There are appearances by Victorian figures like Bram Stoker, Nigel Gull, and Queen Victoria, and also trains, mummies, zombies, and various other Victoriana, like seances and mediums. This is a throwback to early steampunk, not the style over substance steampunk that's so popular these days. Doyle was a little more capable than Watson is normally portrayed, a master of deduction rivaling Jack Sparks. I found Sparks' background incredibly interesting, as I did his sociopathic brother, Alexander. Sparks and Doyle prove to be an effective team. In fact, I kept imagining Benedict Cumberbatch as Jack Sparks and Martin Freeman as Doyle. It reads like Tim Powers writing an episode of Sherlock. The List of Seven is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche written by one of the co-creators of Twin Peaks, Mark Frost. But is Jack Sparks an agent of the crown or an escaped mental patient? And why does a mysterious group want Doyle dead? And who are the people on the List of Seven?Ī friend of mine started bugging me to read this in 2004. Soon, he finds himself on the run with Jack Sparks dragging him along. But if so, why? Simply because Doyle’s anti-occultist writings, never even published, have inadvertently exposed the Brotherhood’s intentions? Who is the elusive, seemingly superhuman mastermind behind the Seven? Most important, as Doyle continues to put his life in the hands of Jack Sparks, the question persists: Can Sparks be trusted?Īrthur Conan Doyle, doctor and aspiring author, witnesses black magic and murder at a seance. Skeptical by nature and profession, Doyle labors to prove that the events he has witnessed - horrifying visions, zombies, ghouls, molecular alteration - are elaborate ruses with logical explanations.

Their only clue: a list of seven names, the leaders of the Brotherhood. He tells Doyle that he has been targeted by a diabolical coven of Satanists - the Dark Brotherhood.Īs they track their attackers across the length and breadth of Britain, assailed by forces of darkness both human and supernatural, Conan Doyle and Sparks unmask a terrifying conspiracy that threatens not only the Crown but the very fabric of modern civilization.

Stunned by a shocking display of black magic, Doyle witnesses a murder, nearly falling victim himself before being rescued by a secretive stranger: Jack Sparks, a man who claims to be special agent to Queen Victoria. On Christmas Day 1884, a desperate plea from a mysterious woman leads Arthur Conan Doyle - struggling physician, aspiring writer, and part-time demystifier of the occult - to a seance in London’s East End and into a fiendish and deadly trap.

The List of Seven by Mark Frost