Young Sherlock Holmes: Fire Storm

Young Sherlock Holmes: Fire Storm

Cover of the book
Author	Andy Lane
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	Young Sherlock Holmes
Genre	Detective novel
Published	2011 (Macmillan Books)
Pages	339
Preceded by	Black Ice
Followed by	Snake Bite

Young Sherlock Holmes: Fire Storm is the fourth novel in the Young Sherlock Holmes series. It was written by Andy Lane and released in 2011.^[1]

Plot

The story begins with Sherlock discovering that his Uncle Sherrinford and Aunt Anna's housekeeper, Mrs. Eglantine, is blackmailing Sherlock's aunt and uncle into keeping her employed. Sherlock discovers Mrs. Eglantine talking to a blackmailer named Josh Harkness. He and his friend Matty Arnatt follow Harkness to a tannery, which also serves as Harkness's base of operations. Sneaking inside, Sherlock and Matty discover a number of boxes containing the information Harkness uses to blackmail people. Sherlock and Matty then proceed to destroy the information by throwing it into the tannery vats, the information on Sherlock's aunt and uncle included. Sherlock then returns and informs his aunt and uncle of his deed, causing them to fire Mrs. Eglantine.^[1]

Later, Sherlock goes to see his tutor, Amyus Crowe and Crowe's daughter Virginia, but he discovers that they are not there and that their house is empty. Sherlock and Matty discover a clue, which points to Edinburgh. They, along with Sherlock's violin teacher Rufus Stone, travel to Edinburgh in search of Mr. Crowe. However, Rufus Stone gets abducted in Newcastle, leaving Sherlock and Matty to continue to Edinburgh without him. Once in Edinburgh, they discover a coded newspaper advertisement which leads them to the nearby village of Cramond. However, before they can act upon this, they get abducted by a man named Bruce Scobell, who is also holding Rufus Stone captive. Scobell tortures Sherlock for information on Amyus Crowe's whereabouts. However, Sherlock, Matty, and Rufus Stone escape without answering Scobell's questions. Sherlock, Matty, and Stone then travel to Cramond, where they locate Crowe and his daughter. Soon, however Scobell and his men set fire to Crowe's hideout, causing Sherlock, Matty, Stone, and Crowe and his daughter to move into the open, where Scobell's men are waiting with crossbows. The five manage to escape, but they get scattered across the countryside. Sherlock, who is with Virginia (Crowe's daughter) find shelter, but get captured by a local criminal gang early the next morning. Sherlock manages to bargain with the leader of the criminal gang, who agrees to release him and his companions if Sherlock can prove the gang leader's sister has not committed a murder she was accused of. Sherlock successfully deduces that the murderer is someone else, but by then Scobell's men have arrived, forcing the gang leader to go back on his promise. Sherlock has to set loose a fighting bear to cause mayhem, allowing him and his companions to escape. The book ends with the Paradol Chamber, the main antagonist from group the previous novel capturing Sherlock, drugging him, and stowing him on board a ship bound for China.^[1]

Reception

Reception has been mostly positive. The book ranked 4.27 stars out of 5 on average on goodreads.com.^[2] The website thebookbag.co.uk rated the book with 4.5 starts out of 5.^[3] The book received 4.5 out of 5 from customer reviews on amazon.com.^[4]

The Starbust Magazine gave the novel a rating of 4 stars out of 10. The same magazine noted in a book review that the novel is written in an "easy, breezy style that's not so easy and breezy that it jars with the Victorian setting". The dialogue is also praised in this book review. However, it is commented that the book does not do as good of a job at determining the setting, claiming that the chosen settings for Young Sherlock Homes: Fire Storm were less dark than the original stories. The matter-of-fact tone used in writing the novel was also criticized. Additionally, the character of Sherlock Holmes is criticized for a lack of eccentricity as compared to the original character. However, Fire Storm is mentioned to have less of this problem than the earlier books in the Young Sherlock Homes series. It is also commented that this is understandable from a publishing point of view. The Starburst Magazine review praised the action sequences in the novel, but stated that the riddle-solving parts of the novel were boring.^[5]

Background

Lane, the author of the book, first got the idea to use Edinburgh as a setting in a book in the Young Sherlock Holmes series while visiting Edinburgh and observing Castle Rock. Lane writes in an author's note that he imagined Sherlock climbing Castle Rock to save someone, and this was what prompted Lane to set the book in Edinburgh. Lane learned much of the historical background for the novel from Michael Fry's book Edinburgh - a History of the City.^[1]

Characters

• Sherlock Holmes. He is considerably more normal than in the original stories that were written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The character also displays political correctness and thinks negatively about Victorian England's social system. He displays a progressive social view.^[5]
• Matty Arnatt. Sherlock's friend and sidekick. He is chatty and provides various tidbits of information.^[5]
• Mycroft Holmes. Sherlock's older brother, who works for the British Government.

See also

• Young Sherlock Holmes: Red Leech
• Young Sherlock Holmes: Death Cloud

References