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The Final Solution

A Story of Detection

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Retired to the English countryside, an eighty-nine-year-old man, rumored to be a once-famous detective, is more concerned with his beekeeping than with his fellow man. Into his life wanders Linus Steinman, nine years old and mute, who has escaped from Nazi Germany with his sole companion: an African gray parrot.

What is the meaning of the mysterious strings of German numbers the bird spews out—a top-secret SS code? The keys to a series of Swiss bank accounts? Or do they hold a significance both more prosaic and far more sinister?

Though the solution may be beyond even the reach of the once-famous sleuth, the true story of the boy and his parrot is subtly revealed in a wrenching resolution.

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    • AudioFile Magazine
      While Chabon's novel of suspense is relatively short and Michael York delivers a stellar performance, it's a challenge to the listener. The work does not translate well to audio. Chabon is a master of complexity, both in the stories he crafts and the style in which he writes. Although these distinctions work well in print, in audio the listener does not have the luxury of being able to turn back pages frequently to re-read complicated sentences. The result is an anomaly. Michael York could not be better, and his style and tone fit well into a mystery based in the English countryside. But York's strengths simply cannot overcome Chabon's complicated plot and narrative style, which are best enjoyed in print. D.J.S. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 1, 2004
      Initially published in the Paris Review
      in 2003, Chabon's first significant adult fiction since his Pulitzer-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
      (2000) continues his sophisticated, if here somewhat skewed, appropriation of pop artifacts—in this case one of the greatest pop artifacts of all, Sherlock Holmes. As fans of the great detective know, after retirement Holmes moved from London to Sussex, where he spent his days keeping bees. Chabon's story takes place during WWII, when Holmes is 89 and intent on bee-keeping only—until a mysterious boy wanders into town. The boy is remarkable for two reasons: he's clearly intelligent but is mute, and he keeps a parrot that mouths, among other utterances, numbers in German. When the parrot is stolen, local cops turn to Holmes, and he's intrigued enough to dust off his magnifying glass and go to work. The writing here is taut and polished, and Chabon's characters and depictions of English country life are spot on. It's notable, though, that Chabon refers to Holmes never by name but persistently as "the old man"—notable because it's difficult to discern a reason other than self-conscious artistry not to name Holmes; the scenes in the novel that grip the strongest are those that feature Holmes, and more credit is due to Conan Doyle than to Chabon for that. Neither a proper mystery nor particularly fine literature, this haunting novella, for all its strengths, lies uneasily between the two and will fully please few fans of each.

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  • English

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