Book Review: Sherlock Holmes and the Needle's Eye

Sherlock Holmea and the Needle's Eye
By Len Bailey
Thomas Nelson, 2013
English, 336 pgs

Description:
Embark on a journey through the Old and New Testament with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson as they explore exotic and spice-laden places in search of clues.

The detective and the doctor travel back in time with the help of a Moriarty-designed time machine to investigate ten Bible destinations, unlocking clues to ten Bible mysteries. The most fascinating crime cases are those that are already solved, those that have been investigated by the police and brought to a swift, satisfying, and almost inevitable conclusion. So it is with Bible stories which the reader may consider familiar and unremarkable. But under close scrutiny these stories give up their hidden clues, their long kept secrets. Like a jewel newly polished, they sparkle and shine with a fresh, introspective light.

Review:
This book can be read as either a novel (starting at the first page) or as a Bible Study (starting with questions in the back, then reading the chapter). Either way, it's really interesting!

Holmes travels back in time to answer 10 questions from the Bible. Things like: Why did Ahithophel hang himself? What did Jesus write in the sand:? What did Luke mean when he said Satan left Jesus for a more opportune time?

The questions are well researched and I learned a lot of new things. After each chapter (I chose to do the questions first) I sat the book down and told my husband "this is so cool!"

There were a couple of places where I thought the story was a bit laborious and it was a little annoying to figure out if they were "spectators" or "visible" in each story line. It was tedious to hear Holmes' non-faith view, but interesting to see that Watson was written with Biblical faith. I'm still not sure why Holmes bothered with Biblical mysteries if he doesn't believe in any of it. And he sure had a lot of Scripture memorized for someone without faith.

Even though it was extremely far fetched and at times maddening (isn't that just like Holmes...), I liked this book a lot and had a lot of fun reading it.

I received a copy of the book from BookSneeze in exchange for a review. No additional compensation has been received and I was not required to write a positive review.