[FUN WITH READING 2018-20208A] A Different Sherlock Holmes

20208高欣湄 (GAO, XIN-MEI)

[BOOK PROFILE]
TITLE OF THE BOOK: The Last Sherlock Holmes Story
NAME OF THE AUTHOR: Michael Dibdin
YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2008

ISBN: 978-0-19-478915-8

A Different Sherlock Holmes

In the late nineteenth century, the murderer, Jack the Ripper, killed many a woman in London. During the investigation of Watson and Holmes, Watson realized some secrets of Holmes. Michael Dibdin, who wanted the people in the world to know Holmes, wrote this book in an objective and positive way.

Holmes, the most professional and famous detective in London, felt bored and used excessive cocaine recently. There wasn’t any case that could make him excited, and he  thought those cases are too easy for him to solve. One day, a new murderer showed up in London and killed the woman who was not special. Holmes felt very excited with this case; therefore, he started to investigate this with his partner, Watson, immediately. After several months, they still could not catch up the murderer. And Holmes became stranger and stranger. He said that there was a person who was the murderer who lived in the house which was across from him. During an action of chasing the murderer, Watson realized that Holmes killed a woman in the way which was the same as the way that “Jack the Ripper” did. Watson absolutely couldn’t believe it. Next day, he stayed at home all day to think this incident. He believed that Holmes would become so strange because of the excessive cocaine. One day, Holmes came to his house and asked Watson to help him fight against the person who was chasing him. Watson decided to tell Holmes the truth; thus , he promised it. During their trip, they went to a fall, and Watson told the truth to Holmes. At first, Holmes thought that the person who was chasing him killed his partner and tried to cheat him. So, he wanted to kill Watson. After Watson’s explanation, Holmes believed him and jumped down off the fall. In the end, he died.

In my opinion, the author described the plot lovely, especially the part that Holmes killed the woman. When I read this part, I could imagine the situation in my mind. Moreover, I knew more about Holmes after reading this book. In the past, I thought that he was a good person, but now, I knew that everyone could become bad if using excessive cocaine.