Review: A STUDY IN TREASON
/18 Comments/by SuzanneSeries: The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes Mystery #2
Published by Minotaur Books on June 12, 2018
Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction
Pages: 320
Source: Netgalley
Amazon
Goodreads
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
MY REVIEW:
Leonard Goldberg’s A Study in Treason is the second book in the popular series, The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes Mysteries. These books feature Joanna Blalock, daughter of Sherlock Holmes, and her husband, John Watson, Jr., who is (you guessed it), the son of Holmes’ sidekick, Dr. John Watson, Sr. as they follow in their parents’ footsteps and solve mysteries that are so tough they stump both local law enforcement and the finest detectives at Scotland Yard. I’ve always been a fan of the original Sherlock Holmes mysteries so I thought this would be a fun read
In this second book in the series, there is an imminent threat of war (WWI) and England and France have entered into a secret treaty that details strategies on how they will work together to defeat Germany if they actually do go to war. The treaty is sent to the country estate of Lord Halifax so that copies of it can be produced, and even though the document is kept under lock and key and the room it is stored in is guarded at all times, somehow the document is still stolen. The local police and Scotland Yard are called in immediately, but when they can’t determine how the document was stolen from a locked and guarded room, Joanna and the Watsons are called in to lend their assistance.
My favorite part about A Study in Treason was actually the mystery itself. It’s a cleverly crafted locked door mystery, filled with plenty of suspense and twists and turns that kept me guessing as to who the culprit was and how they did it, all the way to the very end.
I also loved the feeling of nostalgia that I got while reading because Goldberg does such a fine job of writing the story in the style of the original Sherlock mysteries and in capturing the atmosphere of pre-WWI England. In that sense, I think this series makes for a great complement to the original series. It was like meeting up with an old friend after many years.
Speaking of meeting up with old friends after many years, I also really loved seeing Dr. Watson again. Sherlock has unfortunately passed away by the time this story is set, but Watson is still with us and it just warmed my heart to see him and especially to see how wonderful his relationship with his son is.
I also liked Joanna, well most of the time anyway. She’s quite the feminist and doesn’t put up with anyone treating her as less than capable because of her gender. She is also truly a chip off the old block, both in terms of her personality and her investigative skills. She’s like Sherlock in a dress and is quite a fun character to follow around, as many of her mannerisms even mimic dear old dad’s.
As much as I liked Joanna, I unfortunately also had some issues with her as well. Some of the clues Joanna found while investigating seemed like clues that any trained member of law enforcement should have also been able to locate. In that sense it almost felt like other characters were being “dumbed down” to make Joanna appear more superior.
I also wasn’t a big fan of the way she would micro-manage everyone around her as if they were dimwits who couldn’t think for themselves at all. There was one scene in particular where she wants her husband John to observe what one of their suspects is doing, but to do so without being seen. She actually instructs him to hold his hand up next to his face to shield his face from view, as if he doesn’t have enough common sense on his own to figure out how not to be recognized. She speaks in a similarly condescending tone to Dr. Watson at times, as if he’s a child, and I found it annoying. Then, if they did something well or came up with an idea on their own, she would praise them as if they were pets. I half expected her to reward them with treats every time they did something that pleased her. That same arrogance used to occasionally annoy me about Sherlock, so I guess it’s not surprising that it annoys me with his daughter as well, lol.
Overall, I found A Study in Treason to be an entertaining read. If you’re a fan of Sherlock Holmes or even just a fan of mysteries, in particular, locked door mysteries, I’d definitely say to give it a try.
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
A continuation of USA TODAY bestselling author Leonard Goldberg’s The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Treason is a new intriguing locked room mystery for Joanna and the Watsons to solve.
The following case has not previously been disclosed to the public due to the sensitive information on foreign affairs. All those involved were previously bound by the Official Secrets Act. With the passage of time and the onset of the Great War, these impediments have been removed and the story can now be safely told.
When an executed original of a secret treaty between England and France, known as the French Treaty, is stolen from the country estate of Lord Halifax, Scotland Yard asks Joanna, Dr. John Watson, Jr., and Dr. John Watson, Sr. to use their keen detective skills to participate in the hunt for the missing treaty. As the government becomes more restless to find the missing document and traditional investigative means fail to turn up the culprit, Joanna is forced to devise a clever plan to trap the thief and recover the missing treaty.
Told from the point of view of Dr. John Watson, Jr. in a style similar to the original Sherlock Holmes stories, A Study in Treason is based partly on facts in our world and partly on the facts left to us by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Full of excitement and intrigue, this mystery is sure to be enjoyed by fans of Sherlock Holmes as well as the works of Laurie R. King and Charles Finch
About Leonard Goldberg
Leonard Goldberg is an American physicist, professor of medicine, and the author of the Joanna Blalock series of medical thrillers.
