Review of Rebel Fire that I promise will not have spoilers

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If you can cope with blood-thirsty, pulsing leeches and predatory, calculating reptiles and not become too grossed out, you’ll be fine.

Andrew Lane’s second installment in his ever growing Young Sherlock series is named Rebel Fire in the USA and Red Leech in the UK. It is an adventurous mystery featuring a teen Sherlock Holmes seeking to avoid a war and save his best friend, not necessarily in that order.

The action keeps on going all through the book. The action involves some names from the history books like President Abraham Lincoln, his assassin, John Wilkes Booth and Count Zeppelin, and early producer of dirigibles. These morsels of connection to fact add to the novel ‘s flavor. Most of all, Lane never seems to be dropping facts on the reader, but instead seems to honestly have an energetic passion for history. It shows in the voice he uses while writing the book.

Aside from the suspense created in large part by dastardly villains and clever cliffhangers, what really kept me reading were the life lessons that Sherlock learns along the way.

First, he learns how groups of people can become impaired and function at a baser level than individuals. Mob rule has led to some incredible tragedies especially when captivated by a clever and evil leader adept at rousing the masses.

Next, Sherlock sees that becoming an adult means letting go of selfishness. He wants to keep his mentor, Crowe, and his best girl around but argues against it to benefit the greater good.

Then, he faces the fact that danger can not be avoided. He tells his brother, Mycroft, that avoiding danger will solve nothing and only by facing it can one “become used to it.” To that, Mycroft calls him wise.

Finally, he has to kill someone who would have killed him. He learns from Crowe’s understanding words that society works because “people follow rules.” Crowe makes sure to let young Holmes know that there is still a line, and if one gets to the point “where a man’s life don’t matter, then you’ve gone too far.”

These lessons are part of becoming an adult with a conscience and they added to the humanity of this delightful depiction of young Sherlock Holmes.

There are other writers experimenting with the tales of Sherlock’s teen years, but Lane has the approval of the Doyle estate.

I skipped over the leech parts, but the book still definitely got my five magnifying glasses.

Lane, Andrew. Rebel Fire, Farrar Strauss Giroux, US Ed., New York: 2011.

“Rebel Fire,” us.macmillan.com Accessed 4/7/2026. [Artwork used for cover. Used under fair use.]