The Disappearance of Sherlock Holmes

Rating:
Summary: Finally, more Holmes, less Rafferty
Review: "Disappearance" is a big improvement over "Secret Alliance". Despite the title, Holmes is present for much of the book. Even better, Rafferty appears very little, and Minnesota is barely mentioned. Unfortunately, Holmes and Watson are apart for much of the story. The villain's conspiracy against Holmes is far-fetched at times, but overall the book is a pretty good story, which could have been better had the author cut down on excessive details and footnotes that do nothing to move the story along.

Rating:
Summary: Finally, more Holmes, less Rafferty
Review: "Disappearance" is a big improvement over "Secret Alliance". Despite the title, Holmes is present for much of the book. Even better, Rafferty appears very little, and Minnesota is barely mentioned. Unfortunately, Holmes and Watson are apart for much of the story. The villain's conspiracy against Holmes is far-fetched at times, but overall the book is a pretty good story, which could have been better had the author cut down on excessive details and footnotes that do nothing to move the story along.

Rating:
Summary: Wow! A page turner
Review: I enjoyed the earlier books in this series and this one was especially good. Same day I received it, I read far into the night and finished it the following morning. I like these books because I'm a lifelong Sherlock Holmes fan and this one featured Holmes from the beginning in an absorbing story in which he was impersonated, traveled from England, to NYC and and then to Chicago and even was involved in a bit of a romance. Rafferty and other characters from previous books made appearances in an auxillary capacity, which suits me fine.
Mr. Millett's ability to capture the voice of Watson (as created by Doyle) is the most appealing aspect of this tale.

Rating:
Summary: Wow! A page turner
Review: I enjoyed the earlier books in this series and this one was especially good. Same day I received it, I read far into the night and finished it the following morning. I like these books because I'm a lifelong Sherlock Holmes fan and this one featured Holmes from the beginning in an absorbing story in which he was impersonated, traveled from England, to NYC and and then to Chicago and even was involved in a bit of a romance. Rafferty and other characters from previous books made appearances in an auxillary capacity, which suits me fine.
Mr. Millett's ability to capture the voice of Watson (as created by Doyle) is the most appealing aspect of this tale.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: My reaction to this book was interesting. I have a tendancy to drop a book after the first couple of chapters if I don't find myself drawn in. If I am drawn in, I'll finish the book in a couple days. I read The Disappearance of Sherlock Holmes over several weeks. I didn't feel the urge to read it all at once, but I didn't feel like tossing it all together. Millett's description are near perfection in my opinion, although as another reviewer commented, the footnotes were bothersome. His character development showed me another, believable side of Sherlock Holmes. I kept reading, and enjoyed the end in Chicago the most.

Rating:
Summary: The Game is Afoot, My Dear Shadwell!
Review: Probably the best of Larry Millet's stories (and the others have been good!) I really loved it when Mary finally got hers! That female Moriarty really deserved what she got! However, I suspect that Millet will resurect her in his next novel. Ah, well, she'll join a long list of villans that have returned from the dead including Moriarty himself, Fu Manchu, The Joker, etc. Four resounding Sherlock stars from the Blade! Larry Millet, you go, bro!

Rating:
Summary: A Sense of Place
Review: This novel is the fifth one by Larry Millett, a retired Minneapolis journalist. All of Millett's novels are Sherlock Holmes pastiches. In other words, Millett purports to continue the Holmes saga, keeping the style and characters of the original stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. The DISAPPEARANCE takes place in the year 1900. Parts of this novel take place in London, New York, and Chicago. (All Millett's Sherlock Holmes stories take place in the United States, presumably on "visits" by Holmes and Watson.)

All of Millett's Holmes stories have a very strong sense of place. Millett is something of an amateur historian and fills his chapters with elaborate descriptions of the streets, buildings, parks, and surroundings the characters encounter.

Footnotes appear often, usually explaining details of architecture or other historical details. For a certain sort of leisurely reader, the footnotes are fine, but for others they can become a distraction. For instance, if Holmes meets Watson at an old church in Chicago, a footnote appears that tells us the year the church was built, the kind of glass used in the windows, and the year the church was finally torn down. There's a lot of this. Halfway through the novel, I just disregarded the footnotes entirely, and from there on, I think my "read" went better.

