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Summary: The Sleuth of Secrecy and Sensationalism
Review: "The Hound of the Baskervilles" ranks as the most famous and also the best of the four Sherlock Holmes novels. It is the first Holmes novel I read as a child, and the combination of ancient curse, foreboding moor, and modern danger kept me turning the pages."The Hound" is unique among the Holmes novels because for a large part of the mystery, Holmes' character is offstage, appearing only at the last moment to bring events to a hair-raising denouement. Holmes is a brilliant but eccentric detective. Sometimes his personality quirks lead him into danger. Holmes is both tenacious and audacious, and the interplay of those two qualities almost bring him to grief. He loves to hold his cards close to his vest, and sometimes excludes others from information vital to their safety. He also loves to engineer dramatic climaxes to highlight his deductive powers. Holmes' joint penchants for secrecy and sensation almost gets his client killed, but all's well that ends well. The Dover Thrift Edition offers quality entertainment at a rock bottom price. Inexpensive, but definitely not cheap.
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Summary: A Very Good Dectective Work
Review: It's not easy to come across a detective story that is nearly flawless, i.e., the criminal's plan isn't too contrived, the motives are clear, the threads the detective follows to solve the case are not too weak, etc. Watson was sent to guard the potential victim, Sir Henry Baskerville, without Holmes' company. His absence further underlined the charm of Holmes as the readers would inevitably be constantly and eagerly hoping for his reappearance. Indeed I was overjoyed when Holmes later re-entered the scene. And the dramatic way he appeared again made his savior image all the sharper and stronger. I think the story would definitely make a truly scary, exciting movie, with all the mysterious setting and dramatic moments. I have not seen the movie yet, but I am now trying to get hold of a copy of the tape.
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Summary: thrilling
Review: this one is a thriller not that much of suspense but still it forces you not to give it up before finishing it.
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Summary: Holmes Almost Meets His Match
Review: A murder attributed to a demonic hound challenges not only Mr. Holmes' legendary wits, but more importanly his faith in reason and science as it takes him deep into a misty, timeless moor and into the myths and legends of less enlightened times. While the values of logic and modernism ultimately triumph with the exposure of the hound as a hoax, Doyle's tense, apmoshperic writing conjures up quite a bit of genuine horror. Its no accident that horror master H.P. Lovecraft was later able to effectively appropriate much of the novel's basic feeling in his short story "The Hound."
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Summary: The Hound of the Baskerville
Review: The Hound of the Baskervilles was very exiting, and it almost came alive with the great writing. the legend of the hound, told in the begining of the book, was very suspenseful, and the incredible amount of suspects made it very hard to guess the killer before he was announced.It is a very good book to read for a report, because it is easy to summarize, however, that is not the only reason to read it. I would reccomend this book, or any Sherlock Holmes mystery for that matter5, for the incredible amount of suspense and cleverness of the detective. Sherlock Holmes is incredibly intellegent in that he can recognize and tell the difference between the ink of different newspapers!
