So I have a little bit of mixed feelings on this book. There was a lot I liked. I loved that Janet Watson was a capable educated disabled veteran who also was a queer Black woman. I liked that Sara Holmes was also a supremely intelligent queer Black woman. I was intrigued by the slightly dystopian setting of post-Trump USA during a new Civil War. 🔍 I'm not one for political thrillers but the fact that this dealt so much with veterans and the VA Medical Center features so prominently in the book I could relate to it. Both my parents are veterans and worked for the VA for 20+ years not to mention I'm at the VA multiple times a week since my mom has all her appointments and dialysis there. So the scenes and interactions with the VA and the personel were pretty accurate in my experience. 🔍 The pacing seemed a bit off for me and it felt a little awkward to have a Sherlock reimaginging where Holmes was secondary and Watson was the focus. (But then again i havent read the orignals so...) Also I didn't realize until I was almost halfway thru the book that although Claire O'Dell is queer she is not a POC. I had to work through my feelings on a novel with 2 Black women protagonists and most characters being POC being written by a white woman. I can say that I feel like O'Dell handled it well and there were no glaring "Men writing women character-esqe" moments. The ending was a little anticlimactic but I will be checking out The Hound of Justice because I'm curious to as how Janet Watson develops as a character. 🔍 3.5/5 #AStudyInHonor #BookReview #BookRiotReadHarder2022 #PolitcalThiller #HolmesWatsonReImagining #QueerAuthors #SFF #LibbyApp #audiobook #Veterans #disabledheroine #VAMedicalCenter #DiverseBookstagrammersRead #Booknerd #Nerdymamabooks #Bookstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc9TwKlrX81/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
