About book The Further Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes: The Ectoplasmic Man (2009)
Harry Houdini is framed for spying and stealing sensitive papers from the Prince of Wales. Sherlock Holmes decides to help. Watson is thick. Lestrade is wildly out of character and believes Houdini to be an "ectoplasmic man" who can walk through walls AND THAT'S HOW HE STOLE THE PAPERS. That, and some conspicuously-placed muddy footprints that don't actually lead anywhere. A decoy? Of course not! It's obvious that the American can turn into a ghost and that is enough to arrest him!Yes, seriously.The story is mediocre at best. It's not particularly interesting, Houdini is kinda pompous, Lestrade is (as previously mentioned) OOC and annoying, and Watson is thick, as is sadly often the case in non-canon Holmes stories (and Holmes treats him as such).In addition, the book starts with what is now fairly commonplace in new-Holmes stories: a tale of how the author (Daniel Stashower) found this manuscript and determined it is a true Watson manuscript, along with some historical tidbits to make this more plausible. This is okay, albeit overdone now.What shouldn't have been done, however, was his use of footnotes in "Watson's" story to explain things--references mainly to historical events or other Holmes stories. They were jarring and annoying, and felt like the author was talking down to the audience. Additionally, most were unneeded (such as Holmes mentioning offhand how he should just retire and tend bees, and a footnote assuring that Holmes did, indeed, eventually retire and tend bees. Fascinating and very relevant to the story, obviously). Either no notes were needed (truth), or if he felt that strongly about it, different text should've been used. The worst offender was this:"This is impossible!" I ejaculated.* "Who can it be?"(*This word had a broader meaning in Watson's day.)Yes, as if the reader couldn't tell from context, even assuming that they haven't read the original stories where Watson uses this term frequently.
cosa difícil, escribir una ficción de sherlock holmes desde la voz de watson; cosa aún más difícil, imagino, nutrir de alguna forma notable el ya de por sí amplio catálogo de pastiches holmesianos. de todos, que son muchos, houdini y sherlock holmes (cuyo nombre en inglés es infinitamente mejor: the adventure of the ectoplasmic man) está en un lugar más que decoroso. su historia fluye con ritmo y prosa directa, estrictamente narrativa; la trama está bien armada, con evidente conocimiento de las estructuras del original; el misterio (aunque da un par de giros innecesarios, un tanto inverosímiles incluso para el terreno en el que estamos, lo que alarga la historia uno o dos capítulos más) es consistente e intrigante. la solución, netamente holmesiana, no alcanza a vislumbrarse sino hasta unas pocas páginas antes de ser revelada, algo necesariamente útil para mantener el interés. la novelita se sostiene y no es sino hasta el epílogo que cae estrepitosamente, seguramente movida por la necesidad de un closure a la altura de sus protagonistas, un impulso que deriva en unas últimas apariciones todas embarradas de cursi melcocha.(dos cosas que no me gustaron, además: la voz enfáticamente sentimentaloide de watson, ajena al personaje original, y las notas al pie, algunas completamente fuera de lugar.)
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After the trio of terrific novels involving Harry Houdini, his brother 'Dash' and his wife 'Bess', I was naturally inclined to read this novel. Unfortunately, it was rather a letdown. I sorely missed the voice & actions of 'Dash', and having Bess merely as a woman presence seemed to be rather a waste. The Germans were stereotypical, and even Watson was reduced to being a minor player (inevitable, if you keep in mind that this is an adventure where Sherlock Holmes is fighting to clear Houdini's name, and also to save the Empire from getting embroiled into a war). It's good for one reading, but nothing more, I'm afraid.
—Riju Ganguly
This is an amusing trifle of a book - it's possible, I guess, to excuse the worst of the fan-fic excesses (referring to past adventures and various Holmes in-jokes) as being consistent with the voice of an elderly Dr. Watson, now a widower, shuffling into the second decade of a new century. So far, Holmes is done just about right, though, and the plot seems to be flowing the way one wants a Holmes mystery to go. A little too arch, maybe, and a little too self-referential, but still delightfully fun. Houdini's a memorable, believable character, and as I raced to the conclusion, I definitely got the sense this would be excellent as one of those Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes specials.
—Grantimatter
A very good Sherlock Holmes book, but the pairing of the ficitional detective with the larger than real life Houdini should have made for a wilder ride. There should have been more opportunities for the two protagonists to work together. It would have even been more acceptable to see them pursue two independent courses of investigation before uniting in the end to defeat the villains. Houdini (ironically) spends much of his time locked in a jail cell and not in pursuit of the men who framed him for a robbery.If you're looking for a better team-up between the great detective and the great escape artist, I recommend "Arcanum" by Thimas Wheeler. Though Sherlock Holmes himself isn't in the novel, the book is an occult thriller about a secret society whose members include Houdini as well as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
—Don The Idea Guy Snyder
