A study in Scarlet and the Sign of the four

Although Sir Arthur Conan Doyle doesn’t need a review about his works but still…Here I am reviewing his first work ever where the character of Sherlock Holmes appeared! Let’s go:

Title/titre: A study in Scarlet and the sign of the four

Collection: Wordsworth Classics

Author/Auteur: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Editor/edition: Wordsworth editions

Published in /publié en : 2004

Number of pages/Nombre de pages: 204

Price/Prix : 400DA (3€)

First of all, the book is in English in case you didn’t figure it out by yourselves! It is written in a very classical English that we don’t use much anymore and that’s why I found the reading a bit difficult in the beginning. It took me 2 years to read the book; not that is was that difficult, but the beginning didn’t really “catch” me and so I moved to other books. At the end of the journey I can tell that I enjoyed every line and that it is totally worth scratching your head a bit and being patient if you get a little bored in the first 30 pages…

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Story 1: A STUDY IN SCARLET (from page 04 until 106)

It is the first story where Sherlock Holmes appears and I found it really interesting how the character is so ALIVE! I have read other books of the adventures of Holmes in French and I must admit that it is really different. I am obviously not going to spoil the story, but in this one you get to know how Sherlock and Watson found each other and became partners, the story is a little bit confusing because at a certain moment the author narrates the story of someone else, and I just found it fascinating how he created a story into another one!  The events are quite intriguing.

Story 2: THE SIGN OF THE FOUR (107-204)

This one is definitely different from the first one, we have more action and suspense and we start to know a bit more about the techniques of the detective and his means to uncover the truth. What I like most about this story is the appearance of the sweet love of Watson (sorry for the spoil).

Overall I recommend all the books made by Doyle but if you ever come across this one GO AHEAD!