The Martian Menace (The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) (2020) by Eric Brown.
GoodReads meta-data is 352 pages, rated 3.72 by 75 litizens.
Genre: Holmes; Sub-species: SciFi.
DNA: Brit.
Tagline: They’re Back!
Verdict: Capital!
The Martians — remember them? — are back: this time speaking softly. After their failed invasion, a decade later the Martians have returned, this time ‘They came in peace.’ A small mission lands in England and offers cooperation. Access to their advanced technology sweetens the rapprochement. With this exercise of soft power the Martians soon have an hegemony which extends around the world. All this seems too good to be true,…because it is.
Even in the first days of the reconciliation, there were humans who opposed it, and in time there are intimations that they were right. A leader of this underground surreptitiously contacts Dr Watson as a conduit to Holmes. It seems the Martians are playing a long and deep game that will end in the conquest and destruction of humanity. Yikes!
The underground has purloined intel from the Martian embassy and has enough evidence to convince Holmes to act and act he does.
What follows is quite a ride, involving androids, interplanetary escapades, Martian treks, jail breaks, and – wait for it! – Professor Moriarty! Holy neutrons!
It is great fun to read. The more so for those who need a Holmes-fix.
