House of Silk

[Meyers]

I read Antony Horowitz's "House of Silk" a couple of months ago. It is very well written in Doyle's style and (I think) captures Victorian London's atmosphere accurately.

 

The subject may be dark and disturbing to some but it is a good story and has received very good literary reviews. I would recommend it for all Holmes fans.

 

Please post your comments.

 

 

Meyers

[wildwoodflower]

I read Antony Horowitz's "House of Silk" a couple of months ago. It is very well written in Doyle's style and (I think) captures Victorian London's atmosphere accurately.

 

The subject may be dark and disturbing to some but it is a good story and has received very good literary reviews. I would recommend it for all Holmes fans.

 

Please post your comments.

 

 

Meyers

 

I thought it was great even though I pretty much knew what the house of silk was all about fairly early on. The curse of our modern world where certain kinds of behaviour and the ensuing scandals are all too prevalent (as they were then and from the beginning of time probably) but it was an excellent pastiche, one of the best I've read in a while.

[besleybean]

I absolutely loved this book.

[Carol the Dabbler]

The Amazon.com page quotes quite a number of professional reviews, and of course there are a couple hundred customer reviews as well.  The consensus is that, among other things, Horowitz got his Watson right, which is one area where even some of the more enjoyable pastiches tend to fall down.  Hmm, may have to read this one!

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I've just started reading this book, a few pages into Chapter 2.  This Watson feels subtly different to me.  But even though the story is set in 1890, the Watson setting it down on paper is twenty-some years older, which may account for a good deal of the difference.

 

However, there's an oddity in Chapter 2 that puzzles me, as it seems to be either a minor error or a major clue.  Just in case it's the latter, I'll put it in a spoiler box:

 

 

Carstairs tells Holmes and Watson, "There were, in Boston at this time, a number of gangs, operating particularly in the south of the city, in Charlestown and Somerville."

 

I know nothing about the gangs, but Charlestown (which has since been annexed into the city) and Somerville are in fact north of old Boston.  So either Carstairs (an Englishman) was disoriented, or Watson misread his old notes -- or else Carstairs is an imposter, and Holmes (who knows how to hold a map right-side-up) will soon unmask him!

 

 

[besleybean]

So long since I read this, I don't remember...

But this book is so good.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I'll just keep reading, then! 

 

[The Rani]

I asked if I can have this for my birthday (before I read any reviews), so glad it sounds good

 

I've also heard that another book, by the same author, entitled 'Moriarty' is to be released in October. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Right, by the same author.

 

I finished House of Silk a while back, and it's written in a sufficiently Doylesque style that I occasionally had to remind myself that it wasn't.  There were a few things that annoyed me, but that's true of the original stories as well.  For example, I figured out

the meaning of "House of Silk"

long before Holmes apparently did, but then I thought a key plot element in ACD's "Valley of Fear" was pretty damned obvious.  Of course, in the former case

I knew the title of the book and he didn't

and in the latter case I knew that it was a murder mystery and he thought it was real life.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I too was able to figure out what the "House of Silk" meant before Holmes did....I was hoping I was wrong.

[The Rani]

 

 

I finished House of Silk a while back, and it's written in a sufficiently Doylesque style that I occasionally had to remind myself that it wasn't.  There were a few things that annoyed me, but that's true of the original stories as well.  For example, I figured out  the meaning of "House of Silk"  long before Holmes apparently did...

I'll have to wait and see if I figure it out too. I'm intrigued now!

 

 ...but then I thought a key plot element in ACD's "Valley of Fear" was pretty damned obvious.  Of course, in the former case  I knew the title of the book and he didn't  and in the latter case I knew that it was a murder mystery and he thought it was real life.

 

You really did have the advantage over Holmes there When I read it for the first time I was half-asleep (it was going on for 12 p.m) so I didn't pick up on that.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Knowing the title of the book, I noticed the first time they mentioned

The Society for the Improvement of London's Children (I tend to see everything as potential anagrams, so it just came automatically).

  And as for what it really meant, like Fox, I was suspicious, but not at all certain.

 

Several people have referred to this as a "dark" book.  To be a bit more precise, I would say that it has a disturbing theme of an "adult" nature.  Not a book for the precocious eight-year-old Holmes buff, unfortunately.

 

Oh, I just remembered one other little thing that annoyed me.  Watson says that, though he didn't realize it at the time,

Mary was slowly coming down with typhoid, which eventually killed her.  As I understand it, typhoid is an acute illness.  Within a few days, you're either dead or on the mend.  The author would have been better off saying tuberculosis.

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

By the way, with Valley of Fear, I was referring to the first big reveal (the one that Holmes later calls himself an idiot for not thinking of).  The last big reveal took me completely by surprise.

 

[The Rani]

I understand that this is not a novel for younger readers, but it is it just the subject matter that's not suitable or does it have graphic descriptions? Because I wouldn't really feel too comfortable with that.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

It's the subject matter....not graphic at all.

[The Rani]

Ok thanks Fox :-)

[Carol the Dabbler]

Agreed.  Barely a mention, just a hint of a glimpse.