I finished the book and the plotline was more or less as I’d reported previously.
Not a bad book and it’s nice to see Sherlock Holmes properly resurrected.
The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz.
After reaching about 70% I’ve just read the chapter where Dr Watson is taken by a sinister man with a gun (Underwood) to meet another man in a large mansion.
This man won’t give his name but is clearly on a par with Sherlock Holmes intellectually. He says he is a mathematician. Does this not tell Watson that the man is in fact Moriarty?
Anyway Moriarty claims he doesn’t like the House of Silk (SILC?) and so is going to help Holmes. Very suspicious that.
The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz.
After reaching about 55% of the book I’ve reached the point where Holmes is up before the Magistrate in the Police Court charged with the murder of Sally Dixon.
Just before Holmes case the Magistrate had dealt with the case of two children charged with theft. He suggested they be placed in the care of one of three children’s organisations.
He named one organisation as the Society for the Improvement of London Children. Watson noted this was the same organisation that ran the Chorley Grange School for Boys. The place that Ross Dixon had run away from.
I notice that the initials for the charitable organisation are SILC!
Could this be what was really meant when Sally said “The Silk House”? Maybe she was referring to the school as “The SILC House”? Which would explain Mycroft’s dire warning to Sherlock to give up the investigation. It seems like this is a case of paedophilia in Government and high places that is possibly being investigated. Hence the apparent framing of Sherlock Holmes for murder to get him off the case. Has Holmes noticed the SILC connection as well?
My theory on the plot so far in Dan Browns book Origin.
After reaching 59% in this Audiobook I’ve come to the conclusion that ‘Winston’ the AI machine is the villain of the piece.
Edmond Kirschs’ big discovery is that man will be overtaken by AI machines and become extinct.
Winston thinks he has become God and can destroy God.
Kirsch may have realised that he had created a monster in Winston and was going to try and shut him down.
(He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. — Friedrich Nietzsche)
Winston didn’t want this to happen so set about protecting himself by setting up a fake group to assassinate Kirsch. He needed to get access to Kirschs’ discovery so he aided Langdon and Ambra Vidal to escape in order to discover and control the access to the AI server so that he, Winston, wouldn’t be shut down.
Winston could implicate the Royal Palace by using his skills to mimic other voices. Bishop Valdespino may have realised what was happening and that’s why he spirited Prince JuliĂĄn away as he feared the throne may be targeted.
The Palmarian Church is being used by ‘Winston’ to get humans to work for him without them knowing he is pulling the strings.
Maybe Ambra is working with/for ‘Winston’?
Does the label that Langdon found in the box that should have contained the book of poems by William Blake say “Beware of Winston. Don’t trust him”?
Characters.
- Robert Langdon: An American professor of symbology at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- Edmond Kirsch: A forty-year old billionaire and futurist and a former student of Robert Langdon at Harvard.
- Ambra Vidal: The director of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, fiancĂ© of Spain’s Prince Julian and an associate of Edmond Kirsch.
- Winston: Edmond Kirschâs quantum-computerAI assistant, named after Winston Churchill.
- JuliĂĄn: The prince and future king of Spain
- Bishop Antonio Valdespino: The loyal bishop to the Spanish royal family
- Rabbi Yehuda Köves: A prominent Jewish philosopher
- Syed al-Fadl: A prominent Islamic scholar
- Admiral Luis Ăvila: Ex-officer of Spanish Navy who has lost his wife and son to religious extremism
- Fonseca: Guardia Real Agent
- Rafa DĂaz: Guardia Real Agent
- Father Beña of Sagrada FamĂlia
- MĂłnica MartĂn: Public Relation Coordinator, Spanish Palace
- Agent Suresh Bhalla: Surveillance specialist, Spanish Palace
Who’d have thought it was this already?
Yes it’s September already. My how the flow of the river of time is speeding up.
Janey looking adorable.
Gulls discussing the papers.
Janey enjoying the day.
Where are my sandwiches?
Knowing where to go.
It’s great when you know exactly where you’re going.
Janey says, “It’s okay I know exactly where I’m going. I think.”
