¿Alguna vez os habéis imaginado qué pasaría si el Doctor
Jekyll hubiera tenido una hija? ¡Qué posibilidades! La increíble autora Viola
Carr ha tenido esa idea tan loca y brillante, a cuya lectura me he embarcado
con feliz abandono.
¡Qué novela tan fabulosa! El fruto literario moderno de
Robert Louis Stevenson se ha materializado en la doctora Eliza Jekyll, inmersa
en un Londres medio histórico y medio fantástico del siglo XIX en el que la
miseria y el crimen se codean con un clima político claustrofóbico y una
tecnología steampunk al borde del sacrilegio.
La diabólica señorita
Hyde es una historia
de investigación criminal, pero sobre todo, es la lucha interna entre dos
espíritus opuestos por conseguir la libertad y su identidad propia. Eliza sufre
de desdoblamiento de personalidad. Tiene a la señorita Hyde en su interior.
Aunque decir señorita es una broma porque es salvaje, lenguaraz y lo que más le
apetece es irse de matanza alegremente, emborracharse y perderse entre lo más
bajo de la chusma londinense.
Mientras Eliza trata de resistir la sed del elixir que libera
a su desvergonzada oculta, la cual se transforma físicamente como un licántropo
en una morenaza voluptuosa, investiga una serie de asesinatos abominables. Os
aseguro que la trama es enrevesada, abundan los misterios y los secretos y nada
es lo que parece, mucho menos el asesino. Junto al inspector Harley y el
exasperante capitán Lafayette, Eliza y Lizzy se debaten por averiguar quién
está mutilando mujeres por todo Londres y por escapar de los perseguidores que
amenazan su oscuro y diabólico secreto.
Sin duda, esta novela me ha fascinado. La prosa de la autora
es vívida, carnal y refleja cada aspecto con maestría, tanto la ambientación de
la ciudad y sus habitantes como la dicotomía psicológica de su(s)
protagonista(s) femenina(s). Incluso utiliza un lenguaje específico para
diferenciar a Lizzie, sin educación y totalmente indecente. Ambas se reparten
la investigación cuando ésta requiere la perspicacia y conocimientos
científicos de Eliza, o la desfachatez y bravuconería de Lizzie. Ambas tienen
sus fieles compañeros de fatigas, una máquina medio canina o un estilete
sediento de acción.
Hay muchos hilos en la trama que resultan interesantes y te
confunden para impedir la revelación del culpable hasta el último momento,
donde confluyen todos los personajes en un final apoteósico. Ciencia demente,
carromatos eléctricos, un reino subterráneo de delincuentes, un manicomio con
torturas aprobadas por el gobierno, una organización inquisitorial que persigue
a los científicos contrarios a la ley, son sólo unos pocos elementos de la
riquísima estructura que ha construido la autora.
Me he reído con los diálogos ingeniosos, me he emocionado con
las retorcidas atracciones amorosas que se generan con el capitán Lafayette y
con un asesino encantador llamado señor Todd. Me ha admirado la relación entre
Eliza y Lizzie, dos mujeres contrapuestas que son igualmente cautivadoras por
su inteligencia, su arrojo, su nobleza y su fiera independencia. El misterio de
los asesinatos me ha tenido en vilo hasta el final y su resolución ha estado
llena de sorpresas, acción y emociones intensas.
VIOLA CARR
Viola Carr was born in Australia, but wandered into darkest
London one foggy October evening and never found her way out. She now devours
countless history books and dictates fantastical novels by gaslight,
accompanied by classical music and the snoring of her slumbering cat. She loves
history, and pops down to London’s many historical sites whenever she gets the
chance. She likes steampunk, and thought it would be cool to investigate
wacky crimes with crazy gadgets…just so long as her heroine was the creator of
said wacky gadgets: a tinkerer, edgy, with a dash of mad scientist.
My Opinion of The Diabolical Miss Hyde
After an
engrossing first chapter, I was happily hooked. Not only is it a great start,
but it also embodies the main elements of the novel. In one sweep, we find
mystery, gory murder, British debonair, magical persecution, and inquisitorial
law enforcement. Also, let's not forget the well-adapted steampunk technology,
dark foreboding in a political atmosphere, animated dialogues and attractive
characters rich in personality.
Can you
imagine Doctor Jekyll having a daughter? And with the same ailment he had? Wow!
I call that brilliant thinking. I loved the idea as much as the top-notch
cover. Clever and vivid writing style expertly dosed with sarcastic wit brings
alive a story around Eliza Jekyll and her crazy inner alter ego.
A violent,
blood-thirsty, foul-mouthed presence at the back of her mind pushing against
the limits of her resistance to gain the upper hand, Lizzy Hyde wants her own
chance at freedom. An elixir is all that separates their minds and their
bodies, both vastly different. This split personality is the foundation of the
story and it's so well developed that I came to love both characters. They even
have distinct speech as Lizzie speaks her mind with bold and uneducated words.
There are
many things I loved about this story. For starters, the gruesome murders
Jack-the-Ripper-style that Eliza must investigate alongside Inspector Harley
and irritating captain Lafayette. I relished how intricately obscure the plot
is and what lurid, demented places it takes Eliza to find out who the culprit
is. We never suspect until the gloriously violent end when all the secrets,
mysteries and dangers coalesce. Eliza and Lizzy fight each other but in truth
there are so many more important perils. London is a den of discontent, of
political and social turmoil, where the law persecutes science and criminal
lords lurk in every filthy corner. I loved the atmosphere, half-historical,
half-fantastical, and the clever dialogues enraptured me.
And the characters!
From the women who share an existence to the bunch of men who support her commandeering
of the scene, all appealing in so many ways. Captain Lafayette, all charm and
secrets; Inspector Harley, stout and noble; criminal Mr. Todd, a Victorian
Hannibal Lecter who can steal your heart as swiftly as your life. Intriguing,
all of them and so excitingly different. The dynamics that occur between the
girls and these men are extremely entertaining, fun and cunning.
The author's
prose is rich, colourful, twisting in the raw battle that rages within Eliza
against the carnal lure of being someone else less constricted by society. I
had fun getting to know Lizzy, she's a force to be reckoned with, opinionated
and reckless. Surprisingly, Eliza is not a demure lady that pales in
comparison. She's as strong a character as her wilder self. Eliza is smart and
shrewd in a world full of ugly secrets and violent men.
Indeed, the
author weaves a darkly seductive atmosphere in a London full of black deeds,
conspiratorial denizens, murderers on the prowl and so many evil desires
craving to be unleashed. I'd love to continue reading these two women's
adventures because this case might have been painfully solved, but their
personal struggle is far from over. There are still threats that purse them and
men who love them to death. Isn't that any reader's dream?
The Diabolical Miss Hyde
By Viola Carr
464 pages
- Publisher: Harper Voyager (February 10, 2015)
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 in blood, drugging beautiful
women and slicing off their limbs. Catching The Slicer will 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 send their Enforcer, the mercurial
Captain Lafayette, to prove she’s a sorcerer, Eliza must resist the elixir with
all her power. But as the Slicer 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 …
Creo que esta novela es el principio de una trilogía impresionante, y yo voy a estar ahí, al acecho, porque no quiero perdérmela. ¿Qué os parece a vosotros, arrebatadores? :o)
Babel con dos caras.
