Bound To Stay Bound

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Bulletin for the Center... - 01/01/2013 The third entry in Lane’s series on young Sherlock Holmes (Death Cloud, BCCB 3/11) opens with a somewhat forced review of previous adventures and main players in Sherlock’s life, and then jolts into high gear with a nifty locked-room mystery that finds brother Mycroft dazed and confused with a bloody knife in his hand and a bloody body at his feet at the Diogenes Club. Of course he’s arrested for murder, and of course Sherlock and his tutor Amyus Crowe are on the case. The devilishly crafty details of the murder are, however, so promptly resolved that there’s nothing left to do but move the whole story into an action-style thriller in which Sherlock’s life is continually in peril, as bad guys chase him underground in London, a trained falcon attacks him in a museum, and more bad guys chase him through an underground river in Moscow. All the while, Lane busily drops winking hints of the detective Sherlock will become and references to names and phrases in the stories a certain Dr. Watson will one day chronicle. One might expect this series to serve as a step-up for a later reading of Conan Doyle’s work, but readers will actually already need to know the originals to appreciate the title’s employment of Holmesian arcana such as the assumed name of Sigerson or the useful lessons in the application of theatrical nose putty; stylistically, there’s no echo of the consulting detective’s mature adventures, so it seems more an everyday detective story with a brand-name bump. Nonetheless, it’s an entertaining out, and kids who simply appreciate period thrillers will enjoy the romp. EB - Copyright 2013 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

Booklist - 05/01/2013 The third book in the Sherlock Holmes: The Legend Begins series finds teenage Sherlock up to his knees in confusion and obfuscations. Shockingly, his brother, Mycroft, has been arrested for murder, after being found in a windowless room with a dead man and a knife in his hand. Once this problem is cleverly resolved, the sedentary Mycroft finds he must travel to Russia to rescue a friend, and there’s nothing for it but to take Sherlock with him. Lane does a terrific job of packing a lot of adventure into a manageable number of pages. By the time Sherlock arrives in Moscow, he has been mauled by an iron-clawed falcon, chased through London’s underbelly by a gang of marauding, murderous children, and forced to question who among his acquaintances is actually a friend. The Russian sojourn offers more opportunities for the teen to use his burgeoning powers of deduction as a surprise twist only becomes clear when Sherlock untwists it. A solid mix of adventure and character, this may be the best in the series so far. - Copyright 2013 Booklist.

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