The Sign of The Four ~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Sign of the Four (1890), also called The Sign of Four, is the second novel featuring Sherlock Holmes written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle wrote four novels and 56 stories starring the fictional detective. The story is set in 1888. The Sign of the Four has a complex plot involving service in East India Company, India, the Indian Rebellion of 1857, a stolen treasure, and a secret pact among four convicts ("the Four" of the title) and two corrupt prison guards. It presents the detective's drug habit and humanizes him in a way that had not been done in the preceding novel, A Study in Scarlet (1887). It also introduces Doctor Watson's future wife, Mary Morstan.

Book Review:

Like I said in my review of A Study in Scarlet, I really enjoy the premise of the Sherlock Holmes stories. I am fascinated by the characters and have wanted to read the original stories for a while now. I'm glad that I read the first and I feel that this followed A Study in Scarlet nicely. 

There was a lot more character development than in the first story or so I felt. I do believe that it depicted Holmes's drug addiction in a unique way that I felt really symbolized the character well. Sherlock does not see himself as being addicted, like we see others as addicted. He sees it as a mechanism to keep his mind engaged when there is no mystery for him to follow or case for him to solve. He seems to stop using, from what I understand, when he is working a case because every part of his mind is being used for deduction and observation in order to solve the case. However, when he is using, he takes on the typical side effects of an addict. He doesn't have a different type of self control or anything like that. Its interesting to see how his mind works and how he justifies his actions. It's also interesting to see the worry from his companion, Doctor Watson. Watson worries about what the drugs do to Holmes and he worries about what could happen to Holmes while using. I feel that Watson has the same type of feelings that other people who care about addicts experience. 

Beyond Holmes's drug use, we have the case itself. The case is nothing spectacular. It has the same tone and feel to the case in A Study in Scarlet. However, I do believe that that tone is what makes the Sherlock Holmes stories so special. It was interesting and I certianly did not predict the result. I did predict many results while reading but none of them ended up being correct. I think that that is what makes reading the stories so fun. I can not wait to continue with the other stories.