Mary Jekyll, daughter of the famous Dr. Jekyll, finds herself trying to solve the mysteries of her father’s past. Along the way, she meets the off-spring of several of literature’s most famous characters – Dr. Frankenstein, Mr. Hyde, Dr. Moreau and Dr. Rappaccini. Together with Sherlock Holmes and his trusty side kick Dr. Watson, her formidable housekeeper Mrs. Poole, and scullery maid Alice, the ladies join forces to help solve the Whitechapel murders (aka Jack the Ripper). That’s a lot to unpack in a book.
The book introduces the characters and sets up the story – each chapter is a combination of each woman’s personal history, how the five women came to meet, and their work with Mr. Holmes to solve the murders, as well as secrets of their own past – thus setting you up for continuing the story in the the subsequent novels. The narrator is one of the characters, who is trying to write about about the characters and their adventures. However, each of the characters keeps interrupting the story and interjecting her thoughts and commentary throughout, making it difficult to read, and often just annoying.
It’s sort of fan fiction because the author takes the stories and characters of several other authors and weaves them into her own story. But there seemed to be little new or interesting in her story. This entire book seemed like a 400 page introduction to her other books. If I had enjoyed the book more, I might be more inclined to follow the story. But I can see why some might like it (the author has apparently won some awards for her fantasy writing, if that is your thing). I did not especially. But I did not haaaatttteeee it either. A solid meh.
cbrbingo12 Fresh Start