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Summary: one of the greats
Review: I'd be happy to argue the point, but it seems to me that the four greatest fictional characters of all time (excluding Don Quijote, who's in a league of his own) are : Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and Tarzan. There are certainly no other characters who are so familiar, so often revived in plays, movies, song, television, and books, nor so often parodied and imitated as they. Take a look at your TV Guide and there'll be a movie featuring at least one of the four on the air at some point this week. They are all still just as popular as the day their authors introduced them. The reason for this is, first of all that they are simply brilliant creations, but secondly that they each in their own way tap into very powerful human fears and aspirations. Frankenstein's monster and Dracula represent victory over mortality. Tarzan represents victory over Nature. Sherlock Holmes represents the ultimate and inevitable triumph of reason over the mysteries of human behavior. Of this quartet, it is Holmes, because he is the most realistic character and because his victory seems closest to our grasp, who resonates most deeply with us. Realistically, none of us expect to gain eternal life nor to be plopped down in the jungle unexpectedly, but there's a sense in Holmes that, for all his genius, he is really just using the brain power that all of us share better than the rest of us do. As he tells Watson here, after one of his those classic moments where the good Doctor is stunned by one of Holmes's analyses : The world is full of obvious things, which nobody by any chance ever observes. Nobody that is except the world's greatest detective. But the idea that things are just waiting to be observed, and the simplicity of Holmes observations, serves to foster the illusion that the mysterious will yield to our intellect should we merely apply rigorous reason. For all his foibles and quirks, it is this that makes Sherlock Holmes an aspirational figure. Holmes and Watson are so familiar to us as to need no further exposition. Suffice it to say that this quintessential novel features many of the elements that made the series immortal : inexplicable doings at stately manor houses, chases across the moors, pea soup fogs, beautiful damsels in distress, and the like. And if the villain is not the equal of Dr. Moriarity (then again, who is ?), surely this tantalizing intoduction to the mystery is as enticing as any ever committed to paper : "On the night of Sir Charles's death Barrymore the butler who made the discovery, sent Perkins the groom on horseback to me, and as I was sitting up late I was able to reach Baskerville Hall within an hour of the event. I checked and corroborated all the facts which were mentioned at the inquest. I followed the footsteps down the yew alley, I saw the spot at the moor-gate where he seemed to have waited, I remarked the change in the shape of the prints after that point, I noted that there were no other footsteps save those of Barrymore on the soft gravel, and finally I carefully examined the body, which had not been touched until my arrival. Sir Charles lay on his face, his arms out, his fingers dug into the ground, and his features convulsed with some strong emotion to such an extent that I could hardly have sworn to his identity. TheFe was certainly no physical injury of any kind. But one false statement was made by Barrymore at the inquest. He said that there were no traces upon the ground round the body. He did not observe any. But I did -- some little distance off, but fresh and clear." "Footprints?" "Footprints. " "A man's or a woman's?" Dr. Mortimer looked strangely at us for an instant, and his voice sank almost to a whisper as he answered: "Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!" The reader, if he exists, who doesn't yearn to discover the secret of this gigantic hound may as well give up reading. GRADE : A+
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Summary: Vintage Holmes
Review: This has to be the most exciting detective book of all times. It combines all the elements required for a good detective thriller in the right proportions. At the start,Doyle introduces the element of the supernatural making the reader wonder whether the book will become a bit unimaginable. But it is handled very well by both Doyle and his hero-sleuth Holmes. Throughout the entire book the reader is kept on the edge of his seat,wondering what will happen when he turns the next page. One cannot but feel an icy cold shiver running through one`s spine during Dr.James Mortimer`s initial conversation with Holmes. "Footprints? Man`s or a woman`s? " "Mr.Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!" This element of horror is certainly lacking in other Holmes` books. Great read for any fan of detective thrillers.
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Summary: Mystery Mania
Review: This book was a very magical story to read. I thought this because you had to use your imagination-the thought of an actual living beast that kills people. It had some surprising turns which I thought made the book even better. What I liked alot was how detailed the author was in writing the story. He would be so descriptive in the writing of this book, that you could even imagine it in your own head! When I was reading this book, I thought to myself, a doctor-trying to find out who killed a person close to me, and then finding out that it was a beast ! This book was an amaxing book, and I think that people who like suspense should read it. Many stories don't always include explicit descriptions, as well as the moods of mystery and horror. I definitely would read this book again, and recommend it to others. This was a wonderful book that gives you chills down your spine, which results in to stop reading, and to think about what you just have read.
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Summary: great book
Review: this book tells about a strange murder of Sir Charles Baskerville whose family was haunted by some strange and terrible kind of a dog.Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Watson goes investigate and protect Henry Baskerville,Charles Baskervilles'nephew, heir of the mansion and the last one of the family. The moor,the local people and the mansion helps to create the mystery and the thriller.When i started reading this book i just couldn't put it down! I'd recommend it to anyone who likes a good mystery book.
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Summary: Very interesting but didn't come away a hard core fan...
Review: This was my first A. Conan Doyle read, and I read it for gain background knowledge for _The Moor_ by Laurie R. King. Perhaps I have seen too much of Holmes on PBS but I wasn't really surprised at the conclusion. It seemed obvious through Watson's accounts who the murderer was, though perhaps the motive was hidden until Holmes discovers the portrait resemblance. I was entertained but not enthralled. I am much more of a fan of King's portrayal of the husband and wife team of Holmes than of the originalsuper sleuth!
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