You've probably at least heard of Sherlock Holmes, world renowned detective. Staying at 221b Baker Street from 1880 to 1904, he solved many a case and was heralded as one of the greats. However, wouldn't it have been fun to see how the plot would've turned out if it was set in the modern era? That is the question that Ridley Pearson aims to answer in the first book of the Lock and Key trilogy.
Our narrator for this story is Moria Moriarty, James Moriarty's sister. It starts after they're sent off to Baskerville Academy, where James meets a roommate he deems 'insufferable'; Sherlock Holmes. Already in a bad mood, James' day gets worse as the principal announces that the school Bible has been stolen, landing everyone in study hall. However, James and Sherlock believe that the Bible was intentionally misplaced for James to find. A number of notes in their room and an attack from a stranger only seek to confirm this. The book follows the two as they take separate paths in the hopes of finding the Bible, which seems to be the link between James and the initiation into a club of secret alumni.
Sounds great, doesn't it? The plot sounds great, the potential is there, but the execution fails. Don't get me wrong, it's still a good read, but I can't help but feel that Ridley Pearson's writing in this fails to deliver to the expectations. While this would have been a good novel without the context, the landmarks that were Sherlock Holmes and his arch-rival, James Moriarty, were crafted by Sir Conan Doyle in such a way that it always felt like they were a cut above the rest. Here, they're depicted as teenagers who have a slightly higher amount of intelligence. That same craftiness just isn't there.
This book does show the 'awkward social' aspect of Sherlock's character a bit better, as it shows his general indifference to the vast majority of the population and only opening himself up to a chosen few. That, to me, still carries the original character's spirit.
In conclusion, Lock and Key: The Downward Spiral is a nice book to read if you want a depiction of a modern Young Sherlock without the clichés of the genre. It falls flat in some areas, but has a fairly constant plot that moves forward in a cinematic fashion.
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