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The Confidential Files of Dr. John H. Watson #1
Sherlock Holmes and the Father of Lies Book #2 in the Confidential Files of Dr. John H. Watson: Book #2 in the Confidential Files of Dr. John H. Watson
When his brother Mycroft disappears, Sherlock Holmes is drawn into the most thrilling case of his career, one that puts his powers to the test as he goes up against the Father of Lies, the Lord of Evil himself. The stakes couldn't be higher as Holmes and Watson are sent by leaders all over the globe to battle for the very survival of mankind. An international chase will lead them from the serene rooms of London's Diogenes Club to a scenic, frozen wasteland in upper New York. The two friends will battle their way through caves and underground tunnels and even confront the magnificent Niagara Falls. Readers will love this eerie journey into the lair of the most diabolical villain ever.
The immortal pair's friendship -- indeed, their very lives -- will be threatened by the Father of Lies, a cunning creature who would drain every ounce of their willpower and courage. Along the way they -- and readers -- will meet memorable characters. Like Wiggins, former head of the Baker Street Irregulars, now all grown up! Everyone in this powerful narrative, heroes and villains and supernatural beings, will linger in readers' memory.
Fans of Laurie R. King, Anthony Horowitz, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse, Sherry Thomas, William Ritter, and of course, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle will delight in these new adventures of the brilliant sleuth, his good friend, and his nemesis.
The immortal pair's friendship -- indeed, their very lives -- will be threatened by the Father of Lies, a cunning creature who would drain every ounce of their willpower and courage. Along the way they -- and readers -- will meet memorable characters. Like Wiggins, former head of the Baker Street Irregulars, now all grown up! Everyone in this powerful narrative, heroes and villains and supernatural beings, will linger in readers' memory.
Fans of Laurie R. King, Anthony Horowitz, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse, Sherry Thomas, William Ritter, and of course, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle will delight in these new adventures of the brilliant sleuth, his good friend, and his nemesis.
- GenresMystery
368 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2020
110 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
March 5, 2020
This is a Sherlockian paranormal horror mystery, taking place in Holmes' later years. It features many returning characters from Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, as well as a lively assortment of new characters, and many names that are familiar through literature and history such as Bram Stoker, Dr. Joseph Bell, Theodore Roosevelt, and of course, Dracula. In this book, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson team up with Wiggins of the Baker Street Irregulars (who Holmes had taken into training in Watson's absence) to battle Dracula himself, a vampire Moriarty, werewolves, Cerberuses, and (of all things) Nazi scientists, to save Sherlock's brother Mycroft's stolen soul. Wielding sawed off shotguns with shells containing holy water, they must save the world from this evil, if it means entering Hell itself to do so.
I apologize beforehand for the length of my review. My only excuse is that I found so many things in this book that I wanted to mention, that I desired to make my review longer yet, but refrained. I am a small-time Sherlockian, and perhaps more critical than your average reader. There are enough other Sherlockians out there that I have geared my review mainly towards them. This book is NOT for those who take Sherlock Holmes seriously; it is more of a spoof, nearly making a mockery of him, although I do not think that was the author's intent.
The Holmes of this book contradicts in many ways with Doyle's Holmes. Perhaps the most blatant example is when Lutton's Holmes, elated, commends his young protégé by saying he "did not exact his revenge for his sister’s death. I'm certain that he found who did the killings, and rather than... taking the law into his own hands, he did the proper thing and let the authorities handle it." Doyle's Holmes on the other hand, in "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle", makes plain the fact that he does not mind taking the law into his own hands, when he lets a criminal go and says, "I am not retained by the police to supply their deficiencies."
In another instance, Holmes is standing behind a prisoner who is tied to a chair, with a revolver aimed at him. The prisoner threatens to kill Holmes, "somehow" gets an arm loose, pulls out a derringer, turns around in the chair he's tied to, points it at Holmes' head, Watson yells "Gun!", and THEN Holmes fires. It made no sense and was hard to picture. Holmes is not slow or addle-pated. He would have never waited so long. The prisoner also, knowing he was outnumbered and Holmes was holding a gun on him from behind, is portrayed as an intelligent man, and it is unrealistic to think he would do that. There were many such far-fetched instances in this book.
