Rodolfo MartinezBesprekingen

Sherlock Holmes y Aleister Crowley cruzaron sus caminos brevemente por primera vez en 1895, durante el caso de la Sabiduria de los muertos. Ahora, el mejor detective del mundo debe impedir que el hombre mas perverso de su epoca lleve a cabo sus temibles planes. Lo que Sherlock Holmes ignora es que el precio que debera pagar por ello es, tal vez, demasiado alto.

Remiel, propietario de un bar, es el principal sospechoso de haber iniciado un tiroteo que se ha saldado con cuatro muertos. Sin embargo, durante la rueda de reconocimiento, nadie parece capaz de identificarlo. Poco después, un grupo de guerreros japoneses disfrazados de ejecutivos ataca su local. Además, Remiel se siente perseguido por una agente del Mossad y por una orden secreta de sacerdotes católicos. El protagonista debe evitar a sus enemigos y convencer a Paula, la policía encargada del caso, de su inocencia para que le ayude en una lucha en la que está en juego el futuro de la humanidad.

La detective Viola Mercante, Uve para los amigos, ha recibido un encargo extraño: debe investigar a una secta religiosa de origen estadounidense que parece estar detrás de la aparente tranquilidad que se vive en un barrio pobre de las afueras de su ciudad.

Criativo, brilhante e detalhada recriação victoriana de 3 histórias de Sherlock Holmes inferindo que foram encontradas numa caixa e traduzidas. A criação por este escritor do universo de Holmes com um cariz fantástico é muito interessante e tem tanta qualidade quanto a obra de Conan Doyle, que é colocado no livro como editor dos textos de Watson. Tudo é revestido de um ambiente curioso explorando a relação de Watson como biógrafo e Doyle como mero editor. Vale a pena ler.

Un muy buen relato de fantasía, con un personaje antiheroico que por momentos es casi omnipotente y por momentos demuestra debilidades asombrosas.

Novela de intriga que fue "premio minotauro" en 2005 (MAR sic)

I am only giving this 3 stars because I think something was lost in the translation from the original Spanish, but this story stays with you in a vague, disturbing way. Part spy novel, part thriller, with lots of alien worldbuilding that is both familiar, and unreal. The main character is utterly despiccable and unsympathetic, and yet you are drawn to him, rooting for him to complete his mission, even as you ask yourself why. Although the protagonist uses invisible parasites called 'messengers' to meld people to his will, what Martinez has done is lead his reader down into the mind of a remorseless psychopath, and the women (and men) who seem helpless to do anything but fall under his spell, and made him real.

The first four chapters were rather slow and hard to grasp. Like Tolkein, if you slog through the first four chapters, the story is well worth the reading. If you happen to read Spanish, I suggest you read this story in the original langauge as the translation caused a subtle barrier to appear between author and reader at times that I'm certain doesn't exist in the original. I would say this story rises above the level of mere science fiction/fantasy to the level of literary fiction, so subtle and insidious is the web Martinez weaves. I think I am like the character Yosinda ... I hate that I liked it.

This a collection of three stories, pretending to be new, unpublished adventures of Sherlock Holmes, that never saw the light of day because of their uncanniness. The author proposes that these have been written by John Watson, M.D. (not Arthur Conan Doyle – but there is an explanation for that), and that his job as been merely of translating the texts found on box in an antique shop in Soho.

The first story, and longest, gives the title to the book. It's “Sherlock Holmes meets Lovecraft”. And Lovecraft does make an appearance in the story, although it's not H.P. Lovecraft, but his father. But it's safe to say that what made Lovecraft Lovecraft is hinted at this story.

It was a nice, long story, that kept me on my toes while reading. Of course there where things that irked me, I kind of wished it was less Lovecraftian and more Holmesian, in the sense that I prefered a better, more satisfying ending to the story. Still, it was worth reading and it's always fun to see Sherlock Holmes on different situations.

The second story [Desde a terra mais além do bosque – From the land a bit further from the woods], my favourite, can be best defined as Sherlock Holmes meets Dracula. And how cool is that? We have, side by side, Sherlock Holmes and Van Helsing investigating and fighting vampire things.

Maybe because I have read Dracula and liked (whereas with Lovecraft my knowledge is limited) I liked this one more. I felt there was more purpose to it, and the fact that is written by two points of view, of John Watson and of John Seward, certainly helped a lot.

A Aventura do assassino fingido – The Adventure of the fake assassin
This third story is the most normal one – nothing really paranormal about it. A simple mystery, in which Holmes keeps his distance, as he has retired from his investigating pursuits. It falls on Watson to find who the culprit is, with the sole help of Sherlock letters.

This one was ordinary. That's the best world I can find to describe it. Nothing paranormal, nothing mindblowing. Just a regular Holmes-kind-of-story.

Overall it was a nice book, it makes me wish I read more of Sherlock Holmes and H.P. Lovecraft. While I was reading I had some trouble in believing that John Watson could have written these stories. Not because he is a fictional character, but because it showed that the author of this story didn't have English as native language. Part of these objections where put to rest on the Translator's Note at the end of the book, but still I am unconvinced (especially having spend the entire book with those objections).

Also at Spoilers and Nuts