Item - Sherlock Holmes - The Meyringen Papers

I had very high expectations for this book, considering the earlier Storytrails book dealing with the Holmes mythos (The Unsolved Case of Sherlock Holmes) was excellent. The fact that the author seeks to fill a gap in the original Holmes storyline is also a plus for those of us who are fans of the famous detective. However, without being terrible, the book mostly fails to live up to its promise. Rather than a story of mystery, suspense and investigation like the previous book was, this book mostly tells a Mark-Twainesque story of children braving natural hazards and running from hostile adults. The parts which are supposed to generate the mystery and suspense fail to make the reader feel in danger nor are really engaging. As a result the story becomes rather dull pretty often. Things get a little better near the end when the reader gets to meet both Holmes and Moriarty, but even this does not lift the story above average.

Gameplay does not help, either. While the book is not as easy as other books in this series, the choices are very random and thus finishing the book doesn't feel like it required mental effort. Overall, this is not really among the worst on the gamebook scale, though I wouldn't really advise hunting it down. Perhaps it's only recommended as a read to pass the time if you find it cheap in a thrift store.

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