Jekyll y Hyde en femenino

¿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. 

Website -  Facebook - Twitter - Pinterest 

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 …

Amazon - Barnes and Noble

Thank you to the awesome tour organizer!

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.