The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel: Booktrack Edition

By: Anthony Horowitz

Narrated by: Derek Jacobi

Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel: Booktrack Edition adds an immersive musical soundtrack to your audiobook listening experience!* 

"Horowitz truly pulls off the wonderful illusion that Arthur Conan Doyle left us one last tale." (San Diego Union Tribune)

London, 1890. 221B Baker St. A fine-art dealer named Edmund Carstairs visits Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson to beg for their help. He is being menaced by a strange man in a flat cap - a wanted criminal who seems to have followed him all the way from America. In the days that follow, his home is robbed, his family is threatened. And then the first murder takes place.

The House of Silk brings Sherlock Holmes back with all the nuance, pacing, and almost superhuman powers of analysis and deduction that made him the world's greatest detective, in a case depicting events too shocking, too monstrous to ever appear in audio....until now.  

*Booktrack is an immersive format that pairs traditional audiobook narration to complementary music. The tempo and rhythm of the score are in perfect harmony with the action and characters throughout the audiobook. Gently playing in the background, the music never overpowers or distracts from the narration, so listeners can enjoy every minute. When you purchase this Booktrack edition, you receive the exact narration as the traditional audiobook available, with the addition of music throughout.

©2011 Anthony Horowitz (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Horowitz truly pulls off the wonderful illusion that Arthur Conan Doyle left us one last tale.... Close your eyes and you can smell the shag tobacco of Holmes' church warded pipe as he sorts through the evidence." (San Diego Union Tribune)

"Nicely captures the storytelling tone of Holmes' inventor in a galloping adventure that boasts enough twists, ominous turns and urgent nocturnal escapades to make modern moviemakers salivate.... Author Horowitz delivers some dramatic tableaux in these pages, including a railway robbery, a prison escape and a horse-drawn carriage chase...the Holmes we see here is just as cryptic and clever as we've come to expect." (Kirkus Reviews)

"The hype surrounding what's being billed as the first pastiche ever officially approved by the Conan Doyle estate is amply justified...authentic. Horowitz gets everything right - the familiar narrative voice, brilliant deductions, a very active role for Watson, and a perplexing and disturbing series of puzzles to unravel - and the legion of fans of the originals will surely be begging for Horowitz to again dip into Watson's trove of untold tales." (Publishers Weekly (starred review))

no more music in background

I have the house of silk without the sound track and with the sound track. I will never buy a book with a music sound in the background. When I first noticed it I kept looking around to see who was trying to annoy me. Could not find the culprit. when I finally it was on the sound track I quit listening and loaded the one without music and am enjoying it again. g r ziegler

Music?

I thought the music would throw off the story but I was wrong,truly great read!

Helping Sir Derek?

Take a great story with a great character. Hire a FANTASTIC actor. Now you simply need...

Music in the background THROUGHOUT the book?!? I eventually tuned it out but this was a terrible production. Three stars carried solely by Jacobi. One star for the plinky mood music.

Music 👎🏽

The background music is so loud, I have a hard time hearing the narrative and dialogue. Could not finish the book.

hated the constant music...

struggled to listen because of the music. Very distracting and unnecessary...ugh. otherwise a good book

Background music -why?

The background music is loud, resdundant and a little annoying, making it very hard to hear and understand the narrative.
The story might be good but this recorded version is just bad.

Buy the version without the cheap background music

I’m only one chapter in and am returning the book because inspire of the well-written (so far) story, and Sir Derek’s exemplary narrating, this version has really terrible background music that sounds like cheap stock audio. It’s really grating on the nerves and makes the entire experience cheap. Audible has the same unabridged title narrated by Sir Derek. Buy that instead.

Nice Sherlock Holmes story

Very much in the Conan Doyle tradition except the story is a little more evil than the originL Holmes books. While I had no problems with the reader, who dis N excellent job, the background music and sound effects were horrendous. What were the publishers thinking? In addition to being absolutely unnecessary, the quality of the sound track was lamentable. It was so bad, I almost stopped listening in Chapter 1.

The book would benefit IMMENSELY by deleting the background cacophony.

A tribute to Conan Doyle

A wonderful story that was well written. The music sometimes interfered with the enjoyment of the book.

What a waste!

I can’t tell you whether or not the book was good. The horrible and completely unnecessary music that played throughout the book was a complete distraction and when I realized it was going to play throughout the book I had to stop. I am very angry that I wasted money on this.

AWFUL background music

The inestimable Derek Jacobi narrating what promised to be an entertaining Holmesian tale. But RUINED by totally unnecessary, distracting, irritating background music of a 'plinkety-plonk' style better suited to a pantomime.
I an't take it any more, I'm going to return it. What a disappointment.

Why the horrible background music?

I was excited to listen to this book but the mind-bogglingly awful and constantly present background music has made this impossible
Is it possible to block it?

Terrible production ruins a great book

This great book was rendered unlistenable by the tinkling music throughout. A total waste of money

Background music ruins this story

No disrespect to Derek Jacobi; his performance is superb. Whoever thought that some background music would add atmosphere should have been taken out and shot. The music is irritating and intrusive.

Stop the background music

Why have intrusive background music? Unlistenable, I should taken notice of the other bad reviews.
Audible should feed back to the publisher how bad this is.

Lose the Soundtrack!!

Great plot, brilliant performance by Jacobi. Loved it - EXCEPT for that darn music constantly in the background throughout the book. It was so irritating I would not have stuck it out except for the author and reader. It’s the equivalent of a laugh track on TV. Mega, mega annoying.

horrible backing music

great narrator in Jacobi but for some unfathomable reason it is plagued by the most awful backing music - plinking and jangling behind the narration makes it unlistenable...Will be asking for a refund

Awful Music in background

Wonderful Derek Jacobi ruined by dreadful background music..I returned this book..could not bear it!..big shame..please release again without music.

Bloody background music!!

What moron thought it a great idea to have music running in the background alongside the narration. Abandoned after half of chapter one.

Please lose the constant music!

Enjoyable and multi-layered story. Jacobi narrates a great Watson - although I’m not sure he gave Holmes the haughtiness required? But… there is constant music which is played throughout the narration- doesn’t stop from beginning to end! I found it really irritating and distracting- and just unnecessary!