Mycroft Holmes

The best center in NBA history wrote a book about Sherlock Holmes' older brother. Of course I need this.

So this is all about the young Mycroft Holmes, written by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse. I don’t know enough to comment on the contribution of each author but if the 7ft 2" 68 year old record scoring basketball player is the main writer then hats off to the guy he’s done a pretty good job.<br /> <br />The story is set in 1870, Mycroft Holmes is 23 and proficiently working his way up the ranks in the Secretary of State’s office, it's an interesting period in British history where they had many protectorates and territories around the world and for the main part the story is based in Trinidad.<br /> <br />Sherlock is still at school and we meet him briefly in the library of all places, a snapshot of the brother’s dysfunctional relationship as Mycroft takes his leave before his voyage across the North Atlantic Ocean.<br /> <br />Mycroft has his own Watson on-board, he's not a doctor though, he's a tobacco salesman, best friend and confidante. Cyrus Douglas is a black man living in London. The book shows and doesn't shy away from the attitudes of the time, Cyrus constantly has to act as Mycroft’s servant but Holmes is open minded, indifferent at times and even a little oblivious to the difficulties their friendship harbours.<br /> <br />The story starts with Cyrus receiving word of the heinous murders of children in his families village on Trinidad, that coupled with Mycroft’s fiancé fleeing to Trinidad where her family own a plantation and Holmes is intrigued enough to engineer travel over there for him and Cyrus at the behest of the British government. The use of the words "douen" and "lougarou" give a supernatural feel to the murders, there’s plenty of personal interest and of course Mycroft has his own agenda to pursue.<br /> <br />A long voyage at sea ensues with poisoning, violence and mysteries aplenty. We arrive in Trinidad and the story fairly rockets along, there's pick pockets and drug dens of old keeping the attention and interest. The historical side is impeccably researched culminating in a scheme to revive slavery heralding from the U.S. and surrounding countries. There’s Gatling guns, a marvellous secret society of Chinese Trinidadian martial artists called the Brotherhood of the Harmonious Fist and to cap it all, a gang of different races and people coming together to embark on an invasion of a secret island using crocodile lungs as flotation devices.<br /> <br />The strongest point of the story is the relationship between Holmes and Douglas, echoing Sherlock and Dr Watson, hell it worked for them just a little so why not Mycroft and his friend. Mycroft is quite bright as you would expect, he's also pretty deadly in hand to hand combat, you can get immersed in comparing him to Sherlock but the international flavour steers you in a slightly different direction. There's very much a classic mystery feel about the story with the odd slice of dry British humour, the protagonist is certainly an interesting character it's difficult to give him a completely unique identity as you can't help but attribute some of Sherlock’s ways and manners to Mycroft. That's part of the mystery of Sherlock and it’s almost like an early feel of what shaped the man himself, it is extremely difficult not to talk about the great detective though but all told we have an enjoyable Victorian romp in far off shores with a couple of fascinating characters.<br /> <br />A 3.5* rating.<br /><br />Also posted at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/1300835/mycroft-by-kareem-abdul-jabbar-and-anna-waterhouse">http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...</a>

I was aware that being a successful author was just one of the many things keeping KAJ busy post retirement from the NBA, but this is the last book I expected him to write. Mycroft Holmes has everything that a great Mystery should. A great supporting cast, and a story that keeps you reading until the end. I didn't enjoy this characterization of a young Mycroft as much as I thought I should, perhaps this is because I am so used to the mature version of the character as showcased in the original stories, and many subsequent novels. I also wished that there had been more Sherlock, although I really enjoyed his characterization as an annoying younger brother. I look forward to reading more about Mycroft and Douglas friendship in future books. Overall, a strong first entry into the genre, which will hopefully make for a fun series.<br />

Fans of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes will enjoy this glimpse into the young life of his old brother, Mycroft Holmes. Mycroft has recently graduated from Cambridge and at the age of 23, he is secretary to the Secretary of War.<br /><br />I found the plot, the settings and the characters to be authentic to the tone of the Holmes' saga. A thoroughly enjoyable reading experience. I would be only too happy to learn KAJ is writing a second book -- and perhaps even more.

