Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra

Rating:
Summary: Sherlock Holmes fans, beware
Review: "In the vault of Cox was an old tin box with Watson's name on the lid," Jay Finlay Christ poetically declared in 1946. "What wouldn't we pay for that box today and the secret notes there hid?"

Christ is referring to the unpublished collection of Sherlock Holmes adventures that Dr. Watson often cryptically alluded to in the published ones.

"The giant rat, the cardinal's hat, the Patersons (first name Grice), the cormorant's bill, the Hammerford will - we'd take them at any price," Christ continues. Indeed, Sherlockian fans have oft wished that Dr. Watson and his chronicler, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, had been more forthcoming with details about the adventures that Dr. Watson hinted at and teased his readers with.

In Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire", Watson alludes to the story of giant rat of Sumatra as one for which the world is not yet prepared, and that might be the unpublished story that intrigues Sherlock's followers the most. It might be the most oft-referred to of the unpublished tales. In the Charlton Heston production (as both a play and a movie), "The Crucifer of Blood", Watson is, at the end, dissuaded from leaving Holmes when this case shows up at Sherlock's front door.

One way or another, rats have a way of showing up in Sherlock Holmes stories. Inspector Lestrade's appearance is often described in rat-like terms. In "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", Charles McCarthy's dying allusion to a rat holds the key to the riddle of his death. In Adrian Conan Doyle's story of the Deptford Horror, Professor Wilson trains his dangerous Cuban spiders on the rats in his cellar.

But there's no rat like a Sumatra rat, and as far as I know, Alan Vanneman's novel is the first effort of all post-Conan Doyle Holmes pastiche authors to tell the story of the giant rat of Sumatra. There may have been other efforts beforehand, but I am not familiar with them.

It's a tolerably decent effort, even if it borrows liberally from "The Island of Dr. Moreau". But this book is more noteworthy as a collage than as a novel. It is enlivened by interesting characters such as the exotic and alluring Singaporean Widow Han, as well as the physically imposing and authoritative Captain MacDougall, a pure-blooded African sea captain who was once slave cargo on a ship similar to the one that he now commands. And then, of course, there's Harat.

There are also some interesting depictions of 19th century Singapore, naturally including one in which Holmes and Watson come upon a snake crushing a rat in its coils. And while I usually disdain romantic scenes, I was bemused to see that Dr. Watson's experience of women (in "Sign of the Four", he says that it extends over many nations and three continents) is further augmented throughout this novel. There's a scene, in which a fruit called a "doorian" is used as an aphrodisiac, that will send many readers scrambling to their grocery stores - or to Singapore - to find one.

But a romantic affair between Sherlock Holmes and the Widow Han is wrong, wrong, wrong, even if Vanneman does not allow it to shake Holmes's masterful nature and devotion to reason - or maybe all the more wrong for that. The authentic Sherlock has a passion for justice and a willingness to risk all for a damsel in distress, but is incapable of the softer emotions. As Dr. Watson explains in "A Scandal in Bohemia", love or physical passion in Sherlock Holmes would be as intrusive as "grit in a sensitive instrument or a crack in one of his own high-power lenses".

There's also a fair share of adventure on the high seas and on dry land in which our heroes sustain some very close calls. Their physical skills are taxed to the utmost, and it's fortunate that the wound that Dr. Watson received in Afghanistan from a jezail bullet, that is a potentially disabling influence in the Conan Doyle stories, doesn't come into play in this novel and is not even alluded to.

But a Sherlock Holmes story is supposed to be an unwinding but taut skein of events with a dramatic resolution at the climax and an equally taut string of deductive reasoning at the denouement showing how the Great Man was able to arrive at The Solution in the service of justice and (usually) in the nick of time.

This novel is a confusing montage of fantasy and complicated international politics, in which the motives of both the villains and the authorities who dispatch Holmes and Watson to defeat the villains are still somewhat obscure at the end. It simply doesn't hang together as well as does a traditional Conan Doyle piece. Aw, rats!

Rating:
Summary: Holmes the adventurer
Review: Although others did not enjoy Vanneman's work, I am not among them. Its true this story strays from the classic Holmes style, but I was intrigued by this fact and could not put the book down until I finished. There were some issues which I could have done without (how many times will Watson get drunk and wake up in danger), but the adventurous tone was refreshing. I enjoyed the captain and the Widow's characters as well as the terror of Holmes' and Watson's journey to the Far East. I'll admit the ending was a bit too sci-fi and it seemed rushed, but I will be awaiting Vanneman's next interpretation of the great detective.

Rating:
Summary: Frankly I wonder why I even bother reading Sherlock Holmes p
Review: Frankly I wonder why I even bother reading Sherlock Holmes pastiche's anymore. They are usually so dreadful.

Well, this attempt is pretty dreadful too. And dull. Very dull. And the plot is somewhat unbelievable. Did I mention tedious and dull?

Rating:
Summary: Starts Well, Quickly Disappoints
Review: I have read many, many books on Sherlock Holmes by many varied authors, but never have I read a book that was so convoluted and confusing. I finished it, but still can't quite put into words exactly what the story was about. The story line was so unbelievable that it left me angry that I wasted my time on this book. It lacked suspense, instead it went for the absurd story line. I will be interested to see what other Sherlock Holmes fans think of this book.

Rating:
Summary: Doyle revisited
Review: If you are looking for writing that reminds you of Doyle, "Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra" comes closer than any I've read...and I've read a lot of them.

Rating:
Summary: Waste of Time
Review: If you are looking for writing that reminds you of Doyle, "Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra" comes closer than any I've read...and I've read a lot of them.

Rating:
Summary: You'd get a zero, but they won't let me go that low.
Review: Man are we reading Sherlock Holmes or Doctor Who? A race of intelligent humaniod rats? Strickly sci-fi, not for a serious Holmes student. I suggest the short story in "Resurrected Holmes". Yeah, it's wild too, but in its context, The Blade says it's twice as believeable!

Rating:
Summary: Holmes the adventurer
Review: Man are we reading Sherlock Holmes or Doctor Who? A race of intelligent humaniod rats? Strickly sci-fi, not for a serious Holmes student. I suggest the short story in "Resurrected Holmes". Yeah, it's wild too, but in its context, The Blade says it's twice as believeable!

Rating:
Summary: a weak first novel, try Meyers instead
Review: This one didn't live up to expectations, but to be fair, expectations for a fan of Conan Doyle's series are fairly high, and the elusive nature of this case demands equally stunning writing. While this isn't bad, it's not good either; the "mystery" is thin, and rather than finishing up with a satisfactory bang of enlightenment, it crawls across the finish line, adding another full "chapter" after the "Epilogue" notice. The science-fiction elements had real promise, however much they borrowed from Dr. Moreau, but instead of expanding them, Vanneman tries to focus on poorly-constructed minor characters that seem thrown in for the sake of a larger cast. Watson's sexual exploits are equally pointless, and Holmes' romantic attatchment to the Widow Han seems a desperate attempt to recreate Irene Adler. Too many unanswered questions and shoddy plotting make this one to skip. Instead, try some of Nicholas Meyers' Holmes stories - The Seven Percent Solution and The West End Horror are most excellent.