Do I feel a bit ashamed that I wanted there to be a true love interest? Yes, yes I do. Was it really hard to read about child murder? Yes, yes it was. I had to mentally check out for the especially graphic bits, but was overall pretty impressed with the Sherlock-ian story and was surprised with the level of psychological analysis present even when it was written in the 90‰ЫЄs.
Also John is a waste of space in this book. He needed more to do as a main character. There was a Nick vibe from the Great Gatsby.