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The biggest irony about the life of Conan Doyle is that, he who created the biggest rationalist in literature, had believed in supernatural phenomena, superstitions and the like. So we can find loads of his tales, as novels and short stories that deal generously with such premises. As someone who read a huge volume of stories under the title Conan Doyle Stories, we cannot argue with the fact that he is a master of building suspense and tension even if he don't have the support of his iconic character Holmes.
That is the only positive factor if you are interested in checking out this “Holmes-less” novella. Almost more than half of the story deals with getting to know some quirky characters and a strange village. Once such formalities are done with, Doyle quickly change gears and take us to the partially predictable climax.
It is evident that Doyle didn't do an iota of research for this book. Otherwise how can a Buddhist monk be named Ghoolam Shah... A part for the story happens in Indo Afghan border. Doyle takes much pain to ensure that every instance of history, geography and politics of India that he mentions in passing is totally bull shit.
