Young Sherlock Holmes: Fire Storm

Plot

The story begins with Sherlock Holmes discovering that Mrs. Eglantine, the housekeeper of Holmes Manor, is blackmailing his Uncle Sherrinford and Aunt Anna into keeping her employed. Sherlock also discovers that Mrs. Eglantine is working for Josh Harkness, the town's sinister blackmailer. Sherlock, along with his best friend Matthew Arnatt, pursue Harkness into a tannery, which is Harkness's base of operations. There, Sherlock and Matty discover a large number of boxes which contain secrets that Harkness uses for blackmail, including the secret of the Holmes family, and destroys them by sliding them into a tannery vat. Sherlock then incapacitates Harkness and turns him into the police. Sherlock returns home and reveals the news to Aunt Anna and Uncle Sherrinford, prompting them to fire Mrs. Eglantine since she does not have evidence for blackmail.

After that, Sherlock and Matty visit his American tutor, Amyus Crowe and his daughter Virginia. When they arrive at Crowe's cottage, they find it empty and that they are not there. However, Sherlock and Matty discover a clue that points to Edinburgh. Sherlock, Matty, and Rufus Stone(Sherlock's violin tutor) set off to Edinburgh. However, Rufus gets abducted in Newcastle, leaving Sherlock and Matty alone. In Edinburgh, Sherlock decodes a coded newspaper advertisement that leads them to Cramond. But Sherlock and Matty get abducted by a man named Bryce Scobell, who is holding Rufus Stone captive. Scobell tortures Sherlock for information about Crowe's whereabouts. However, Sherlock, Matty, and Rufus escape after Sherlock incapacitates Scobell's men. The trio set off to Cramond, where they find Crowe and Virginia. Crowe reveals that four years ago, Bryce Scobell, who was serving as a lieutenant in the Confederate Army, had lead a large massacre against the American Indians. Crowe, who was a bounty hunter at that time, was assigned to hunt down and kill Scobell for causing the massacre. During an ambush against Scobell, Crowe accidentally kills the wife and son of Scobell, who swears revenge against Crowe, who then quits his job and moves to England. With Scobell back to seek revenge, Crowe and Virginia flee from Farnham.

Soon after, Scobell and his men arrive and set fire to Crowe's hideout, causing the five of them to move out into the open. They escape, but get separated(with Sherlock and Virginia together and Crowe, Rufus, and Matty together in the other group). Sherlock and Virginia find a shelter, where they spend the night. The next morning, Sherlock and Virginia get kidnapped by a local criminal gang called the Black Reavers. They are taken to a warehouse, where they find Crowe, Rufus, and Matty. The leader, Gahan Macfarlane, reveals that he was hired by Scobell to capture the group and return them to Scobell. Sherlock offers a deal: He will prove the innocence of Macfarlane's sister, who is accused of murder, in exchange for their release. After Sherlock succeeds, he returns to Macfarlane's base, where Scobell arrives.

As Scobell is about to kill Crowe and Virginia, Sherlock incapacitates Scobell, initiating chaos. Sherlock sets loose a bear, which kills Scobell. After that, Sherlock, Matty, Crowe, Virginia, and Rufus return to Farnham.

Reception

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

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.

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.

Characters