Andrew Lane’s Rebel Fire (or Red Leech) is the second book in the Young Sherlock Holmes series. The United States of America has recently dealt with a long and bloody Civil War that ended in a Confederate defeat. Soon after, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by, the now famous, John Wilkes Booth. While the world thought Booth was dead, sightings of him have reported all over the world and the most recent one was in England. Upon hearing this, Sherlock Holmes was immediately intrigued. He jumps at the chance to get involved and finds himself uncovering a conspiracy that could change a nation. This new adventure leads him west, across the Atlantic, to the United States of America.
While his growth is slow, Sherlock has obviously changed since his last adventure. Due to his tutors, his skills of deduction and logic have grown and continue to grow in this book. More importantly, Sherlock is forced to ask some hard moral questions in this book. His actions have led to the death of people and his current adventure will influence the course of a country. This book provides the start for Sherlock’s personal and internal growth.
Rebel Fire (or Red Leech as it is known outside of the US) was a decent book. It was relatively fasted-paced and exciting. The book is also very detail-oriented, but this is both a blessing and curse as it creates a detailed setting, but takes away from the stories action. Many fast-paced scenes were unnaturally slowed due to the massive amounts of description. Also taking away from the suspense is the fact that this is a prequel series. Every Sherlock is in situation that seems bleak, you can comfort yourself with the fact that Sherlock survives to his adult series. With no real suspense, the story should be about how Sherlock survives his encounters. Most would expect Sherlock to use his logic and reasoning to save himself and would be disappointed to discover how little he does. When Sherlock is placed in a grim situation, he often survives due to an unbelievable solution or pure luck. The entire story is hard to believe culminates with a stereotypically repulsive and shallow villain. Despite the plot’s shortcomings, the setting was quite interesting. Sherlock was traveling from England to America, which made the story endlessly interesting to an American like me. Andrew Lane did a decent job of describing the intrigue and diversity of 1860s New York and some of the oddities that arise when going to a country that is both the same and different then your own. Sadly, the setting became interesting at the story went on. While enjoyable for a teenage reading for pleasure, the book soon falls apart under closer inspection. I give this 335 page book 3.5 stars.
Young Sherlock Holmes
This series takes place in the late 1860s. The main protagonist it Sherlock Holmes as a 14 year old boy.