His novels have been translated into a dozen languages and sold more than a million copies worldwide. Leonard Goldberg is himself a consulting physician affiliated with the UCLA Medical Center, where he holds an appointment as Clinical Professor of Medicine. A sought-after expert witness in medical malpractice trials, he is board certified in internal medicine, hematology and rheumatology, and has published over a hundred scientific studies in peer-reviewed journals.
Leonard Goldberg’s writing career began with a clinical interest in blood disorders. While involved in a research project at UCLA, he encountered a most unusual blood type. The patient’s red blood cells were O-Rh null, indicating they were totally deficient in A, B and Rh factors and could be administered to virtually anyone without fear of a transfusion reaction. In essence, the patient was the proverbial “universal” blood donor. This finding spurred the idea for a story in which an individual was born without a tissue type, making that person’s organs transplantable into anyone without worry of rejection. His first novel, Transplant, revolved around a young woman who is discovered to be a universal organ donor and is hounded by a wealthy, powerful man in desperate need of a new kidney. The book quickly went through multiple printings and was optioned by a major Hollywood studio.
Dr. Goldberg is a native of Charleston and a long-time California resident. He currently divides his time between Los Angeles and an island off the coast of South Carolina.
Weekly Recap #57: Week of 6/10 – 6/16
/24 Comments/by Suzanne
It’s time for another weekly recap post of all things happening on and off the blog. This week I’ll be linking to the Sunday Post, which is hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer and to Stacking the Shelves, which is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews.
Happy Father’s Day weekend to all who are celebrating! I’ll be keeping this post short and sweet since I’m taking a break from our Father’s Day activities to write it. We’re celebrating not only Father’s Day but also my son graduating from elementary school this past week. He finished up with straight A’s and achievement awards in Math and Social Studies. so we’re very proud of him.
Aside from that it has been a fairly quiet week. I took off 2 1/2 days from work this week and was thrilled to have good enough weather to actually get outside and enjoy my days off. We’re in the midst of a major landscaping project at the moment and have ripped out all of the overgrown bushes that were planted in front of our house. It looks naked out there now as we decide what we’re planting in their place, but the bushes were just so out of control that they had to go. As we learned when we pulled them up, they also had snakes (yes, plural) living under them. We think they were baby copperheads but regardless, I don’t do snakes so they had to go. Once we finish our new planting, we’ll also be painting our shutters and doors a new color. Nothing screams I’m middle aged like being super excited to put shutters and doors, right? LOL!
I didn’t get quite as much reading done this week as I had hoped with those days off, so A Boy Made of Blocks and Letting Go of Gravity are still on my TBR. I did start A Boy Made of Blocks last night though so I’m hoping to get through both of these and at least one more during the upcoming week.
I think that’s it for me. I hope everyone else has a great week! 🙂
WHAT I POSTED LAST WEEK
- [10 Jun] Weekly Recap #56: Week of 6/3 – 6/9
- [11 Jun] Little Big Love by Katy Regan ★★★★
- [12 Jun] Top Ten Tuesday, the Wanderlust edition: Top 10 Books That Make Me Want to Pack a Bag & Grab My Passport
- [13 Jun] Can’t Wait Wednesday – Spotlight on THE POINT by John Dixon
- [15 Jun] Furyborn by Claire Legrand ★★★
WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK
UPCOMING REVIEWS
STACKING THE SHELVES
TOTALLY RANDOM
Review: FURYBORN
/22 Comments/by SuzanneSeries: Empirium #1
Published by Sourcebooks Fire on May 22, 2018
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 512
Source: Netgalley
Amazon
Goodreads
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
MY REVIEW:
Novels that feature strong, independent female characters and dual timelines are nearly always guaranteed to grab my attention and such was the case with Claire Legrand’s YA fantasy novel, Furyborn. Furyborn follows two incredibly independent women, Rielle Dardenne and Eliana Ferracora, who lived centuries apart but who both play a role in an ancient prophecy known to all in their lands. The prophecy states that two magic-wielding Queens will rise to power, a Sun Queen and a Blood Queen, and one will have the power to save their kingdom, while the other will have the power to destroy them all.
Furyborn is an exciting adventure from start to finish as we follow these two fiercely independent women as they rush forward to meet their destinies.
One of the things that I really enjoyed about Furyborn was the way the dual timeline was used to allow each woman’s journey to unfold. With Rielle, we are presented with not only her role in the prophecy, but also the way she meets her end, in the novel’s prologue. Rielle’s journey in the book, therefore, is more of a rewind back to show how she got to the point where we find her as the book begins. Eliana’s narrative, on the other hand, moves more straightforward in that we simply follow her to find out where she fits into the prophecy and to where her story ultimately intersects with Rielle’s.
Out of the two main characters, I’d have to say that Eliana was probably my favorite. As I’ve already mentioned she’s incredibly independent and strong. What I found most interesting about her, however, is that she also falls into the morally gray category. When the Empire came in and conquered her kingdom, Eliana began working for them as a bounty hunter. She’ll slit a Rebel’s throat in a heartbeat if there’s money involved, thus earning herself the nickname “The Dread of Orline.” Although many of her actions are morally questionable, her heart, however, is in the right place because she’s desperate to have enough money to take care of her mother and brother. Eliana could be arrogant and obnoxious at times, but I still ultimately liked her because of that big heart of hers.
Even though I didn’t like her quite as much as I liked Eliana, Rielle was also a pretty likable character. What I liked about Rielle was that she fit so well into that underdog category that I’m always such a big fan of. Rielle lives in a time where most individuals possess some magic and wield control over one of the natural elements. During a horse race, Rielle’s best friend finds himself in mortal danger and when Rielle jumps in to try to save him, she accidentally reveals that not only does she too possess magic, but she wields control over more than the usual one element. In trying to save her friend, she has used her magic recklessly and wreaked so much havoc that everyone in the kingdom is terrified of her. Whispers about the prophecy and that she might be one of the Queens immediately begin. Rielle is brought before the King where he informs her that she must face seven potentially deadly elemental trials. She will either successfully complete each of these trials, thus proving that she is one of the two prophesied Queens or else she will not succeed and she will die. No pressure there, right? I just really admired the way she faced each challenge head-on, almost defiant, at times.
I was also quite intrigued by the world building in Furyborn. This fantasy world and its magical system were quite fascinating, especially the Empirum and how Rielle was able to manipulate it, but I still would have liked a little more detail about pretty much everything. Some parts of it were a little confusing, especially the angels, who were apparently bad and banished. I’m hoping a second book will shed more light on some of the fantasy elements in the series.
The main reason I didn’t rate this higher even though I quite enjoyed the story overall was that it honestly felt like two separate books where I was reading a chapter from one and then a chapter from the other. I would have liked to see more connective threads between them throughout to remind me that the two stories would eventually interconnect.
A second issue I had, and this is probably one of those ‘It’s me, not the book’ scenarios, but Rielle’s storyline started to wear thin on me after a while. Those trials, while initially exciting, started to feel somewhat tedious. I can, admittedly, have the attention span of a gnat, but after the first couple of trials, I kept hoping that something would happen so that we didn’t have to go through all seven of them or that the author would simply gloss over the details rather than give us a play-by-play of everything that happened. I also thought too much emphasis was placed on her costumes, each of which were custom made to match the element of the trial she was about to engage in. It reminded me of the scenes from The Hunger Games when Katniss was dressed up as the Girl on Fire. Since I didn’t particularly care for those scenes in The Hunger Games, it was a little ugh going through similar scenes in Furyborn.
One other area that didn’t set well with me was a scene early on where Rielle, clearly not in control of her magic, cruelly kills an animal. I understood what the author was trying to show in this scene, but it was just very graphic and upsetting.
While it’s not a perfect read, it’s still highly entertaining overall and I do think that Furyborn is a solid beginning to what is sure to be a great new fantasy series.
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Follows two fiercely independent young women, centuries apart, who hold the power to save their world…or doom it.
When assassins ambush her best friend, the crown prince, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing her ability to perform all seven kinds of elemental magic. The only people who should possess this extraordinary power are a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light and salvation and a queen of blood and destruction. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven trials to test her magic. If she fails, she will be executed…unless the trials kill her first.
A thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a mere fairy tale to bounty hunter Eliana Ferracora. When the Undying Empire conquered her kingdom, she embraced violence to keep her family alive. Now, she believes herself untouchable–until her mother vanishes without a trace, along with countless other women in their city. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain on a dangerous mission and discovers that the evil at the heart of the empire is more terrible than she ever imagined.
As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world–and of each other.
About Claire Legrand
Claire Legrand used to be a musician until she realized she couldn’t stop thinking about the stories in her head. Now she is a librarian and New York Times bestselling author living in central New Jersey (although her heart will always live in her home state of Texas).
Her first novel is The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, one of the New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing in 2012. She is also the author of The Year of Shadows, a ghost story for middle grade readers; and Winterspell, a young adult re-telling of The Nutcracker. Some Kind of Happiness, her middle grade novel about mental illness, family secrets, and the power of storytelling, is a 2017 Edgar Award Nominee. Claire’s latest novel, Foxheart, is a classic fantasy-adventure and a 2016 Junior Library Guild selection. She is one of the four authors behind The Cabinet of Curiosities, an anthology of dark middle grade short fiction that was a Junior Library Guild selection, a Bank Street Best Book, and among the New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing in 2014.
Her latest novel, Furyborn, debuted at #4 on the New York Times bestseller list, and is the first book in the Empirium Trilogy, a young adult epic fantasy series. Her next book, Sawkill Girls, is a queer young adult horror novel and will release on October 2nd, 2018.
Her work is represented by Victoria Marini of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency.