It’s a refreshing change to the ponderous ‘It was in the year 1887…’ introductions that authors sometimes burden Watson’s narration with, and an exciting start to a story of such thrilling pace that it barely has time to fill its pipe.
Titan Books’ last outing for Sherlock Holmes was Guy Davis’s hugely enjoyable Victorian mash-up The Army of Dr. Moreau, a romp that was notable for The Great Detective facing a sharktopus in the sewers of London. And just as you wonder what outrageous yarn could possibly top patchwork monsters, James Lovegrove doffs his top hat, pulls off his goggles, and introduces Baron Cauchemar, a Steampunk Iron Man.
If your pupils widened slightly in anticipation at the mention of Steampunk in a Sherlock Holmes novel, you’re in for a treat. What begins as a ordinary mystery rapidly inflates into a tale featuring explosions, dirigibles, metal men, and a locomotive that does something so unexpected that you might find your brow furrowing at the ludicrous audacity of it all…that is unless you’re a fan of a certain cartoon/movie franchise. Be warned: the finale is bonkers enough to be a Monday night movie on the SyFy channel.
But Titan’s Sherlock series are not to be taken as seriously as the canonical counterparts, they’re summer blockbusters; Sherlock Holmes in a comic book universe. Pow! Zonk! Deduce! The kind of thing you read with a Hans Zimmer score thundering in the background and a box of popcorn wedged between your thighs. Pure fun, and brilliant at being so.
If it sounds more Bruckheimer than Baker Street, Lovegrove is quick to remind us that this is still a story that clings to the truisms of Conan Doyle’s characters. He has Holmes and Watson’s now almost caricatured mannerisms down pat, and he deftly manoeuvres through the usual cliches that an author has to perform in order to prove to the reader that they’re writing a Sherlock Holmes story: a spot of deduction based on Watson’s appearance, the fraternal competition between the Holmes brothers, allusions to past adventures, ‘baritsu’, three pipe problems, and – in a moment that feels shoehorned in just to really hammer home the Holmes – mention of the game being afoot.
Fantastical though that game becomes, there is actually some good old-fashioned detective work beforehand, and Lovegrove admirably demonstrates the ability to write a grounded straightforward Holmes story. It’s actually the parts where Holmes is doing street-work investigating that are the most entertaining.
The Stuff of Nightmares is a dream come true for the Sherlock enthusiast with a cog fetish, managing to keep the Great Detective both great and a detective even as he faces untrammelled imagination of an escapee from an unmade Wild Wild West sequel.
Now, Titan, how about we have ‘Sherlock Holmes and the Charing Cross Sharknado’?
Published on Friday 30 August 2013 by Titan Books.