Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula

The full title is "Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula: The Adventure of the Sanguinary Court." The book is well written, fully aping both Doyle's and Stoker's mannerisms and atmosphere. Some of the scenes are quite effective, but ultimately this book fails to live up to the title! Here, Sherlock Holmes, the world's greatest detective is relegated to third banana.. he is seemingly always playing catch-up to Harker, the protagonist from the Dracula novel.

Estleman is so reverent to the Dracula novel that Holmes is irrelevant and inconsequential to the story. It's similar to the trend in publishing today; just dropping in bits of horror into literary classics like Pride & Prejudice & Zombies..) The reader, along with Holmes, must make a giant leap over the supernatural hurdle ("The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply.") and the book doesn't make the jump or make it worthwhile.