#BookReview :: The Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Donald Thomas

Holmes returns! In five ingenious new novella length tales featuring the Great Detective. Once again the game is afoot, in these highly original stories featuring Sherlock Holmes at the height of his powers. Crossing historical fact with inventive fiction, the master of pastiche Donald Thomas plunges Holmes into London's Siege of Sidney Street, where he ratiocinates alongside Winston Churchill in obstructing an anarchists assassination plot led by Peter the Painter. In the next adventure, Holmes and Watson are confounded by the Riddle of the Zimmerman Telegram during World War I, as Holmes must employ all his wits to defeat a plan for a German led invasion of the United States. In other mystifying tales of detection, Sherlock Holmes searches for the treasures of King John, lost in 1216. Foiling a foul extortion attempt, Holmes and Watson aid in discovering Lord Byron's epic poem evoking his secret journey to Virginia. Finally the great detective, in a bravura performance, confronts a supernatural curse in Lord Arthur Savile's Crime.

This is the fourth Sherlock Holmes book by Donald Thomas that I have read.

This installment brings together five more stories of the great detective. The first is set during the London's Siege of Sidney Street, where he resolves the assassination plot led by Peter. The next story finds Holmes and Watson playing with the Zimmerman Telegram codes as Holmes tries to uncover the details of a German invasion. The next adventure leads to a treasure hunt and the final story involves Holmes dealing with a supernatural curse. Five very different plots and five very different stories make up this book in order to play with the readers’ imagination.

 I have to say that I am finally warming up to this very different dynamics between Sherlock and Watson. While the first Donald Thomas book that I picked up left me feeling a bit disappointed with the way this author is dealing with the dynamics of the relationship between these two, I almost anticipated it when I picked this one up. Also, I am starting to appreciate the way Donald Thomas infuses fiction with reality. I checked out all the five situations on google to find out more about these incidents. Also, went back and checked some of the other incidents narrated in the other books. It is fascinating. 

I don’t know if it is because I have finally accepted the differences from ACD’s Holmes or if Donald Thomas just has a way of growing on you or if it is because this is his best work – but I loved this book the best so far. Yes, This pair grows on you and so give it time and chance by picking this series up.

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