The List of 7

By Mark Frost

Christmas Day, 1884: A letter is slid under the door of a struggling young doctor and aspiring novelist, begging him to come to the aid of a mysterious woman, a victim of the black spiritual arts . . .
From the foggy streets of Victorian London to the windswept moors of Yorkshire, a demonic conspiracy begins to unfold. The List of Seven, a sinister brotherhood sworn to serve the Dark Lord, has conceived a diabolical plot that threatens not only the Royal Crown, but the very fabric of modern society. 

Only two men stand in their way: the young Doctor Arthur Conan Doyle and Jack Sparks, Queen Victoria’s special agent, a man of formidable intellect and lethal skills . . . 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Sep 17, 2013
• ISBN: 9781480448735

Mark Frost

Mark Frost was co-creator, alongside David Lynch, and executive producer of the legendary ABC television series Twin Peaks. He received a Writers Guild Award and an Emmy nomination for the acclaimed television series Hill Street Blues, and in 2005 wrote and produced The Greatest Game Ever Played as a major motion picture from Walt Disney Studios. He is the bestselling author of The Greatest Game Ever Played, The Grand Slam, and the novels The Second Objective, The List of Seven, and The Six Messiahs. Mark lives in Los Angeles and upstate New York with his wife and son.

Reviews for The List of 7

[mel3l3co0l3j · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

ah, i truly tried to love this book, but a third of the way in, i gave up the ghost; life is too short and there are too many books awaiting my eager neurons to squander them on ho-hums. however, as many enders of burgeoning relationships say, "it's not you --- it's me."i'm not a mystery buff, nor am i a fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. if you are, you must grab this book immediately -- it presents a lovely romp of an alternate history of Doyle's young years, before he began writing about a certain Sherlock Holmes. Frost writes Doyle brilliantly, and mystery buffs will be delighted. if you are not a fan of Doyle, you'll probably still love this book if you're into fantasy, magic realism, the supernatural, murder, incredible conspiracy cover-ups, zombies, London weather and mood, and fast-paced hi-jinks. for me, the book never really got dark or believable enough, and not being a Doyle fan, i quickly tired of his wild, far-fetched "deductions."i intend to skim through the rest of the book, simply to learn new words, and to marvel at Frost's brilliance in word play and usage. i'm glad i bought it for that alone. Frost is a brilliant ironicist, and his writing ability is triple-A. i'll check out something else by him, eventually.

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting mix of history and fiction with several guests from the world of fiction and fact.The main character is Arthur Conan Doyle who ends up embroiled in a mystery that involves occultism and a search for power.

[ragwaine · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great book but then I was pretty sure it was going to be pretty damn good just from it's reputation and the cover blurb. The writing was even better than I thought it would be. I often stopped and said out loud, "WOW, that's great!" I like the horror and fantasy elements that took it out of the straight mystery/thriller genre (the more monsters the better as far as I'm concerned).It was really too bad he had to throw a bunch of german in on the last page. It was distracting (unless you speak German) and took away from the "surprise" ending.

[wbwilburn5 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Initially I thought this would be a bit of escapism, but ended up being a story derived from classic novels. I kept reading to see what would happen but it did not hold my interest enough to make me recommend to others

[ebwinelotr · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A real treat for those who enjoy Holmsiana. Rather than the customary Holmes-Watson dynamic, this is a study in the genesis of Holmes, with Doyle and the mysterious Jack Sparks caught up in nefarious doings in the London netherworld - and not without a touch of the supernatural. Great fun!

[williemeikle-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Mark Frost is best known as the writer on Twin Peaks, and he brings a similarly twisted vision to this wonderful novel set in a slightly skewed Victorian England.

The protagonist is Arthur Conan Doyle, still a doctor, and with no inkling of his creation of the worlds greatest detective.

That's before he gets involved with a secret service agent with amazing deductive skills, a penchant for morphine, and a twisted, brilliant older brother.

This may sound like a Holmes pastiche, but Frost's imagination takes it way beyond that. We get a flight through the British Museum vaults, chased by the undead. We get a visit to Whitby abbey in the dead of night alongside an Irish writer named Bram Stoker who gets the idea of his life on the trip, and we get a glimpse of what might have happened if Victorian ingenuity had taken a slightly different turn into Zombie armies and vast, impersonal factories.

All that, and more literary references than you can shake a stick at, alongside pathos, friendship, betrayal and loss.

Frost is a fine, intelligent writer, with a unique vision, and this is his best work.