THREE people die in a town due to snakebite but Young Sherlock Holmes has reasons to believe that it was the work of one snake that comes and goes without getting detected; has an ulterior motive and is part of a bigger plan. That’s Andrew Lane’s Snake Bite for you in which the master detective (when in his teens) solves a case while he is in China, that too after he is kidnapped and made to work on a ship.

Like the other four books in the Young Sherlock Holmes series, this book shows why Sherlock Holmes turned out to be the eccentric detective he became famous for. Be it learning an ancient martial art fighting technique in China, decoding secret messages or fighting off villains like never before, Sherlock does it all in Snake Bite.

There is also a strange snake that bites people and then exits the room without leaving a trace – and there is no secret passage involved! The author stays close to the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the world of the Sherlock Holmes era by being accurate and interesting at the same time. Not once does the reader get bored; not once does the reader think about putting the book down – such is the grip of the narrative.

The best thing about Snake Bite is that it doesn’t have anything to do with the previous books in the series, making it sort of a fresh start. If you haven’t read the other four — Death Cloud, Red Leech, Black Ice and Fire Storm — don’t worry, finish this book and you can get hold of the others afterwards. For the fans of ‘adult’ Sherlock Holmes, this book will be a treat as well since it gives them a chance to know about the teenage years of their favourite detective. Remember, these were the years before internet, before telephone, mobile phones and even cars! So Sherlock Holmes in China was as good as Sherlock Holmes on another planet!

As for those who have been following Young Sherlock’s adventures, this adventure doesn’t feature his usual gang — brother Mycroft, tutor Amyus Crowe, his daughter Virginia and Matty, the wandering gypsy but that doesn’t mean that Holmes was all alone in China.

He did manage to make friends in the country and his befriending people is quite central to the plot as well. There is no mention of the evil housekeeper Mrs Eglantine, but I am sure that she will be back in the next adventure. Until then!