I am a major Sherlock Holmes fan. I have read every one of the Arthur Conan Doyle tales and many of the tributes aka “Pastiches” writtenby others since then. Not surprisingly none of them ever rise to the equivalent of the original but there have been some noble attempts. In <i>Mycroft Holmes</i> written by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (yes, <i>that</i> Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Anna Waterhouse, the authors do a very wise move. They avoid the imposing Sherlock and concentrate on his smarter and older brother Mycroft. Sherlock does appear but only for a brief chapter. Mycroft only appears in four stories by Doyle. In this reworking, we are introduced to a younger Mycroft when he is still in good physical health and he hasn’t developed his phobia about field work. Sherlock is a university student who Mycroft is indulgent to, maybe slightly condescending, but sees real potential. <br /><br />Mycroft is a promising young civil servant working for the British Secretary of State. He has his own “Doctor Watson”, a black man from Trinidad by the name of Cyrus Douglas who runs a tobacco shop. This friendship moves much of the friction in the tale as the writers are quite aware of and deftly use the racial friction of the times as a major theme in the story. In fact, one of the strengths in the book is that the authors are quite knowledgeable and skilled in portraying the social and psychological tones of the 19th century. But Douglas and Mycroft‘s girlfriend, Georgiana, have secrets about their Trinidadian homeland that comes into play when a string of children disappear, allegedly taken by an evil spirit called the Douen. The novel moves swiftly from London to Trinidad with much of it happening on the ship’s journey. Not surprisingly, Mycroft is very smart, very perceptive and surprisingly quick on his feet for an employee of the Crown. Yet Cyrus also has a number of skills and resources that become a surprise to Mycroft as he gets to know his friend better. The novel works on making both Mycroft and Douglas likable and it succeeds. My only complaint is that I wonder what happened to Mycroft that made him into the sedentary and somewhat haughty man that Doyle describes. I suspect there may be some sequels here and perhaps I will find out.<br /><br />I applaud Abdul-Jabbar and Waterhouse for creating an exciting character, one that Doyle did not really seem all that interested in developing in the long run. Of course it is poetic license but that what makes these pastiches work when they do. <i>Mycroft Holmes</i> does work and if it tends to bog down at parts or show a few minor discrepancy in plot, they are instantly forgivable. <i>Mycroft Holmes</i> is exciting and fun and that is enough for now.<br />

This was pretty terrible. I don't blame Mr. Abdul-Jabbar though because I assume the writing was mostly handled by the not-so-much-a-ghost co-author and that Kareem's name was used to garner sales because everyone loves him and he is a big celebrity. I tend to assume that is usually the case when some celebrity who has never ever written anything, or even talked about writing, suddenly launches a package like this. (Update: See Comments below.)<br /><br />Normally, I would not go near such a production, but I have a soft spot for Mycroft Holmes and I am always curious to see what writers do with him. (FYI: Neil Gaiman has a Sherlock &amp; Mycroft story in his book <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/22522808.Trigger_Warning_Short_Fictions_and_Disturbances" title="Trigger Warning Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman" rel="noopener">Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances</a> called <i>The Case of Death and Honey</i>, which I thoroughly enjoyed.) *<br /><br />Abdul-Jabbar/Waterhouse's book begins well, or, perhaps I should say that I rather liked the beginning. Let me put it that way. There's not much artistry to the book, but I enjoyed the initial set up. Unfortunately, once the main characters go ship-ahoy! the story begins to sink fast. Each chapter is a bit more convoluted and stupider than the last. What begins as a light and rather fun piece of commercial fiction launches off into deep waters, trying hard to say something serious and important about racism, slavery, violence, and human trafficking that has not already been explored better and more intelligently by . . . well, just about anyone who ever touched these subjects. <br /><br />I love this line though: ‘You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There’s more of gravy than of grave about you ...' but, of course, that Dickens' Scrooge talking to Marley's ghost and our author is only borrowing his wit, just as I am doing now by borrowing from the borrower.<br /><br />So, I cannot recommend to anyone that they spend their time or money on a book that is really bad in every way beyond the first chapter or two. I've nothing against light commercial fiction, but it should play to its strengths and not take on huge hairy social issues, in my opinion. What started off as the book version of a frothing-cold Tasmanian beer at the end of a hot summer hike turned into something like a lukewarm Budweiser sipped miserably whilst trudging through a mosquito-swarmed swamp. Having said that, there was plenty of cheesiness to go with that beer.<br /><br />* This story is available online too! Here's the link: <a href="http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~ina22/200/The%20Case%20of%20Death%20and%20Honey.htm" rel="nofollow noopener">The Case of Death and Honey</a>.

