| Title | : | Masters of Lies (Sherlock Holmes) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781789099249 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 257 |
| Publication | : | First published May 1, 2022 |
Masters of Lies (Sherlock Holmes) Reviews
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Lier lier your pants are on fire! By end of this Holmes you smell the burning. Love Labour 's found, Chops with onions and so much porky pies. This fast packed murder mystery with twist ends
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Incredible, that's what I've got upon finishing up this book. I have not read any other books in this line of books published by Titan, and I typically meticulously try to engage my reading in order of release and grow with a series of works. However, I have been burned many times with the likes of Holmes and I have never been truly satisfied like I have just felt today upon conclusion of this book. For example, I was quite excited to see films arise inspired by Holmes and the casting of Robert Downey Jr., I confess, had me quite excited, but these were not very well done. I did not even enjoy the re-imagined Holmes with Cumberbach. Both of these actors are quite excellent and I enjoy many films with them, but just not their rendition of Holmes. Another massive issue is that a lot of Holmes stories take on a supernatural flair. They fall to the level of mere Scooby-Doo mysteries, which are fine, but not even remotely what Doyle wrote. This is what the string of Marvel films seem to be to me. The closest Doyle ever touched the super natural is probably in "The Last Vampire" my least favorite story, but it is understandable given Doyle's friendship with Stoker of around the same time.
For me, the penultimate Holmes has been portrayed on screen by Jeremy Brett. That series is peerless in my eyes and one of the few areas where Mycroft is portrayed exactly as I have imagined him. Mycroft is oft a sticking point in my interest in Holmes, he is one of my favorite characters and strangely I personally identify with him more than Holmes, albeit I agree, Holmes is a more exciting character to read about. No, many takes on Mycroft are simply out of character and strange to me. Kareem Abdul-Jabar and Anna Waterhouse's books seemed most intriguing at first glance, but they are action books. And Mycroft, in my estimation, is the antithesis of "action". While I quite enjoyed the concept behind Enola Holmes, I was dismayed at the portrayal of Mycroft in these as well. He's far too emotional on screen and makes no sense for that character.
So, I was with some serious trepidation that I placed and order for this Philip Purser-Hallard novel, it's description seemed, hopefully on par with my expectations of a well written Holmes story. I do not want any modernizations, I don't want any supernatural nonsense, I want a good Holmes story inspired by Doyle, as much as that is possible. Purser-Hallard delivered that story in the most surprising way possible. The story he's managed to craft had such an ending that I never saw it coming. I truly hope this isn't a one time occurrence, because I will certainly be reading the rest of the novels in this series now... though the first author seems to have gone the supernatural route and I am sure I will rate those low until Philip swoops in to rescue me.
The overall format of the book is quite interesting and very well done. If the other books published by Titan are in a similar frame, I think they have truly hit on something special in the Holmes genre. In this book when a particular document is being viewed by Holmes or Watson, we are actually treated to a rendition of what the characters are reading. It is setup in a different font to look hand-written, and I really liked how it helped me feel more immersed in the mystery. Whenever they figured out to do this, they should keep this feature. I thought it was marvelous.
I cannot go into extreme details, but I will hide the main points with the spoiler function. If you intend to read this book, I highly recommend you do not read my spoilers. The basic setup of the story is that Holmes and Watson become embroiled in an espionage case, which they are called to investigate at the behest of Mycroft. Philip brings in the detective Hopkins from an earlier case of Sherlock Holmes, though the name of the story escapes me at the moment. I believe it was the case involving the two pistols. In any event, they stumble into another thread of a master forger, this is the "Masters of Lies" our title is built upon. It is an excellent mystery and very well thought out. Fans of Holmes and the mystery genre in general will likely be quite entertained by this novel. -
Purser-Hallard's previous Sherlock Holmes books crossed the character with other currents of late Victorian literature: a scenario recalling HG Wells in The Vanishing Man, and the characters of Oscar Wilde in The Spider's Web. The approach this time is slightly different, using the depredations of a master forger to depict an analogue version of current concerns about deepfakes and the post-truth world more generally. And once literary fakes enter into the equation, the metafictional level of the game becomes clearer, because of course this story is itself a counterfeit too one which like those within itself can't help betray its author's own concerns or the fact that he hails from a later era - as witness Holmes' lovely line early on that a gentleman would no more be wearing a tweed jacket around London than a deerstalker. But unlike those two previous forays, here I wasn't quite sure the idea sustained the duration of the novel, and wondered whether it might have worked better in the shorter span the original Holmes tales favoured, rather than these 250+ pages. A big part of the problem is that, as we are told several times so we know that it's deliberate, Holmes is acting uncharacteristically. And while that fits the theme, and has a solid explanation, it's still a lot expecting a reader (or at any rate, this reader) to remain gripped by a tribute novel in which for large stretches you can't hear every line as uttered by Jeremy Brett.
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A little lacking in action but a fine twist to the tale saves it nicely :)
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CAWPILE- 5.86
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Really good, full of shocks and action, loved the descriptions of the characters’ quirks, and the subtle humour. Really gripping case and we’ll laid out to us; my only complaint was that I got confused remembering who was who, as there are a lot of characters…
Nevertheless, I am already onto Hallard’s next! -
I gave much thought to how I would present this review. Originally, it was going to have 3/5 rating, but in the end, I had to give it the 5/5 it deserved.
A majority of the book was presented in a strange way. The plot lagged and twisted. The characters were shallow. It was dark and gloomy, and left the reader disheartened as to where the story was going. That is until you come to the final fifth of the book when you discover the front pages were actually a clue that served as a distraction to the reader.
Admittedly, because of my reading style, I found the book difficult to read as the beginning of the book seem to be all one chapter, interspersed with letters and newspaper articles. When looking for a place to put the book down, I eventually came to appreciate these “documents” even though at times they seemed out of place from the events prior and post publication.
With all this going on, why did I give it 5/5? Eventually, the true story “written” by Dr. Watson was revealed and it most definitely lived up to the expectations of a publication by Titan Books. The author truly took this reader on a most intriguing ride. -
Actual rating: 3.5 stars
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I love Sherlock Holmes and I live reading books like this own which is where someone else takes the character and makes a story of their own. And out of all the ones I’ve read none of them has made the character I love worse. A great story.
