New & Current Releases
Archives: A-Z By Title
Archives: A-Z By Author
Advanced Search

All-Time High Scores
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Books In Our Forums

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed books.

A Slight Trick Of The Mind
A Novel
by Mitch Cullin


8.0

based on 13 reviews
read critic reviews
how did we calculate this?

based on 4 votes
read user comments
rate this book

Compare prices at pricegrabber.com

Buy it at powells.com

Buy it at amazon.com

Buy it at amazon.co.uk

Official Author Site

Cullin's novel follows the adventures (or lack thereof) of a retired, 93-year-old Sherlock Holmes, living in a farmhouse in post-WWII Sussex.

Nan A. Talese, 272 pages
04/19/2005
$23.95

ISBN: 0385513283

Fiction
General Literature & Fiction

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

Publishers Weekly

Cullin has produced an ambitious, beautifully written novel that examines an enfeebled but still intellectually curious Holmes as he copes with the indignities of old age.

Chicago Tribune Dick Adler

Conan Doyle used to complain, perhaps with some degree of jealousy, that most people believed Holmes was a real person and he was only the stenographer. Cullin, a gifted poet and novelist, takes that confusion and turns it into the highest level of art. [1 May 2005]

Christian Science Monitor Yvonne Zipp

Not so much a mystery as a deftly woven character sketch, Cullin's tale creates a Holmes who remains recognizable, but who's become more wistful and human as a result of the damage done by world wars and the passing of decades.

Los Angeles Times Leslie S. Klinger

Cullin's compassionate work happily reveals the detective to be a man after all. In short, while the book wears the garb of another Holmes adventure, Cullin's tale is a wise and touching examination of the human condition. [17 Apr 2005, p.R11]

Salon Laura Miller

Proceeds in a circling, unchronological manner that would have driven its subject mad with impatience, but so be it. Most of us are not cold, precise or impervious to the softer passions Cullin evokes so stealthily and to such final, piercing effect.

The New York Times Book Review Dan Chiasson

Cullin is an unusually sophisticated theorist of human nature, and this book is first and foremost an analysis of Holmes -- both as a fictional character and as an embodiment of the human drive to make fictions.

Washington Post Carolyn See

This is a lovely, tenderhearted book, full of reserve, good manners, elegance of feeling. It's what a novel should be. Y

Booklist Stephanie Zvirin

Under Cullin's sure hand, the vibrant, assured detective we know gives way to a man who looks back with regret at missed opportunities in a manner that makes the larger-than-life figure surprisingly human. [1 Feb 2005, p.945]

Kirkus Reviews

The meat of the story is Cullin's searching characterization of this ultimate rationalist perturbed and disoriented by decades of political, social and climatic change; unmanned by his lingering survival into a world grown so complex he can no longer do what he had hitherto done to perfection: observed and made sense of things. This extra layer of realistic complexity makes Cullin's immensely moving seventh outing one of the best of all the Holmes pastiches.

Library Journal Laurel Bliss

Cullin skillfully blends three distinct story lines and time periods while offering a fresh perspective on the Holmes legend. [15 Apr 2005, p.74]

San Francisco Chronicle Alexandra Yurkovsky

Taken as a whole, the novel lacks the tautness of a Conan Doyle mystery, and, deprived of a mystery around which to work, Sherlock Holmes is rendered even less real.

Entertainment Weekly Mark Harris

Cullin's imaginative leap beats Carr's constrictedly faithful homage ["The Italian Secretary"].

Houston Chronicle Nora Seton

Cullin's imagery is remarkably rich but unable to keep lively the three plot threads as they slice and dice one another.

The average user rating for this book is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Janet E gave it a10:
Simply wonderful reimagining and revisionist look at The Great Detective. One need not be a Holmes fan to enjoy this book, as it stands on its own literary feet. However, as a Holmes purist, I can admit Mr. Cullin did a fine job of staying in tune with the Canon while also expounding on the possible end life of Doyle's creation. Excellent reading and highly recommended!

Mike N gave it a9:
Beautifully written, thoughtful book about aging, memory, and missed opportunities. Cullin does a wonderful job at making Sherlock Holmes a man instead of a mythic fictional character, and the story is just downright great literature.

Tom D gave it a6:
A change from the tired Holmsian "pastiche" genre. Cullin examines the mysteries for which the ninety-three year old Holmes finds he "has no clue." Where resides the value of memory, lies, fiction, and truth? An interesting, but ultimately superficial entertainment.

Discuss this book in our forums

Return to top of page

A Slight Trick Of The Mind A Novel by Mitch Cullin

A Slight Trick Of The Mind
A Novel
by Mitch Cullin