Review: the Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

Now, truth to be told, I was dreading reading this one. I’ve read the reviews on Goodreads , it told me that the Hound of the Baskervilles is the scariest of Sherlock Holmes’ stories. And I don’t like scary, at all. The reviews told me this one was the most suspenseful  too, do I dare reading this one? I did it. And here you are reading my review!

Short synopsis:
When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead in the grounds of his country house, his face contorted with fear, Holmes is drawn into a mysterious case involving an ancient family curse, savage brutality and a hellish, spectral hound that roams the foggy moors. But is it really something unearthly that walks there?

Now, because I all ready knew it was going to be scary, I braced myself. I even stopped myself from reading it at night, because I didn’t want to scare myself too much.
I got disappointed. It wasn’t scary, it wasn’t suspenseful, it was non of it. Also, the synopsis is deceiving. Sherlock Holmes plays a very minor role in this book. It’s mostly Watson being amazing, taking care of the new Baskerville heir, solving the whole thing, when SUDDENLY Holmes appears and saves the day. Ass. Taking away poor Watson’s glory.
Now, the book wasn’t bad, it’s a Sherlock Holmes book so they are great anyways, but for a Sherlock Holmes book it’s pretty, well… average. I feel bad for saying so, but considering this is “the most loved Holmes adventure” I expected a lot from it, and it didn’t deliver. It wasn’t scary, it was pretty obvious what was going on, it was a slow story, not very suspenseful, and you could really see what was going on and who did it halfway through. And that’s just not what I’m looking for in a detective story, let alone in a Sherlock Holmes one!

I’m not going to tell you : “Oh just skip this one!!! It’s horrible!!”, because it isn’t that bad. Really. It’s just not as good as the other books of Sherlock Holmes. I recommend starting with this one, so the other books seem more impressive.

Score:

You can buy this book here.