Millett is a very good prose stylist. He crafts excellent sentences and paragraphs. His descriptions are razor sharp, and his characters come to life rather well. Of all Mr. Millett's Sherlock Holmes books, DISAPPEARANCE best brings Sherlock Holmes forward as a real, living human being. And besides Holmes, some of the other characters are also well drawn and three-dimensional.

There is plenty of action in DISAPPEARANCE, and even some tawdry sex. Parts of the story take place in the bordellos of several cities, and some of the villains are madams, purveyors, or prostitutes. There's also plenty of gunplay -- in fact, more "Hollywood" shoot-em-up action than in any of Millett's earlier four novels.

Melodrama is very much in evidence. On at least half a dozen occasions, Holmes teeters at the edge of death. But almost miraculously, he always prevails. There's a separate cliffhanger finish for each of the three major acts-- the action in London, next New York, and finally, in Chicago. Sometimes this is a bit "too much."

I liked the book, although I can see some shortcomings along with the strengths. The larger structure of the book could use more unity -- it is highly episodic, with too many cliffhanger scenes to be altogether credible. But as I say, the paragraphs are very well written, several of the characters come forward as interesting and believable, and the strong "sense of place" created by Mr. Millett underpins and steadies some of the almost frenetic action of the book.

While it was not Millett's primary intention to give a sense of life in America's largest cities at the turn of the century, somehow this comes forward to enrich the story. One smells, tastes, and touches the America of an historical era. This is a kind of bonus that enriches the "read" for me.

DISAPPEARANCE's shortcomings notwithstanding, I felt this novel was worth the money.

Patrick Callahan

Rating:
Summary: A Sense of Place
Review: This novel is the fifth one by Larry Millett, a retired Minneapolis journalist. All of Millett's novels are Sherlock Holmes pastiches. In other words, Millett purports to continue the Holmes saga, keeping the style and characters of the original stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. The DISAPPEARANCE takes place in the year 1900. Parts of this novel take place in London, New York, and Chicago. (All Millett's Sherlock Holmes stories take place in the United States, presumably on "visits" by Holmes and Watson.)

All of Millett's Holmes stories have a very strong sense of place. Millett is something of an amateur historian and fills his chapters with elaborate descriptions of the streets, buildings, parks, and surroundings the characters encounter.

Footnotes appear often, usually explaining details of architecture or other historical details. For a certain sort of leisurely reader, the footnotes are fine, but for others they can become a distraction. For instance, if Holmes meets Watson at an old church in Chicago, a footnote appears that tells us the year the church was built, the kind of glass used in the windows, and the year the church was finally torn down. There's a lot of this. Halfway through the novel, I just disregarded the footnotes entirely, and from there on, I think my "read" went better.

Millett is a very good prose stylist. He crafts excellent sentences and paragraphs. His descriptions are razor sharp, and his characters come to life rather well. Of all Mr. Millett's Sherlock Holmes books, DISAPPEARANCE best brings Sherlock Holmes forward as a real, living human being. And besides Holmes, some of the other characters are also well drawn and three-dimensional.

There is plenty of action in DISAPPEARANCE, and even some tawdry sex. Parts of the story take place in the bordellos of several cities, and some of the villains are madams, purveyors, or prostitutes. There's also plenty of gunplay -- in fact, more "Hollywood" shoot-em-up action than in any of Millett's earlier four novels.

Melodrama is very much in evidence. On at least half a dozen occasions, Holmes teeters at the edge of death. But almost miraculously, he always prevails. There's a separate cliffhanger finish for each of the three major acts-- the action in London, next New York, and finally, in Chicago. Sometimes this is a bit "too much."

I liked the book, although I can see some shortcomings along with the strengths. The larger structure of the book could use more unity -- it is highly episodic, with too many cliffhanger scenes to be altogether credible. But as I say, the paragraphs are very well written, several of the characters come forward as interesting and believable, and the strong "sense of place" created by Mr. Millett underpins and steadies some of the almost frenetic action of the book.

While it was not Millett's primary intention to give a sense of life in America's largest cities at the turn of the century, somehow this comes forward to enrich the story. One smells, tastes, and touches the America of an historical era. This is a kind of bonus that enriches the "read" for me.

DISAPPEARANCE's shortcomings notwithstanding, I felt this novel was worth the money.

Patrick Callahan