Viola Carr: The diabolical Miss Hyde

Viola Carr tarjoilee steampunk-henkisen fantasiaromaanin, jossa tutkitaan väkivaltarikoksia ja eletään kaksoiselämää: The diabolical Miss Hyde (HarperCollins, 2015; ISBN 978-0-06-236309-1).



Teos on naisnäkökulmasta uudelleen kerrottu versio Robert Louis Stevensonin romaanista Tohtori Jekyll ja Mr. Hyde. Tyylilaji on paikoin melkoisen liioitteleva, vähempikin erikoistehostemäärä olisi riittänyt. Toisaalta kirja tuli luettua loppuun saakka, eikä ole mahdotonta etten jossain välissä etsisi lisää kirjailijan tuotantoa luettavaksi.

Forensic science, magic, mystery, and romance mix in this edgy steampunk fantasy—a retelling of the horror classic, in which Dr. Eliza Jekyll, daughter of the infamous Dr. Henry Jekyll—pursues a dangerous murderer in an alternate Victorian London.

In an electrified Victorian London, Dr. Eliza Jekyll is a crime scene investigator, hunting killers with newfangled technological gadgets. She will need every advantage available to catch a terrifying new psychopath splattering London with blood. Hidden in the grimy shadows, the fiendish murderer preys on beautiful women, drugging them before slicing off their limbs. Finding the “Slicer” can make Eliza’s career ... or unmask her darkest secret. Like her father, she has a hidden second self that emerges when she drinks his forbidden magical elixir. Just a few sips, and a seductive and impulsive Lizzie Hyde is unleashed.

The members of the Royal Society do not trust Eliza, and they send their enforcer, the mercurial Captain Lafayette, to prove she’s a dangerous sorceress. The careful doctor knows that one wrong step can make her prey to the clever Lafayette, a man who harbors an evil curse of his own. No matter how much she craves the elixir, she must resist.

But as the Slicer case draws her into London’s luminous magical underworld, Eliza will need the potion’s power to help her ... even if it might attract the attentions of Lafayette.