There were also many inconsistencies within the book itself, such as Holmes staring out at the snow through a broken window that only seconds before had been covered by a blanket secured to the trim to block the cold night air. It does not state that he removed the blanket to do so, yet when we returned to Holmes he was still staring outside and his breath had fogged the glass that was no longer there. Of course, there could be multiple windows, but if that is the case then the book should not refer to it as "the" window.
In another instance, Watson was following Holmes through a snow bank, and it described him as having to plow through "virgin drifts"; but if he was following Holmes, he would merely have to walk in Holmes' path. It said that the wind erased Holmes' tracks and pushed Watson away from the train, but if the wind was coming from the direction of the train then the train would block the brunt of it. These obvious things slipped past the author. Perhaps somebody who so easily overlooks such things when writing a book should not attempt to write about such an observant detective as Sherlock Holmes.
Many of the characters also use a vernacular that does not seem to settle right with the people and setting. Examples include, "Huh, Watson?" when Doyle would never have had his characters speak in that manner ("Eh, Watson?" is closer), and "Whoa, Doctor," when "whoa" was a term used mainly for horses! Also, this is the only book I've read in which Holmes actually cusses; although it is mild, it is out of character for him.
Also, Doyle's Holmes made it clear that he was uninterested in learning things he did not see the use of, such as the earth revolving around the sun. Yet in this book, Holmes is able to single-handedly (without an engineer or stoker) run a train for hours through banks of snow in horrid weather. That, to me, seems unrealistic. I doubt that would be information Holmes would deem worth knowing, much less perfecting to that extent.
All of the aforementioned problems were only a very small part of the problems I have with this book. Most can be found in just one chapter. Adversely, I must commend the author for his knowledge and use of the English language. The book was very well-written, and the vocabulary exceptional. In an era of dumbed-down fluff, it is encouraging to see a book as well-written as this.
If you are seeking a horror mystery, but are not a Sherlockian, you will probably enjoy it. However, if you are a Sherlockian, all of the inconsistencies may take away much of your enjoyment. I really have no clue how to rate this book, so I'll put it in the middle at two and a half stars, and make it three if half-stars are not permitted.
I apologize beforehand for the length of my review. My only excuse is that I found so many things in this book that I wanted to mention, that I desired to make my review longer yet, but refrained. I am a small-time Sherlockian, and perhaps more critical than your average reader. There are enough other Sherlockians out there that I have geared my review mainly towards them. This book is NOT for those who take Sherlock Holmes seriously; it is more of a spoof, nearly making a mockery of him, although I do not think that was the author's intent.
The Holmes of this book contradicts in many ways with Doyle's Holmes. Perhaps the most blatant example is when Lutton's Holmes, elated, commends his young protégé by saying he "did not exact his revenge for his sister’s death. I'm certain that he found who did the killings, and rather than... taking the law into his own hands, he did the proper thing and let the authorities handle it." Doyle's Holmes on the other hand, in "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle", makes plain the fact that he does not mind taking the law into his own hands, when he lets a criminal go and says, "I am not retained by the police to supply their deficiencies."
In another instance, Holmes is standing behind a prisoner who is tied to a chair, with a revolver aimed at him. The prisoner threatens to kill Holmes, "somehow" gets an arm loose, pulls out a derringer, turns around in the chair he's tied to, points it at Holmes' head, Watson yells "Gun!", and THEN Holmes fires. It made no sense and was hard to picture. Holmes is not slow or addle-pated. He would have never waited so long. The prisoner also, knowing he was outnumbered and Holmes was holding a gun on him from behind, is portrayed as an intelligent man, and it is unrealistic to think he would do that. There were many such far-fetched instances in this book.
