Jack Nileth’s Reviews > Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories, Volume I > Status Update

The Final Solution: I already knew that this was originally supposed to be the final adventure of Sherlock Holmes, but I kinda expected it to be a shocking twist for readers at the time. Instead Sir Arthur Conan Doyle makes it obvious from the very first page that Holmes will die. All that's left is to find out the cause. And in this regard the story is very disappointing, since his death happens entirely offscreen, and is more implied than actually confirmed. So this feels like a very half-hearted attempt to kill off Holmes, and left Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with an easy way out to revive him later. But it's funny how Holmes' arch nemesis in many later adaptions was only introduced in this "final" story. Sure, it paints him as some sort of super villain, but it would have worked way better if his presence had actually been teased throughout the rest of the series.