Detective escapism in Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s novel “The Final Problem”

The research aims to reveal the consequences of escapism and its psychological impact on the characters in Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s detective novel “The Final Problem”. The article discusses the phenomenon of “withdrawal” or “escape” from the world and analyzes the rapidly developing cognitive process through which the protagonist, Hollywood actor Ormond Basil, re-immerses himself into the persona of Sherlock Holmes – a role he has portrayed numerous times in film adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories. The scientific originality of the research lies in its classification of the subtypes of detective escapism (cinematic and literary), its exploration of character motivations for psychological immersion into the artistic and literary atmosphere of Sherlockiana, and its identification of the patterns governing Basil’s “exit” from the escapist state. Consequently, the author establishes a correlation between Basil’s creative crisis and the enticing prospect of investigating murders. Ultimately, the study of detective escapism sheds light on the mechanisms of visual perception and allows for tracing the psychological transition from narrowly focused perception (identifying physical evidence) to the internal analysis of associations.