It is November 1890 and London is gripped by a merciless winter.
Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are enjoying tea by the fire when an agitated gentleman arrives unannounced at 221b Baker Street. He begs Holmes for help, telling the unnerving story of a scar-faced man with piercing eyes who has stalked him in recent weeks. Intrigued by the man's tale, Holmes and Watson find themselves swiftly drawn into a series of puzzling and sinister events, stretching from the gas-lit streets of London to the teeming criminal underworld of Boston.
As the pair delve deeper into the case, they stumble across a whispered phrase 'the House of Silk': a mysterious entity and foe more deadly than any Holmes has encountered, and a conspiracy that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of society itself. With devilish plotting and excellent characterisation, bestselling author Anthony Horowitz delivers a first-rate Sherlock Holmes mystery for a modern readership whilst remaining utterly true to the spirit of the original Conan Doyle books.
Sherlock Holmes is back with all the nuance, pace and powers of deduction that make him the world's greatest and most celebrated detective.
Enthusiastically replicating the spirit, style, suspense and atmosphere of Conan Doyle's stories, this skilfully crafted homage is an irresistible read. (Peter Kemp SUNDAY TIMES 20120916)
Horowitz has captured Holmes Heaven (THE TIMES )
An exciting, well-crafted novel (Andrew Lycett SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )
Bravo, then, Mr Horowitz. Let us hope that the famous dispatch box contains many more cases for him to unearth (FINANCIAL TIMES )
A lifelong Sherlock Holmes fan, Anthony Horowitz is the perfect choice to pen the first new official mystery and what a triumph it is. While retaining faithfully the style of the originals, Horowitz's lively prose makes this exciting story just right for a new generation of fans (Sarah Clarke BOOKSELLER )
A brilliant new Sherlock Holmes novel. The tone of voice is pitch perfect, the send of place and time spot on. I don't want to give too much away about the plot but there are clever twist and plenty of trademark Holmesian moments. I thoroughly enjoyed this (Sue Scholes BOOKSELLER )
Horowitz plays a perfectly straight bat. This is a no-shit Sherlock (GUARDIAN )
Brimming with informed enthusiasm, this skilfully crafted homage to Conan Doyle is so enjoyable that you're sorry when it fades away to the strains of Holmes playing his Stradivarius (THE SUNDAY TIMES )
Anthony Horowitz's new Sherlock Holmes novel The House of Silk is superb - indeed, I would say it is better than any of Conan Doyle's own Holmes novels, which always feel padded out in comparison with the gripping short stories (DAILY TELEGRAPH )
Yet another Sherlock Holmes imitation? The field is crowded but with one bound Horowitz - well known for his children's books and TV scripts - takes the lead, with his perfect mimicry of Conan Doyle's style and Dr Watson's tone of voice. There is a suitably baffling mystery and the great detective is on top form. It's very good; dare I say as good as the original? (LITERARY REVIEW )
It seems improbable, if not impossible, but it's true! Holmes is back at his best (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )
Perfectly paced, entirely unpredictable, edge-of-seat exciting and a total joy from start to finish. The more of it I read, the more I looked forward to basking in Holmes's deductive brilliance at the end: the solutions that are obvious once you know them but completely unguessable until you do. I am happy to report that all the required ingredients had been added; neither Holmes nor Horowitz let me down (Sophie Hannah DAILY EXPRESS )
Horowitz infuses the novel with a superb eye for the detail of Victorian London but also a touching sense of melancholy, the book functioning as a subtle final coda to Holmes's adventures. Crucially, it also has a cracking plot and is a labyrinthine but eminently lucid page-turner (METRO )
"As an exercise in literary pastiche the book is deeply impressive... He [Horowitz] also managed to produce an intricate and satisfying plot of which Conan Doyle would be proud and a book that drips with authentic period details." (HERALD 20120915)
"Holmes fans - and indeed, anyone who enjoys a moody, atmospheric detective story that plumbs the darkest depths of Victorian London - will love it." (YORK PRESS 20120922)
Brilliantly capturing the spirit and tone of Conan Doyle's original stories while devising a new mystery for modern readers is no mean feat, but Horowitz has risen to the challenge with absolute aplomb. (GOOD BOOK GUIDE )
Quite the most entertaining and true addition to Doyle's works I have yet read, may there be many more from him!!
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