'The first in a stylish new series, in which the worlds of Sherlock and the uncanny collide.
'Sherlock Holmes is dead. His body lies in a solitary grave on the Sussex Downs. But Dr. Watson survives, and is now given permission to release tales in Sherlock's 'black box', those cases that are, dear reader, unbelievable - for their subject matter is of the most outré and grotesque nature.
'Beginning with 'The Adventure of the Lady's Finger', Holmes and Watson discover a dark, uncanny world beyond their imagining. It starts with a victim whose flesh reacts adversely to silver and sunlight, whose blood does not thicken when exposed to oxygen. And then a Transylvanian nobleman arrives at Baker Street demanding Holmes's assistance in the kidnapping of his beloved wife, Mina.'
I honestly knew nothing about this book before I began reading it. I saw the title, saw how pretty the hardcover release for it was and went 'hell yeah I'm reading that', so I hadn't even glanced at the blurb before beginning to read the book. I think if I had it would have saved me from the first surprise of the book, that this wasn't going to be another story that pitted the great detective against the world's most famous vampire, such as Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula which was also published by Titan Books, but would see the two icons working together.
Like with the vast majority of Sherlock Holmes books this tale is written from the perspective of Doctor John Watson, who has chronicled many of Holmes' adventures. What marks this one as more unusual than most, however, is that this story has waited until the titular detective has died before being published. The introduction from Watson begins by telling us that Holmes is dead, and only now can a series of cases from his 'black box' be shown to the world.
The story begins when Holmes and Watson are presented with a strange piece of evidence by Scotland Yard, a severed woman's finger. Whilst this is grizzly and strange enough in itself it only becomes more and more disturbing when the finger doesn't act in a way you'd expect, and doesn't seem to be normal dead flesh. Even stranger, it reacts violently to both sunlight and silver. This pushes Holmes towards a shocking conclusion, that the finger must have come from a vampire.
This deduction is only confirmed when the two of them are approached by Count Dracula himself. Not only do the two of them now have to wrestle with the idea that vampires are real, but that the account made of Dracula within Stoker's novel was far from the truth, and the 'monster' from the story is a man who needs their help in order to save his kidnapped wife, Mina.
Over the course of their investigation they discover that London has become targeted by mysterious 'elder' vampire working from the shadows, known only as the Mariner Priest, who is amassing an army of newly turned creatures. Not only that, but tragic events will befall Holmes and Watson that will forever change their lives, and change the way that you look at the stories Watson has shared with the public. Over the course of this first volume they will learn of other, even more amazing creatures as they battle to stop this mysterious menace from turning London into a nest of vicious vampires.
From very early on in the book Christian Klaver does one of the best things that he could do for this story, he gets Sherock Holmes on board with the supernatural. I've seen stories where Holmes has had to deal with monsters and other paranormal entities, and his staunch belief in science and things having a rational explanation often drag down the start of those tails, making the detective feel a little foolish because we know he's wrong in those assertions. But this story not only has Holmes getting on board with vampires being real, but does so withing the first dozen or so pages. Yes, he believes that vampires are rooted more in science than curses and magic, but he fully accepts that they exist.
Once that particular hurdle is out of the way we're able to get into the real meat of the novel, which is seeing our two leads getting to grips with the supernatural being real. They still engage in investigations, and use their past experience and knowledge to get them through the trials that they face here, but they also come prepared with silver bullets too. The book is split into four interconnected stories, spread out over roughly a years time. These stories begin by introducing the world of the supernatural, show how Holmes and Watson adjust to this knowledge and deal with these challenges, before finally coming round to dealing with the threat of the Mariner Priest; though leaving enough dangling at the end to set up for further supernatural adventures.
The book incorporates the supernatural elements into the Holmes canon really well, and it feels like a pretty natural fit for the most part. It doesn't contradict too much, and in the introduction Watson talks about things not quite lining up perfectly with the other stories hes released due to having had to change certain details and pieces to hide the truth from the public on a whole. This is a pretty reasonable explanation, and it does fit with some of the stuff that readers will be familiar with for sure.
Despite the name, Sherlock Holmes and Count Dracula, the Count isn't in a huge amount of the book. The focus here is very much Holmes and Watson. I think that this is a smart choice. Dracula is one of those characters best used sparingly. Even in his own original story he was a presence that dipped in and out of the narrative, rather than being the dominant focus. To use him in a similar way here is a good choice. It means that we get the much more human connection with Holmes and Watson, and we get to learn about this new supernatural world through the eyes of people freshly exposed to it, rather than someone who has been a part of it for centuries.
The book doesn't just introduce us to vampires, however, as the final pages of the book have Holmes showing Watson several letters asking for assistance with bizarre and unusual cases that seem to involve ghosts and other strange entities. This give the reader some hints at the kinds of things that may come in future volumes, and assures us that the duo's time dealing with the paranormal will be far from over; but it also gives an indication that there are more than just vampires in the world. The second main chunk of this book also does that too, as it deals with a mysterious body and a strange ship docked in London that travelled from Innsmouth. I'm sure that name will ring bells with certain readers, an I won't say more about that particular part of the book other than it's a rather interesting adventure that begins to introduce creatures other than vampires to the series.
Outside of the supernatural elements, Klaver does a wonderful job at bringing Holmes and Watson to life. Watson goes through a lot over the course of the book. I won't go into too many details so as not to spoil the book, but the events of the story will forever alter his life, and those of his loved ones, and because of this we get some times where we see Watson having to grapple with some truly dark and painful emotions. But Klaver is also one of those writers who seems to understand Holmes too, and doesn't make him insufferably rude.
There are a lot of versions of the character, and one of the things I think people who don't read a huge amount of Sherlock Holmes fiction seem to conclude, and put into their versions of the character, is that Holmes is a rude person. They write him as being so much smarter than the people around him that it ends up with him looking down on other people, treating them like they're beneath him, or simply being cruel because he has no desire to be nice. This, for me anyway, is the complete opposite to what Holmes really is, and Klaver seems to get that. Holmes does feel removed at times yes, but he's also incredibly kind and caring throughout this book. He's polite to others, he cares about Watson, and he makes jokes with people, not at others expense.
Sherlock Holmes and Count Dracula is an incredibly imaginative new take on these characters, and Klaver not only brings a fresh spin to Holmes and Watson, but the Dracula mythos too. It establishes a bold new status quo for the world's greatest detective, one that I can't wait to see more of in future volumes.
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