There were also many inconsistencies within the book itself, such as Holmes staring out at the snow through a broken window that only seconds before had been covered by a blanket secured to the trim to block the cold night air. It does not state that he removed the blanket to do so, yet when we returned to Holmes he was still staring outside and his breath had fogged the glass that was no longer there. Of course, there could be multiple windows, but if that is the case then the book should not refer to it as "the" window.
In another instance, Watson was following Holmes through a snow bank, and it described him as having to plow through "virgin drifts"; but if he was following Holmes, he would merely have to walk in Holmes' path. It said that the wind erased Holmes' tracks and pushed Watson away from the train, but if the wind was coming from the direction of the train then the train would block the brunt of it. These obvious things slipped past the author. Perhaps somebody who so easily overlooks such things when writing a book should not attempt to write about such an observant detective as Sherlock Holmes.
Many of the characters also use a vernacular that does not seem to settle right with the people and setting. Examples include, "Huh, Watson?" when Doyle would never have had his characters speak in that manner ("Eh, Watson?" is closer), and "Whoa, Doctor," when "whoa" was a term used mainly for horses! Also, this is the only book I've read in which Holmes actually cusses; although it is mild, it is out of character for him.
Also, Doyle's Holmes made it clear that he was uninterested in learning things he did not see the use of, such as the earth revolving around the sun. Yet in this book, Holmes is able to single-handedly (without an engineer or stoker) run a train for hours through banks of snow in horrid weather. That, to me, seems unrealistic. I doubt that would be information Holmes would deem worth knowing, much less perfecting to that extent.
All of the aforementioned problems were only a very small part of the problems I have with this book. Most can be found in just one chapter. Adversely, I must commend the author for his knowledge and use of the English language. The book was very well-written, and the vocabulary exceptional. In an era of dumbed-down fluff, it is encouraging to see a book as well-written as this.
If you are seeking a horror mystery, but are not a Sherlockian, you will probably enjoy it. However, if you are a Sherlockian, all of the inconsistencies may take away much of your enjoyment. I really have no clue how to rate this book, so I'll put it in the middle at two and a half stars, and make it three if half-stars are not permitted.
March 19, 2020
I’m a big Sherlock Holmes fan and also vampire stories.
It was very descriptive. It was intense and kept my interest til the very end. It definitely had the feel of previous Holmes books I’ve read. I enjoyed the story! Thanks to the publisher for the early copy
It was very descriptive. It was intense and kept my interest til the very end. It definitely had the feel of previous Holmes books I’ve read. I enjoyed the story! Thanks to the publisher for the early copy
July 23, 2020
Awesome Book
I Love Sherlock Holmes movies, particularly the ones starting Basil Rathbone. As I read this book it played in my mind as a movie starting Basil Rathbone. But not Nigel Bruce as Watson. Nigel Bruce played a somewhat bumbling character. The Watson in this book is competent albeit a little fearful. None-the-less as any brave soul would do, he overcomes his fear to be the heroic sidekick to Holmes' hero. The story itself was fantastic. It truly was more mystery than horror, this it played out just like a Sherlock Holmes movie. Of-course there was some horror. The things Dracula did were described in enough detail to show the reader how truly evil Dracula was. There was a lot of action as Holmes and his two compatriots rush from England to NY to try to save Sherlock's brother Mycroft. I thought it was clever how they explained Moriarty coming back from the dead. I enjoyed the book tremendously.
I Love Sherlock Holmes movies, particularly the ones starting Basil Rathbone. As I read this book it played in my mind as a movie starting Basil Rathbone. But not Nigel Bruce as Watson. Nigel Bruce played a somewhat bumbling character. The Watson in this book is competent albeit a little fearful. None-the-less as any brave soul would do, he overcomes his fear to be the heroic sidekick to Holmes' hero. The story itself was fantastic. It truly was more mystery than horror, this it played out just like a Sherlock Holmes movie. Of-course there was some horror. The things Dracula did were described in enough detail to show the reader how truly evil Dracula was. There was a lot of action as Holmes and his two compatriots rush from England to NY to try to save Sherlock's brother Mycroft. I thought it was clever how they explained Moriarty coming back from the dead. I enjoyed the book tremendously.
