A Slight Trick Of The Mind by Mitch Cullin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Modestly unassuming in scope, this work really takes us to another place. An aging Sherlock Holmes must come to terms with his age, and his cosmic loneliness. In being able to reason everything, the logic and observations that helped him in his younger detective work, made him famous. Over the years, tons of people have come to him, wanting investigations, explanations… but he is retired.
Yet now, in his old age, with his fraying faculties, and in the twilight of his memory, he faces his last questions… (after all those he knew, including Dr. Watson have died and gone) in most human of conditions — needing to explain death (accidental or suicide)… and in the process learning about himself and his own lonely life.
This is a basic redemption story, about a man who lives his life by rationality and order despite the arbitrary nature of the universe and all that happens to each of us mortals… needing to come back to terms with something beyond rationality.
It’s not as flashy a story as many, but I heartily recommend it to someone wanting a quiet contemplation.
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