ARC Review: Sherlock Holmes & Mr. Hyde

If you like easy, breezy reading in a specific genre that includes monster mash-ups and mysteries, then look no further than Christian Klaver and his The Classified Dossier series. Filled with characters from Victorian, gothic literature/classic horror stories, the novel is both a throw-back to old-style mysteries and a very modern style of storytelling that involves fast-paced plot, simple and yet enjoyable characters, and cultural and literary references galore. Klaver doesn’t exactly nail the originals, but that is part of the point as he tells the stories from the monsters’ perspectives and—since theirs is the truth—brings Sherlock in to exact justice where only myth has reigned for so long.

In Volume 2: Sherlock Holmes & Mr. Hyde, Watson tells us about Sherlock’s most recent case from the latter part of his career when the classified X-files started taking over his work and life. When a man shows up in Holmes’ and Watson’s sitting room the morning after Jack the Ripper seems to have reappeared, it’s him the police are looking for. But he has something to show Sherlock that will bring him to his defense and further challenge Sherlock’s view of the world and rock his logical foundation. Not that Volume I: Sherlock Holmes & Dracula didn’t already do enough of that. And could this finally be the moment Sherlock finally apprehends Jack the Ripper?

I keep approaching these ARCs with trepidation, because I want to love all of them and give them each a rave review. (Disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book for an honest review.) But I am honest, sometimes to a fault. I suppose I can focus on the positives, instead of ripping books a new one (like the Land of Stories series, which, not by coincidence, is one of my most-read reviews). Not that this book needs my protection, so much. I guess that in some ways Sherlock & Hyde isn’t what I would call my cup of tea, being as it lacks word-smithing or literary acrobatics. Poetry. And sometimes I found my ADHD buzzing as I read because the language wasn’t that kind of smooth that draws me in and helps me stay focused. But there was nothing wrong with the language, and I feel like readers who are looking for what this book is offering will be satisfied and even want to read the other books in the series. Including the new one that’s out next year.

The Classified Dossier series, so far:

Sherlock Holmes & Count DraculaSherlock Holmes & Mr. HydeSherlock Holmes & Dorian Gray (March, 2024)

The truth is, many—most?—readers don’t mind a little chunky writing nor a rewriting of the classics. So while I was busy getting distracted, most people will enjoy a fun ride full of digestible tropes. Also, I found the characters to be endearing, even with—or perhaps for—their foibles. It’s easy reading, with easy-to-follow language, plot, character arches, intrigue. And I don’t think it matters one whit to most people that many of these situations or conversations wouldn’t have happened in honest-to-goodness Victorian times. Nor that the real grit was sanded off of the classic characters, most notably Sherlock Holmes. In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s writing, Sherlock is actually problematic at times. In Klaver’s, Sherlock is more of a twinkle in his own eye and certainly isn’t as rigorous, logically. But does that matter? I mean, without giving too much away by telling you exactly who shows up in volume two, throw Sherlock, Watson, Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, and a half-dozen other Victorian horror characters into one Jack the Ripper mystery complete with scientific magic, a weeklong sleepover, and The Da Vinci Code-level secret society dealings, and you have a set-up that will appeal to a lot of people. Especially at Halloween-time. A fall break read.

Here’s something that would be worth knowing before reading this book: the classic books like Dracula, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, “The Call of Cthulhu,” The Invisible Man (Wells), The Picture of Dorian Gray, Frankenstein (I can only assume, eventually… The Turn of the Screw? The Phantom of the Opera?) etc. are a part of this Classified Dossier universe. In this world, the books have been written and people have read them but don’t realize that the stories were actually biographies, biographies where the biographers got it all wrong. Not only are the monsters involved real, but they have been, in most cases, slandered and given alternate endings in the books by Stoker, Stevenson, Wells, etc. Though frequently even these stories were told more by their narrator, so Van Helsing and Jonathan Harker had a vested interest in skewing the story of Count Dracula in their favor and they, too, are part of this Classified Dossier universe (though authors aren’t more than referenced). I happened to be reading Dracula at the same time, and for a while I thought I had ruined some plot points for myself, but it turns out that Klaver takes many liberties with the original stories (and perhaps borrows from tradition) and justifies it with the set-up of the universe.

The other thing you might want to know: it’s a monster mash-up. Which yes, I said. But wasn’t super evident to me on reading the cover copy. I thought it was just going to be a typical Sherlock Holmes case (which is the packaging of it, yes) that involved Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. But it is much more of a new universe where all these characters interact and their story is told through a Doyle-style, Watson article.  Which means, among other things, that if you are well-versed in the classic monsters and Victorian/Gothic/early twenty-first century horror, you will cotton on to things much more quickly and probably enjoy it all much more. I purposely read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde before I read Sherlock & Hyde, though watching the movies or being tuned into this culture might give you just as much of a leg-up. I was a little lost on the Cthulhu stuff, but then not; you wouldn’t have to read or watch any of it to understand what is going on, just to be on the inside of the references. You also don’t have to have read the first book in the series to read the second.

At the end of the day, Sherlock Holmes & Mr. Hyde is a quick-paced novel, full of twists and even some actually good characters, but very light-handed/hearted and not in line with the original work (and definitely works, but we established this is on purpose). Most people will breeze through it, they just need to have a small tolerance for horror and a love of the Gothic, perhaps a fantasy of living in Victorian London and meeting all their favorite (or feared) characters of the era. Like I said, a fall break read.