I grew up loving Sherlock Holmes and all his adventures. I still remember when my uncle gave a beautiful forest green edition of The Hound of the Baskervilles for Christmas one year. I read that book more times then I can remember and no matter how many times I read it, the story was always amazing. Needless to say this meant there was quite a bit of pressure on House of Silk. Will it be as good as the originals? Will he get Holmes right? Will the mystery give me the same sense of excitement that it did when I was a teenager. Happily, the answer to all these questions was yes! The thing that stood out the most was the prose itself. From the very first chapter I felt like I was reading just another Sherlock Holmes story. Anthony Horowitz hit the nail on the head in turns of language and turn of phrase. And because the prose felt right, it was so easy to fall into the story and get caught up in the mystery. Once I was further into the story I was able to appreciate the excellent plotting. Like every great Sherlock Holmes tale, the story starts off slow. A simple mystery, one that Holmes jumps into after only a few minutes of observation. As he learns more, however, the mystery unravels in unpredictable layers, bringing it finally to it's dramatic and exciting conclusion. Nothing is rushed and nothing feels forced. The one thing that really sets House of Silk's mystery apart for me, however, was that it felt more complex and more detailed than the originals. This is partially because it's a novel instead of a short story, but in addition credit definitely needs to be given to Horowitz for his creative and unique thinking. If you're a Sherlock Holmes fan you definitely don't want to pass on House of Silk. You'll appreciate the mystery, the prose and the wonderful story telling. You'll also love the nods to other Holmes tale - I loved the references to the red headed league and the appearance of Mycroft myself! Normally I don't like when writers try to build off the classics, but in this case I definitely give Anthony Horowitz my seal of approval! This and other reviews at Christa's Hooked on Books (http://christashookedonbooks.blogspot.com)

Once I discovered Sherlock Holmes in my younger years, I devoured every tale, fascinated with Holmes' powers of observation and deductions. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died in 1930. The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz is the first time a new Holmes story has been sanctioned by his estate. I started to listen to the book with, I must admit, with more than a little trepidation. Would it do justice to Doyle's characters? Would the story have the same 'feel'? 1890's London England. Sherlock Holmes is called in by an art dealer who fears a member of the Flat Cap Gang has followed him from America to Britain and means him harm. Aided by the trusty Dr. John Watson, Holmes begins investigating - aided by the young Baker Street Irregulars. One of the boys ends up dead - and the case leads to places and people that believe they're untouchable. And really you don't need much more of the plot, as it truly is a Sherlock tale. Horowitz has done a fantastic job of recapturing the tone of previous works - the back and forth between Holmes and Watson, the clues and deductions, the Victorian settings and more. As I mentioned, I chose to listen to the audio version. And am I ever glad I did! Derek Jacobi did a simply amazing job. His voice is so expressive and rich and captured completely the tone of the story and the characters. The House of Silk is climbing up bestseller lists - and with good reason. Definitely recommended.

This was an excellent "new" Sherlock Holmes story. I greatly enjoyed it, and felt it honoured and was true to everything that made the original Holmes stories so popular, while bringing some fresh flavour to the characters. The family/owners of Conan Doyle's copyrights clearly made a good choice when they selected this author to create a new Holmes mystery. Anthony Horowitz clearly understands and respects the aspects of the well-known and beloved characters, particularly Holmes and Watson, and if you read this book without being told that it was written by a different author you might not see a difference, which I intend as a compliment to Horowitz. The story is extremely well-structured and entertainingly told, with Doyle's own method of beginning with what seem to be many disparate and unconnected components ultimately fusing together in such an organized and clearly connected manner that the reader finds themself wondering how they didn't see it all from the start! The plot is perhaps more disturbing in the subject matter than that which Doyle might have written, but that is more a feature of the vastly different times in which these two authors wrote than anything else, and it does make for a multi-layered and challenging mystery for those who enjoy trying to figure things out themselves before all is revealed. The handling of the Holmes and Watson characters, I thought, was the perfect balance of maintaining the character-traits and reasonable behaviours of what fans of them expect and know, and adding a slight update and perhaps a modern flavour to them. Traditionalist fans of Doyle's books will not, I believe, be irritated or offended by anything Holmes or Watson do or say in this story. Overall, I found this a wonderful read, and was happy to have a new Sherlock Holmes story to devour. Given the ending, I am not certain how Horowitz might write additional new Holmes stories, but should that happen I would absolutely be reading them. One last comment, I listened to the audio-book version of the story, which was read by well-known British actor Derek Jacobi, who is the perfect voice for this story. He does full justice to all the accents and characters throughout the book, and he has a wonderful voice to listen to, so if you have any inclination to listen to the story rather than reading it, Jacobi's narration adds an additional level of enjoyment to the audio-version of the story.