Mycroft Holmes

I enjoyed this. Mycroft Holmes and Cyrus Douglas are both great characters, and there's a lot of banter and affection between them. They definitely have a similar dynamic to Sherlock & Watson. The various mysteries in the story were all pretty lurid, too, in the same vein as the original Sherlock Holmes stories and their adaptations. The novel takes place mostly on Trinidad, and deals a lot with race. In addition to Douglas, there are some interesting PoC side characters, too.

But there was a major plot point that disturbed me. Mycroft's fiancee Georgiana turns out to be a villain. That's fine, I don't object to female villains at all. But I didn't like that her behavior was framed as an example of the fickleness of women, and she was the only prominent female character in the book. She wasn't fickle; she had a plan all along, but Mycroft doesn't react to her betrayal as though she is actually capable of evil.

So, I'm not sure if I'm glad to have read this or not. But it's always strange for me to dip into mainstream books and get confronted with things like that; I'm very happy mostly reading books that are totally to my taste. Anyway, other readers probably wouldn't have the same objection I did. I'm not going to give it a star rating because I feel conflicted.

A decent Holmes pastiche, with the focus on Mycroft, Sherlock's smarter older brother. Mycroft is 23, out of University, working for the Secretary of War, and engaged to a young woman who was raised in Trinidad and educated in England. When rumors of young children being killed by supernatural forces back in Trinidad reach England, Georgiana, the fiancee, embarks on a trip home, and Mycroft follows her (although she tells him not to).

What follows is an adventure story and a mystery, with murderous thugs, poisonings, corrupt government officials, communities of formerly enslaved and indentured people banding together to help each other, middle of the night break-ins, sword and gun fights, and surprise attacks by sea. Here and there we see catch glimpses of Mycroft using his formidable powers of observation to inform his decisions at life-or-death moments. The story of his fiancee helps us understand why he became the confirmed bachelor we know from the Sherlock Holmes stories. However, this Mycroft is a man of action, and it is unclear what made him become the sedentary Mycroft of Sherlock Holmes fame. I guess I will have to read the next Kareem Abdul-Jabbar book to find out, and I am looking forward to doing so.

Summary: A new story about Sherlock Holmes' older brother Mycroft.

I have known about this series for a few years but I was reluctant to pick up a book from a celebrity who was known for things other than writing when there was a clearly marked co-author. There are more than several examples of people with big names that “collaborate” on books when in reality the book is wholly written by the other author with a few ideas thrown in from the celebrity. This is a well-known reality with Tim LaHaye's contribution to the Left Behind series. He had a rough idea of the broad storyline, but all of the actual writing was by Jenkins.

I changed my mind about picking up the series after reading a long essay by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar last year. I thought he was a compelling writer and decided to give this a chance because the first book in the series is on sale for Kindle and then the second book in the series was on sale for audiobook. (My quick glance at reviews suggest that many people think the second book is better so I wanted to read both before I make too strong of a conclusion.)

As I glanced around the reviews I also saw people that complained that this was not a “canon” perspective on Mycroft. I have read a couple of books on the original Sherlock Holmes, but not widely within that canon and I have been more influenced by recent TV and movie portrayals and there definitely not canon, so I was not particularly concerned about that complaint.

Mycroft is a young man. He works as a secretary/assistant to the Secretary of State for War. He has all of the talents you would expect. He can read and recall instantly, he can estimate and do math in his head with the type of ability that is often shown on the screen with lots of math symbols going on around the head. He is trying to make a name for himself and earn some money because he is in love and planning to get married. His younger brother Sherlock only appears briefly in the book. Mycroft stops by to see him at school before going on a trip. Which was a good reminder that travel used to be considered pretty dangerous and Mycroft wanted to say goodbye before leaving.

The main story of the book is that Mycroft from his sources finds out that there has been a number of children killed in Trinidad. Mycroft's best friend, a Black man who was native to the island, and his fiancee, the daughter of a plantation owner in Trinidad both decide to go to see if they can help. Mycroft talks his boss into also sending him as an official representative.

The story has good movement. It is definitely a thriller more than a mystery. The book was clearly written by Americans and there are issues with the language and some historical inaccuracies, but I am not particularly irritated by that, but it is worth noting if you are a stickler for historical accuracy in novels with a historical setting. There was awareness in the book of standard tropes, the Black sidekick, the young man on his first real international trip, etc. But they were not jokes or cynical ploys as much as acknowledging the realities of how hard it is to write about subjects that have a long history.

I have been reading way too many non-fiction books lately and so I am glad for a change of pace. This book was fine and I will definitely read the second, but it was not an earthshaking book. It was solid, engaging and enough to keep my interest for a second book.