The House of Silk Review

Title: The House of Silk

Author: Anthony Horowitz

Publication Date: November 2011

Genre: Fiction; Historical Fiction; Mystery

Once again, THE GAME’S AFOOT…

London, 1890. 221B Baker St. A fine art dealer named Edmund Carstairs visits Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson to beg for their help. He is being menaced by a strange man in a flat cap – a wanted criminal who seems to have followed him all the way from America. In the days that follow, his home is robbed, his family is threatened. And then the first murder takes place.

Almost unwillingly, Holmes and Watson find themselves being drawn ever deeper into an international conspiracy connected to the teeming criminal underworld of Boston, the gaslit streets of London, opium dens and much, much more. And as they dig, they begin to hear the whispered phrase-the House of Silk-a mysterious entity that connects the highest levels of government to the deepest depths of criminality. Holmes begins to fear that he has uncovered a conspiracy that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of society.

I had honestly never read a Sherlock Holmes novel before picking this book up, I was not sure what to expect. It took me a short while to get used to the style of writing; it has an old-fashioned elegance about it. Obviously, because Horowitz is matching and emulating the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A simple investigation into a robbery turns into a hunt for a conspiracy in the criminal underworld. The plot is intricately thought out. I really hope that the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle allows more books to be published. I think it will allow a new generation of readers, myself included to enjoy the stories of Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson.

For me this book was a 4/5.

“Show Holmes a drop of water and he would deduce the existence of the Atlantic. Show it to me and I would look for a tap. That was the difference between us.”