Book Review: The Diabolical Miss Hyde

Author: Viola Carr

Publication Date: February 10, 2015

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Series: Electric Empire # 1

Magic, mystery, and romance mix in this edgy retelling of the classic The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-in which Dr. Eliza Jekyll is the daughter of the infamous Henry

In an electric-powered Victorian London, Dr. Eliza Jekyll is a crime scene investigator, hunting killers with inventive new technological gadgets. Now, a new killer is splattering London with blood, drugging beautiful women and slicing off their limbs. Catching "the Chopper" could make Eliza's career--or get her burned. Because Eliza has a dark secret. A seductive second self, set free by her father's forbidden magical elixir: wild, impulsive Lizzie Hyde.

When the Royal Society sends their enforcer, the mercurial Captain Lafayette, to prove she's a sorceress, Eliza must resist the elixir with all her power. But as the Chopper case draws her into London's luminous, magical underworld, Eliza will need all the help she can get. Even if it means getting close to Lafayette, who harbors an evil curse of his own.

Even if it means risking everything and setting vengeful Lizzie free . . .

I like to stand out. I flick through my dresses, frowning. The red, the scarlet, the crimson, the ruby, the cherry, the claret, or the rose?

Prison screws, coppers, jurymen, snouts. Everyone’s for sale. And it seems His Honor is too.

And as the weak winter sun slipped below the rooflines, relinquishing her bedroom to darkness, she tilted her head and gulped her bitter elixir down.

This book was absolutely incredible! I am blown away with how much I enjoyed the writing, the characters, and even the bloody depictions of death, as this is usually not my thing. I cannot wait for more from this author and for the other books in this series to be released. I love a good Jekyll & Hyde story, and here we are given Dr. Jekyll’s daughter herself, Dr. Eliza Jekyll. And before you ask, Eliza has the same tendency, “the Hyde situation”, that her father dealt with before his death. Her alternate side being Lizzie Hyde; Lizzie is brazen, callous, and pretty much everything that Eliza is not, but this makes her all the more fun to read about! Carr does an extraordinary job of making Eliza and Lizzie two very different people, but allows readers to love and adore each of them just the same.

I am usually not of fan of these Jack the Ripper type murders, but this book seemed different from the start, so I decided to give it a try. It does become dark and gory at times, but I feel that it is never over the top. The descriptions are quite vivid but they need to be in order to fully appreciate and immerse oneself into the storyline. The characters are just as fascinating as the murder scenes. Carr writes characters that will send goosebumps down your spine, but after all there is a reason that we become so easily fascinated with Hannibal Lector types; they scare the daylights out of us. Hollywood has benefited from this tactic for years; Carr just does it in a much more suitable manner! I absolutely cannot wait for the next book in this series!

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Harper Voyager in exchange for my honest review***