Four stars because it surprised me by being enjoyably readable. Probably only three stars for actual artistic merit. But, if you imagine a younger Mark Gatiss running around Trinidad with current-day Chiwitel Ejiofor, it makes for an awesome head-movie.

If this book was a movie, it would be a bad B movie. The plot, dialogue, and scenes lack imagination and bear all the marks of what is trite. Other than the name Holmes, it has no resemblance to a Holmesian tale.<br /><br />The story is about Sherlock’s older brother Mycroft, and therein lies another problem. The authors make Mycroft out to be like Sherlock: a man of action, a man that rides into the fray, a man who boxes - he even gives Sherlock a boxing lesson. I don’t like it when someone writes a fanfiction story and changes the character that the original author created; although, if the book is good, this is not so annoying to me. According to Arthur Conan Doyle, Mycroft is nothing like his younger brother from the point of view of physical activity, though he is Sherlock’s equal in intelligence and powers of observation and deduction. But Mycroft is indolent. For goodness sake, he is so averse to activity he founded the Diogenes Club, a club where the exertion of simply talking was not allowed. The sole purpose of the club was to have a place to go and read and be left alone.<br /><br />What a cool story it could have been to have the real Mycroft, who is so averse to exertion, to be made to pursue a case because his great mind has deduced the necessity and all along the way he is trying to determine how to handle matters with the least amount of effort. That is more what I expected to find, but instead, we have a corny story with lame dialogue ineffectively trying to be a Sherlock Holmes story.

I was more than a little surprised that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had written a Holmsian mystery, not that I've followed the basketball star or had any idea about what his personal interests were. I did wonder if it might be one of those books...you know the ones...where the famous person gets a book deal and the book gets a lot of publicity and sells well, but the content of the actual book is rather lackluster. I'm happy to report this wasn't one of those books.<br /><br />The novel has two very likeable protagonists, an adventurous story with an interesting mystery and a little dose of humor here and there. I really enjoyed the two main characters, Mycroft and his best friend Cyrus Douglas. The pair travel to Cyrus's childhood home in Trinidad due to his concern for his family and talk that people are disappearing there. The legendary 'douen' and 'lougarou' are said to have come back to the area and it's rumored that several children have been taken. <br /><br />I'm a super picky reader (as everyone in my book club will attest to) and I have some pet peeves that include poorly written dialogue, characters that behave in ways that are inconsistent with their own character, dialogue that only serves to educate the reader on the setting, period details or mystery of the story and events that are too contrived to be believable. I'm happy to report that this book is free from all of the above. <br /><br />And while I enjoyed the mystery, there were some points that Mycroft thought were obvious, that I did not, but that seems to happen in most if not every Holmsian mystery I read. <br /><br />I really enjoyed the close friendship between Mycroft and Cyrus and the "adventurous fast paced conflict with the bad guys" part of the book was very exciting. At one point I gasped out loud as I was reading, my son was nearby and asked "Uh-oh, who died?" I didn't tell, if you want to know you should read the book.<br /><br />Thank you to the publisher Titan Books and the Amazon Vine program for providing me with an advance reader copy for a nominal fee.

In essence, this is a prequel to what we know of Sherlock Holmes' older brother Mycroft. I started out thinking it was going to be a straightforward historical mystery, possibly with some supernatural elements. Ultimately though it was a much deeper story, with more commentary on social justice of the time and nothing supernatural.<br /><br />The locales of London and the West Indies, mostly Trinidad, provide a colorful and diverse background. Mycroft and his sidekick Cyrus Douglas are smart and inventive. Although Mycroft often smacks of twenty-something ego, Douglas' older, wiser viewpoint balances his naïveté and impulsiveness. <br /><br />I found it an enjoyable, if not groundbreaking story. Given the fame of one author and the screenwriting background of the other, I wouldn't be surprised if Mycroft makes it to the big screen. I'll be in line for a ticket.