Death Cloud (Sherlock Holmes: The Legend Begins, 1)

I so much enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes novels written by Arthur Conan Doyle that I thought I would give Andrew Lane's younger version a try. As a teenager, this version of Sherlock was not as I expected. Perhaps I was leaning too much on the adult character, but I thought young Sherlock would be a boy genius. Instead, he is portrayed as a lad with an above average intelligence and a seemingly boundless curiosity. We therefore see the progression in Sherlock from his formative years to the astute detective made famous by A.C. Doyle.The novel begins with 14 year old Sherlock waiting for his father to collect him from boarding school for the summer holiday. Instead he finds his brother, Mycroft, waiting in the headmaster's office. Mycroft informs Sherlock that their father has been sent to India and arrangements have been made with Uncle Sherrinford and Aunt Anna in Farnham to care for him during the summer.Resigned to his fate, Sherlock tries to make the most of his situation. He meets a young orphan, Matty Arnatt, and the two boys become quick friends. Matty tells Sherlock of the Death Cloud he saw coming from a house in town. It came out of the window and went up the drain pipe. The man in the house had large boils on his face and hands reminiscent of the plague. This peaks Sherlock's curiosity and the two boys begin investigating.About this time, Sherlock discovers that Mycroft has hired a tutor to help further his education. The tutor in question, Amyus Crowe, has come from America with his daughter Virginia, who Sherlock immediately becomes infatuated with. Later, while Amyus and Sherlock are hiking through the forest to learn about edible plants, another body is discovered bearing the same characteristics as the previous one. This time, it is Sherlock that witnesses the Death Cloud. He also finds some yellow powder near the body, which he collects in an envelope.With the discovery of the second body, the community becomes worried about another outbreak of the bubonic plague, But Sherlock is not convinced. He had seen the second man earlier the same day the body was discovered, with no signs of any disease present. He and Matty's investigations lead to a secluded warehouse and a mysterious foreign Baron. With the help of Amyus and Virginia Crowe, the two boys are able to make sense of the clues and solve the case.It is not surprising that Amyus Crowe reminded me of the grown Sherlock. With his vast amount of knowledge and deductive reasoning, he is the man Sherlock will become. At one point during the story, Sherlock notes that Amyus is trying to "teach me how to think," and indeed this is the case. Amyus would ask questions in such a way as to lead the young man in the direction of the solution without actually giving it to him.The mystery set forth in the story is very clever, and while the villain is not typical of Doyle's Holmes character, I found the novel to be quite entertaining. If you are willing to believe that Holmes was not always the man he was portrayed as by Doyle, then I think you will enjoy this novel as much as I did.

Summer 1868. Fourteen-year-old Sherlock Holmes is looking forward to some time at home during his term break from Deepdene School for Boys. He's thrilled when his older brother Mycroft shows up to fetch him and then deeply disappointed to discover he won't be going home after all. Instead, he's to spend his vacation in the town of Farnham with an elderly Uncle and Aunt he's never even heard of before. Fully resigned to a dull and lonely time, Sherlock instead finds adventure and friendship in this most unlikely of places. Curiosity leads him to investigate the deaths of two local men - deaths most everyone assumes are due to an outbreak of the plague. But as Sherlock, his unusual tutor Amycus Crowe, and his friends Matty and Virginia delve further into the mystery, they uncover a diabolical plot and a villain so sinister he truly makes men's blood run cold.In my experience, modern novels featuring established literary characters are worth reading about, oh say thirty percent of the time. So I approached Death Cloud with some trepidation. I've read all of the Sherlock Holmes stories and novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and while I am not addicted to houndstooth and meerschaum, I am something of a fan of Conan Doyle's work. Some of the other, modern Sherlock Holmes stories - not so much. That's why Death Cloud was such a rare and wonderful surprise for me. As envisioned by Andrew Lane, Sherlock Holmes at fourteen is NOT just a miniature version of the consulting detective he will one day become. Rather, he is a young man just beginning to open his mind to new ideas, adopting some philosophies and discarding others. In short, in Death Cloud we see the first of the events and relationships that will eventually shape the man Holmes will become. It's a delicate balance - exploring the youth of Holmes and showing his basic character without attributing to him too many of his adult beliefs and eccentricities - but it is a balance that Mr. Lane achieves brilliantly.Even if you've never read a single word by Conan Doyle, this is an adventure you can read and enjoy. The prose and pacing are perfect, the plot is exciting and filled with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and the characters, always the heart of the best fiction, are interesting and likable (or hatable, as the case may be). I can't speak to the Holmes fanatics out there (you know who you are), because I'm not sure that any writer other than Conan Doyle can please them. I can tell you that this is a book casual Holmes fans (and those with no particular feelings for Holmes one way or the other) will relish. I look forward to the next installment of this fabulous new series.

Am I being unfair when I suspect that Andrew Lane would have felt more comfortable writing about the young James Bond? He couldn't do that, of course, because it has already been done (rather well). So he opted for Sherlock Holmes, but gave the fourteen-year-old Holmes a Bond type story. The trouble is that Holmes is not Bond.And nineteenth century characters would not have used the sort of dialogue common in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. This book, however, makes no attempt to use Victorian dialogue. Sherlock expresses his pleasure by exclaiming "great". He and other youngsters are described as "kids" (admittedly there are Americans in the story). No one reading the book could possibly be convinced that it is really set in the 1860s.There is an early attempt at a Holmes type deduction, something to do with which carriage Mycroft (Sherlock's older brother) used to visit him at school. But it is very weak and Lane sensibly makes no further effort of that sort.But the story is rather fun (though I should warn you it becomes more and more far fetched). You also need to know that there is a surprising amount of sadistic violence (of the sort you would expect in Bond but not in Holmes). But that is understandable. Lane is writing for a modern teenage readership and he is probably right to assume that that readership will give up if people are not being constantly slaughtered or beaten to a pulp.This was a missed opportunity. The young Holmes could have been much more realistically and amusingly depicted. But I shan't give up. I am going to have a go at the second book. If it is very similar to this one I will probably skip to the sixth and latest just to see whether Lane has finally got it right.Charles

Sherlock for a new generation. Set in the period of the original stories, young Sherlock sans Watson cuts a less convincing figure. But it’s lots of fun, even if the plot takes willing suspension of disbelief to an uncomfortable level. What I loved was the bad guy, a genuinely unique horror with a grudge bigger than a James Bond villain’s secret mountain volcano base.What I didn’t like was the anodyne writing, I thought it was uninventive and a little patronising, metaphors and similes older than Holmes’s violin. I mean, ‘Her scream cut the air like a knife!’ Having said that Andrew Lane is a passionate Holmes geek with writing credentials far and above this reviewer's and he clearly knows his market and writes very successfully for it. Perhaps my be-moaning lamemetaphors and workaday writing should be directed at the audience for whom he is clearly writing very engaging fiction. Come on lads (and lasses) demand more!PS - This was recommended to me by my eldest son, a very reluctant reader, which probably proves the point about the simple accessibility of the prose style being perfect for the target audience.*** Three stars

My views on this novel are incredibly mixed. As a mystery novel, I did not think it was too bad. Although the conclusion was a little out-there, it was well written, made coherent sense and didn't take any huge leaps in logic. If it had just been a Victorian murder mystery, I would have had no real problems with it at all.However, the novel is intended to be a Sherlock Holmes story and because if this it has a few problems. The character of Sherlock was a little too flat and uninteresting for my taste. As his abilities were mostly taught by his summer tutor, it felt as though it removed some of his brilliance. The Holmes of this story was not a genius, he was merely an ordinary boy with a good memory.The novel was entertaining enough and I can certainly see why people enjoy it, but I just felt that with a bit more work it could have been so much better.

I really enjoyed reading this book as I love Conan Doyle's Sherlock, the BBC series of SHERLOCK and the latest duo of the the Robert Downey Jr. films, Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows. I am 13 years old, and I must say that any boy my age looking for a bit of a teenage action, mystery or adventure book should give this a go! I disagreed with the other bad reviews as it's really good!Sherlock is 14, and has to live with his Aunt and Uncle in the countryside. All is supposed to be dull and boring until Sherlock comes across two dead corpses covered in boils! Many presume this is the work the plague, but knowing Sherlock Holmes, he believes that that nothing is that simple... So, Sherlock sets on finishing this case leading him around England and eventually to London. With Sherlock's new friend, Matthew Arnnat, new tutor, Amyus Crowe, and Crowe's daughter, Virginia Crowe, they try to figure out the mystery behind the deaths...The plot is great and well thought out! There is unexpected twists, action, adventure and plans to bring down England's empire. A must read for a young teenager looking for a new read.I am looking forward to the next installment, Red Leech!Thank you Andrew Lane!

An intriguing and largely enjoyable boys-own adventure, very heavily influenced by Charlie Higson's Young Bond novels. The Sherlock Holmes presented here, is not the one from the Doyle stories, or even the film of Young Sherlock Holmes; he's younger, rawer and less sure of himself.This is a Holmes who is only starting to utilise logic and reason, but the raw material is there. I did really enjoy this adventure, but couldn't quite equate this character to Holmes as the differences were too stark, however perhaps future volumes take the character down the path to be closer to what I know, and love.