Holmes

by Dean Jacobs

It is present day London.
Metropolitan police officer Sherwood Lachlan Holmes, average in every way, has been involved in a bomb blast while on duty. He wakes up in a psychiatric hospital some months later, but he is not the same. His IQ has spiked to genius levels, his speech is distinctly Victorian and his vocabulary has impressively expanded. His attending psychiatrist, Dr. Jill Watson, notices through her examinations that his deductive powers of observation are unique and exemplary, though his arrogance and belittlement of the ‘imbecilic’ human race is difficult to tolerate.

When a number of female bodies are discovered around London, with elaborate clues and notes left, Watson is called upon by Chief of Police, George Engel, to explore the mind of this illusive murderer. Little does she know that her annoying patient, ‘Lock’, will be the key to solving the deadly game of cat and mouse.

Order via www.deanjacobs.com.au

169 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2018

About the author

Dr Dean Jacobs is an author/illustrator based on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia.

He has written three novels and nine children's picturebooks, a number of which have been nominated for national literary awards.

Dean's doctoral thesis explored the role of illustration, or visual text, when used in conjunction with words, or written text. When used effectively, visual text and written text can create multiple levels of understand and interpretation for the reader, and can form a stronger literary attraction for a wider reading audience

Reviews

[Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Holmes' is a novel that will keep you guessing until the very end. The clever, well considered journey takes the reader for a ride through present day London, and introduces the reader to the charismatic 'Lock', a policeman with a lost identity. Lock, once average in every way, is inexplicably transformed into an intelligent, confident solution to a problem facing the London Metropolitan Police Department. When his attending physician, Jill Watson, is call upon to help with a profile on a serial killer, Lock is inadvertently swept into a dangerous game, with a killer whose intellect can only be matched by someone equally as impressive.

Lock is a likable character, with dry one-liners that will forge a place in your mind and your heart. He is delightfully annoying, but it is endearing, and you find yourself falling for his whimsical words and detesting outlook on the human race.

Holmes will leave you wanting more...and more you shall have.

[Bruce McNair · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story was an interesting take on the crime genre. It involves a police officer who previously had low intelligence, but who was involved in a bomb explosion after which his intelligence was boosted to genius level. The plot was interesting although it appears to have borrowed one plot device from Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders. Despite this, the story was let down somewhat by a few spelling and grammatical errors. I also thought that it was odd to have a Police Chief in charge of an investigation when I would have thought that it was more reasonable that a lower-ranked officer, such as a Detective Inspector, Detective Chief Inspector, Superintendent, or even Chief Superintendent was more appropriate. Further, the book’s blurb describes Watson as an attending psychiatrist, whereas throughout the book she is described as a psychologist. There were also a few oddities such as Watson writing a profile in a notebook, then putting down her laptop afterwards. And Holmes talks about execution by gas, even though capital punishment was abolished in the UK in 1969. However, in my opinion, the choice of omniscient point of view was a mistake, particularly when it changed within a scene and sometimes within the same paragraph, which in my mind sometimes confused things. Accordingly, I can only give this book 3.5 stars.