Read
March 1, 2020First, what I really liked in this story is that Dr Watson is neither a comic relief nor a bumbling idiot. I'm SO tired of that, and I was so happy finding that it wasn't the case here!
The characters of Holmes and Watson are faithful to the original stories, and I liked the idea of Bram Stoker being Microft's agent, and his book, a report :)
I also enjoyed the mythological and literary references and the way in which the action's scenes were written.
I like the idea of a grown-up Wiggins although the idea of him having a network of spies all over the world (or at least, as far as America) was a little over the top, at least for my taste. And there were moments in which the story was really slow.
But, in a whole, this is a great story for those of us who enjoy seeing Sherlock Holmes a little bit out of his natural element, meaning, traditional crime and logic :)
The characters of Holmes and Watson are faithful to the original stories, and I liked the idea of Bram Stoker being Microft's agent, and his book, a report :)
I also enjoyed the mythological and literary references and the way in which the action's scenes were written.
I like the idea of a grown-up Wiggins although the idea of him having a network of spies all over the world (or at least, as far as America) was a little over the top, at least for my taste. And there were moments in which the story was really slow.
But, in a whole, this is a great story for those of us who enjoy seeing Sherlock Holmes a little bit out of his natural element, meaning, traditional crime and logic :)
August 28, 2024
Holmes, Watson and Thaddeus (a grown up Wiggins) go after Dracula after brother Mycroft vanishes.
A chase ensues across the wilds of America and Moriarty is still alive, a slave of Dracula. Moriarty is disposed of then they go after an empowered Dracula, to kill him forever rather than the usual stake through his heart.
It was not really Holmes, whose gifts are observation and deduction. Holmes practises these all the time to hone his skills, and is no doubt secretly pleased when he can amaze people with his knowledge of them. That was missing from this book. But otherwise it was a good adventure story.
A chase ensues across the wilds of America and Moriarty is still alive, a slave of Dracula. Moriarty is disposed of then they go after an empowered Dracula, to kill him forever rather than the usual stake through his heart.
It was not really Holmes, whose gifts are observation and deduction. Holmes practises these all the time to hone his skills, and is no doubt secretly pleased when he can amaze people with his knowledge of them. That was missing from this book. But otherwise it was a good adventure story.
May 27, 2020
It's always daunting to take on the writing of well known and loved characters. This author did it well. I really liked this story. It was a good mystery. I loved the honest and upfront portrayal of the characters. I liked who and why regarding "the father of lies". The paranormal part was so well done. The descriptions were point-on, and I would read more from this author, easily.
I received a copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
July 3, 2020
Read this book over four days. I obviously was the wrong reader for this genre. Somehow I skipped over that this was a vampire book. That said, the last thirty percent of the book read more quickly than the rest of the book for me. The descriptive writing of what was going on around the main characters was tight. Curious to learn what other books the author has written to see if they are more to my liking.
March 2, 2020
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2020
While I admit this began a little slowly for me, it wasn't long before I was hooked. This is a very well written tale! I'm not usually into vampire stories but this is much more than that. It's fast paced, entertaining and written in a style reminiscent of the originals. I received an ARC of this but this is my own opinion
While I admit this began a little slowly for me, it wasn't long before I was hooked. This is a very well written tale! I'm not usually into vampire stories but this is much more than that. It's fast paced, entertaining and written in a style reminiscent of the originals. I received an ARC of this but this is my own opinion
April 3, 2020
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting take.
Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2020
Format: Kindle Edition
I found this to be an interesting take on the typical Holmes story. I thought the characters were very well written and true to their history. The story itself was well done and did keep my interest throughout. I received an ARC and this is my honest opinion.
Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2020
Format: Kindle Edition
I found this to be an interesting take on the typical Holmes story. I thought the characters were very well written and true to their history. The story itself was well done and did keep my interest throughout. I received an ARC and this is my honest opinion.
October 16, 2020
Holmes & Watson’s Dracula adventure
Thoroughly enjoyed this fantasy about Holmes & Watson, along with young Thaddeus, taking on Dracula and his minions including Moriarty. Frantic at times with action, and so familiar with expected nods to Sherlock’s original stories, a well written book.
Thoroughly enjoyed this fantasy about Holmes & Watson, along with young Thaddeus, taking on Dracula and his minions including Moriarty. Frantic at times with action, and so familiar with expected nods to Sherlock’s original stories, a well written book.
October 28, 2020
Quite different!
I almost quit reading at the first because it was so bizarre, but I'm glad I continued. I liked Wiggins being a big part, and each contributing and supporting the others. All for one, and one for all.
I almost quit reading at the first because it was so bizarre, but I'm glad I continued. I liked Wiggins being a big part, and each contributing and supporting the others. All for one, and one for all.
July 21, 2021
A great read
If you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes and of the supernatural, this is a very well written and entertaining book. It is not Arthur Conan Doyle, but the spirit is there.
Enjoy!
If you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes and of the supernatural, this is a very well written and entertaining book. It is not Arthur Conan Doyle, but the spirit is there.
Enjoy!
July 22, 2021
A most excellent story!
Certainly the most frightening Sherlock Holmes case I've ever read. Very fast paced, I often had to double back in order to catch up. Could use at least one more pass by a professional proof reader.
Certainly the most frightening Sherlock Holmes case I've ever read. Very fast paced, I often had to double back in order to catch up. Could use at least one more pass by a professional proof reader.
October 11, 2024
coulgn't put it down!
Sir Arthur Connan Doyle would probably not like the fictional liberties this author took with his Holmes! But
I did. t combined 2 classics into one! very enjoyable
Sir Arthur Connan Doyle would probably not like the fictional liberties this author took with his Holmes! But
I did. t combined 2 classics into one! very enjoyable
October 3, 2020
Excellent read couldn't put it down
November 11, 2020
A little convoluted for my taste. Not quite Sir Arthur would have penned.
October 11, 2021
Good story but not Sherlockian enough.
June 1, 2022
Excellent reading
Plenty of adventure and excitement as Holmes and associates take on Dracula, his greatest foe. I enjoyed this book thoroughly.
Plenty of adventure and excitement as Holmes and associates take on Dracula, his greatest foe. I enjoyed this book thoroughly.
February 25, 2023
Hours of Enjoyment
Another rousing tale expanding the world of Sherlock Holmes and Watson without bruising the Holmesian canon in the least. Recommended.
Another rousing tale expanding the world of Sherlock Holmes and Watson without bruising the Holmesian canon in the least. Recommended.
January 11, 2025
Not as good as the giant Sumatran rat.
January 24, 2025
What an amazing read. Everyone is in this novel, Holmes, Watson, Mycroft, Dracula, Stoker. The ending was comparable to Clive Barker.
July 7, 2025
i started listening to this book as part of an omnibus. this book was fabulous and i’m definitely interested. moriarty js under the spell of dracula. very weird. 3.5 stars
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 21, 2025
just ok, a fair premise but Dracula and Sherlock wasn't handled as well as Sherlock and Cthulu by James Lovegrove
October 1, 2024
Mycroft Holmes has been kidnapped from the Diogenes Club. Holmes, Watson and 'Wiggins' are on his trail. But where are Dracula and his minions. Can all survive.
An entertaining Holmes mystery
An entertaining Holmes mystery
September 11, 2023
First quarter of the book I had trouble to connect Sherlock to fantasy horror but once I got over with that, it was enjoyable. Atmosphere was good, characters were in line with original.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews