A Book Review of a Study in Scarlet

“A Study in Scarlet” by Conan Doyle is an enjoyable book. The reason why this is so is because it is a famous detective novel about the famous detector Sherlock Holmes and I like him and detective novels very much and the story is engrossing. The story is mainly about a man who unusual but very sad experience had killed his enemies and then was traced out by Holmes. At the beginning of the book, the author, in the first person of Doctor Watson as the companion of Holmes, impressed us of the unusual character of Holmes and tells about the case of scarlet and how Holmes traced it out. Then, after the murderer was caught, he told Holmes and Watson his sad story which explained why he killed the two persons. The story concludes with a sad but satisfying ending when the murderer died in the prison of disease.
The book is set in London and America of the ending of 17th century. The author paints a clear picture of that time period. This makes it easy for me to visualize the setting of the story. Examples of the sentences that show the setting are “In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London” found on the first page. Another description “In the central portion of the great North American Continent there lies an arid and repulsive desert” found on the first page of the Second Part of this book gives us the picture of hardship. Hence, the book is set in a period very different to our own.
The main theme in the novel is to show us the talent and braveness of Holmes and the author seems to be trying to convey it. This can be seen in the following ways as Holmes used his deductive method to surprise us and Watson. The message is expressed in obvious ways. I tend to agree with the authors views because in my own experience Holmes is a brilliant and brave and I admire him.
The most charming character is of course Holmes. This is because Holmes cracked the case and has sense of good and evil. Furthermore, Watson is really a good assistant. Finally, the murder is really a unlucky and poor. I cannot help but confuse every time Holmes used his deduction method. For example, the first time he met Watson he knew Watson was once in Afghan as a medical office. Hence, showing how brilliant he is.
This author writes in a style that is complicated. The words he uses are just right. Words like deductive and unravel is new to me. The author uses interesting phrases like cut his tongue before he would own it to any third person. These phrases show how skillful Conan is. The dialogue is used in the novel is realistic. For example, at the beginning of the Chapter 3, the Lauriston Garden Mystery, Watson and Holmes are talking.
“How is the world did you deduce that?
“Deduce what?”
“Why, that he was a retired sergeant of Marines.”
“I have no time for trifles …, excuse my rudeness. You broke the thread of my thoughts; but perhaps it is as well. So you actually were not able to see that that man was a sergeant of Marines?”
This dialogue could have been a taped conversation between two people in a reading room. Hence I like the writher’s style and would like to imitate his writing techniques.
I would recommend this novel to people who enjoy reading detective stories because this book is too classical (but most of us have read it). I simply could not put the book down and eagerly look forward to reading the next novel by this author. I simply could not wait for the book to end.