Sherlock. This sparks something in him, and he is determined to bring the real murderer to justice and prove the Arab innocent. Soon this young detective will have part in a deadly game where people try to kill him to stop him from solving the case.

In Eye of the Crow, I think that Shane Peacock has done an excellent job of writing a story about a thrilling murder mystery. Sherlock is tracking down his first killer in the dark and gloomy streets of London, and it worked for this book because it seemed very realistic. I liked the ways that Peacock set up the background story for the other books when Holmes is an adult. This was almost like a prelude to the other Sherlock Holmes books. The characters in this book (Sherlock, Malefactor, Irene) were described in detail and you could tell that they were from old London. Eye of the Crow talked about strong issues like classism (when Sherlock is treated like a half-breed and people look down at him because of the amount of money he has) and racism (when the Arab is assumed to be the murderer because the killer used his knife). This book had excitement right through from the beginning to the end and it covered issues relevant to a number of ages.

The parts that I didn’t agree with was parts how Irene Doyle’s father did not believe in slavery. I think that lots of men in the upper-class had slaves. He just didn’t sound very realistic in the time period it was placed in. I thought that some of the parts in the book was just there for a filler and a tad slow. They seemed to be present only to make the story a little longer. This can be seen when Sherlock is stealing food from the market, or in some of the parts when either Sherlock and Malefactor are talking, or when Sherlock talking and planning with Irene (but I also understand that there can not be action every second).

Another issue I had is that when Rose Holmes dies, it is over very quick and you don’t hear much of it in the rest of the book. He could have mentioned it or emphasized it more than the author did. The crows seemed like a big part of the book, but only had little to do with the plot and storyline. The birds only lead him to the scene of the crime and proved that they like shiny objects. It did help Sherlock get a lead on this case, but I think that they were over sold.

I thought that Sherlock Holmes Eye of the Crow was an excellent read. People who like action, adventure and mystery would also be fond of this book. Most of the character’s personalities were well written but on that note, a couple of characters were not placed in the right time period I believed. It is definitely packed with quite a lot of action and suspense. People who enjoyed this book might also like books from authors such as Agatha Christie, James Paterson, Arthur Conan Doyle, or even the continuing 6 part series of The boy Sherlock Holmes. I would give this murder mystery, 4.8 shiny stars out of 5 shiny stars. Probably enough to catch the eye of the crow.

-Jeremy 8.4 ...more

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Nov 18, 2013 Jeremy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Nov 21, 2013 Ben rated it really liked it

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