This year, one of my goals is to read the entire Sherlock Holmes canon. I’ve always been a fan, having read the short story anthologies years ago, and after watching Sherlock I wanted to get to know more of the source material. Obviously, I had to start with A Study in Scarlet.
The first half of the book was really compelling. The Watson/Sherlock back story, Gregson and Lestrade’s anti-bromance, just seeing all the elements of Sherlock Holmes being put in place was enjoyable. I was confused, though, when the culprit was caught yet there was still half the book left. This was where the book kind of lost me.
The sudden switch to Utah and Mormons caught me so off guard that I thought maybe the Kindle file had somehow become corrupted and some other book was inserted into my Sherlock Holmes. It took several chapters before I realized that this was the culprit’s backstory. It was a gutsy move and an interesting narrative device, but I didn’t particularly care for it.
Overall, I have mixed feelings on this book. It was great to see the basic Sherlock Holmes pieces being put together, but it really lost me with that wild west adventure. Still, I’m excited to continue working through the canon.
ErinKwed 