I love Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Ever since I first read The Hound of the Baskervilles, I have been their fan. I love watching movies and TV shows based off of the books and I am absolutely in love with Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal of Sherlock. I was so excited when I heard about this book, especially because I love the idea of genderbending the characters. Anyways, here is my review:
Jamie Watson is famous for being a Watson – a descendant of the famous Watson, who was Sherlock Holmes’ colleague. When he gets sent to Sherringford, a Connecticut prep school, he had no idea that he would be studying alongside Charlotte Holmes, the famous Sherlock’s great-great-great granddaughter. Jamie is giddy at the thought of meeting her, wondering what she will be like. And it turns out, she is exactly like Sherlock Holmes in terms of her intelligence, volatile temperament, and drug abuse. From the moment they meet, there is an intense connection. And when a Sherringford student dies under mysterious circumstances, and Jamie and Charlotte are under suspicion of murder, they decide to put aside their differences and work towards solving this case. But the more they sleuth, the more they realize that nowhere is safe – and the only people they can count on are each other.
This novel was good. But that’s all I have to say. It wasn’t spectacular. It wasn’t special. As I kept reading, I found myself growing disinterested. There was no charm, no fun, no wit to anything. While Charlotte does embody Sherlock’s character, she doesn’t have any charm to make me want to like her or even admire her. Jamie’s character is reduced to a bumbling, hot-headed teenager who just seems besotted by Charlotte. They didn’t seem to really work well together, at least not as well as the real Sherlock and Watson did. I found the premise of the novel itself to be quite interesting, but I was quickly able to deduce who was the perpetrator behind the murder. The reasoning behind it was passable but the author really was trying to work on too many different angles, making it all quite muddled. Overall, this was a decent book but it did nothing for me. I think I’m just going to wait for the new season of Sherlock for my next Holmes and Watson fix.
Happy reading ~