Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula

Rating:
Summary: Clever pastiche; more for Holmes fans than Dracula fans
Review: A rather clever retelling of the Bram Stoker tale with Holmes as a character, narrated, of course, by Watson, and purporting to be a part of the main canon. Estleman is good at recreating the Holmesian aspect: the boughs howling in moonlit graveyards, the gas-lamps' blobby light in thick fog, etc. He's done his research as to the period and the writing style, and it does work. (Less present is the macabre horror of Stoker's novel.) On the whole, it's a great idea, and the book presents Victorian thrills and action and chase scenes aplenty. Only the end of the book is a disappointment: in order not to rewrite too disruptively the Dracula side, Esteleman must leave Holmes out of the finale altogether, making for a rather anticlimactic ending.

Rating:
Summary: The Game is Afoot!
Review: I had gone to my local bookstore to see if the most recent Sherlock Holmes story by Larry Millet was in yet. I happened upon "Sherlock Holmes Vs. Dracula". As much as I enjoy books about the great detective I was skeptical when I noted the title. Still, I decided to take a chance and purchased the book. What a find! My money was well spent. Holmes and Watson are matched against a totally different for than ever before. The plot moves along a good pace (or trot) and the author manages too never stretch into the unbelievable. I only regret the next Holmes story by this author will not be in print for a year. I am looking forward to it.

Rating:
Summary: Great fun, clever and well written
Review: If you can suspend your disbelief that Sherlock Holmes can be convinced that vampires exist, then you'll have great fun with this novel. Author Loren Estleman has done a good job in replicating the tone and style of the Conan Doyle stories, and the way that he uses Bram Stoker's novel as the background for this story is very clever indeed. As anyone who has read Dracula will know, Dracula is "off-screen" for most of the book and Estleman has used this to his advantage. So while the characters in Stoker's book are dealing with the consequences of the largely unseen Dracula's actions, Holmes and Watson are dealing with him directly in London.

If you are a Holmes and Dracula fan, you should enjoy this book enormously. I had a great time reading it, and I definitely recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Harmless Fluff
Review: If you're looking for an amusing way to spend a few hours, you would do much worse than Holmes v. Dracula. Loren Estelman does a good job of capturing the spirit and language of the original Doyle series if the idea is somewhat hokey, the execution is not. The events of the novel intertwine with those in Bram Stoker's novel (indeed, Watson makes a point of lambasting Stoker for maliciously omitting mention of Holmes), but readers need only have seen any of the many Dracula movies to follow the characters. This is not a book that will enter anybody's top ten lists, but it is exactly what it appears to be - mindless entertainment.

Rating:
Summary: Harmless Fluff
Review: If you're looking for an amusing way to spend a few hours, you would do much worse than Holmes v. Dracula. Loren Estelman does a good job of capturing the spirit and language of the original Doyle series if the idea is somewhat hokey, the execution is not. The events of the novel intertwine with those in Bram Stoker's novel (indeed, Watson makes a point of lambasting Stoker for maliciously omitting mention of Holmes), but readers need only have seen any of the many Dracula movies to follow the characters. This is not a book that will enter anybody's top ten lists, but it is exactly what it appears to be - mindless entertainment.

Rating:
Summary: Better than I expected.
Review: Nowdays there seems to be a interest in combining characters from classic literature. IN the movies VAN HELSING & LXG are examples of this. Back in the late 70's Estleman was way ahead of the movie producers of today. If you are a fan of either Sherlock Holmes or Dracula you will probably like this book. It remains faithful to the original Dracula story but has Holmes and Watson solving the case of the "Bloofer Lady", Dracula's victim Lucy Westenra. They are working against, and later in conjuction with Dr. Van Helsing, Dr. Seward and the Harkers. Eventually Dracula and Holmes do cross paths. Some reviewers have mentioned they would have liked to have had a bigger and more detailed confrontation between Dracula and Holmes. I can understand that but don't see how it could have been done and remained faithful to the source material.

This is a very good story that remains faithful to the original story of Dracula. The story moves quickly and is not drawn out. It is a very clever piece of writing that manages to blend two of the best known fictional characters of the last century.


Rating:
Summary: A Very Doylesque story
Review: This book is great. Although I didn't compare it overmuch with Dracula, I thought the author was quite clever in weaving the two stories together. There is also an authentic, "Holmesian" feel about the novel that is essential for mysteries of this type.

Rating:
Summary: Bloody good job!
Review: This was a great book for both Homes fans and fans of the vampire lord. I found it a little hard to believe that Watson seemed to care more for his friendship with Holmes than for his wife and wondered what she would have had to say if SHE reviewed the book! Still full of shudders and thrills galore. Four solid Sherlock stars from The Blade!