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))

Enthralling

Have always found Holmes’ stories rather flat. This however, as per all of this author’s works is superb with so many twists and turns and sub plots all brought to life by Dereck Jacobi’s superb performance. I couldn’t get out of the car sometimes, so involved did I become! I will now miss this ‘companion’ and hope I can find another equally enthralling to enjoy.

Ahhh, great resurrection

This Dr. Watson was perfect. He was modest but intelligent with a true affection for his friend.

Fantastic

Love the story, the narrator, and the music in the background. What a mystery novel!

Two mysteries neatly tied together

Love Derek Jacobi's narration. Background music became annoying as story progressed. Story was well structured.

Great Listen!

I listen to many books each month and have lately become hard to impress. I rarely rate them anymore. Most are simply "ok". But The House of Silk was exceptional. I enjoy Sherlock Holmes, especially the vintage as well as some of the newer stories. This one is definitely worth your time.

Please make the music go away

Interesting multilayered story but less in the mind of Holmes than ACD’s writing. It moved a bit slowly; melodrama overshadowed suspense of story. Background music detracted from experience.

Superb performance!

I think it is a pity that some readers gave the performance one star because of the music. Sir Derek Jacobi is simply the best narrator of all times. He brought all the characters to life. I give this book a 5-star performance! On the other hand, the story is a bit convoluted and dragged out.

hated the constant music...

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

The Addition of Music

I found the music very distracting and felt it impacted quite negatively on the narration.

loud music

The background music was too loud at times- it was hard to hear the dialogue. Overall story ok, tried to tell a classic Sherlock Holmes story, a lot of background "fact dropping" to prove the author had read the originals.