His target was Holmes, and only Holmes-

The monster craved to snuff out my friend's life. Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson embark on a voyage to an African island, to the city of New London-a meticulous copy of the British London they know so well. Instead of chilly fogs, oppressive tropical heat, and by night leopard and hyena prowl its elegant boulevards. New London, supposedly a shining jewel of metropolitan splendor, has an unofficial, but decidedly sinister name: Damnation. This is a voyage to hell.

Holmes is to lecture the New London police on scientific methods of criminal detection. But the great detective's priorities dramatically change when New London's governor suddenly vanishes, threatening to plunge the city into violent anarchy. Worse is to come: a sinister figure from Holmes' past conspires to wreak a terrible vengeance. Holmes and Watson are the best of friends, but their relationship will be tested to destruction by the horrific effects of the Lucifer Vine, a plant that inflicts madness, shatters once-unassailable alliances, and transmutes friendship into hatred. In this adventure, laced with violence, terror, and occult weaponry, Holmes and Watson fight for their sanity, their lives, and their golden bond of brotherhood.