Author: Daniel Levine
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: 18 March 2014
Pages: 368
Format: E-Book - PDF
Genre: Fiction - Mystery
Source: ARC via NetGalley
Mr. Hyde is hiding, trapped in Dr. Jekyll's surgical cabinet, counting the hours until capture. As four days pass, he has the chance, finally, to tell the story of his brief, marvelous life.
We join Hyde, awakened after years of dormancy, in the mind he hesitantly shares with Jekyll. We spin with dizzy confusion as the potions take effect. We tromp through the dark streets of Victorian London. We watch Jekyll's high-class life at a remove, blurred by a membrane of consciousness. We feel the horror of lost time, the helplessness of knowing we are responsible for the actions of a body not entirely our own.
Girls have gone missing. Someone has been killed. The evidence points to Mr. Hyde. Someone is framing him, terrorizing him with cryptic notes and whisper campaigns. Who can it be? Even if these crimes weren't of his choosing, can they have been by his hand?
Though this classic has been often reinvented, no one ever imagined Hyde's perspective, or that he could be heroic. Daniel Levine changes that. A mesmerizing gothic, Hyde tells the fascinating story of an underexamined villain. (Goodreads Synopsis)
Hyde is an interesting and well-written retelling of the classic tale. I loved Levine's twist of the story so that the reader can understand the events from Hyde's perspective. It is a nice mix-up that blurs the lines between good and evil, right and wrong and is a very thought-provoking piece.
The prose is very readable and the storyline moves at a good pace. The novel kept me guessing even though I knew roughly what to expect and I was always keen to pick the book up and read a few more pages before bed.
This is a great read for those who already like the Jekyll and Hyde story and for those who enjoy retellings of classic tales.
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