Christian Klaver's Sherlock Holmes & Mr. Hyde - Review

The Classified Dossier - Sherlock Holmes and Mr Hyde by Christian Klaver

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Holmes and Watson hunt a sinister evil in another unearthed adventure from the supernatural case files.

Holmes' services are sought by Dr. Henry Jekyll, appealing to him to assist as his dark counterpart Mr. Edward Hyde is accused of murder.

Meanwhile, the police appeal to Holmes for help as a new series of murders suggest the Ripper has returned to stalk London's streets once again.

As the investigation leads Holmes and Watson into darker territory than ever before, they stumble across a plot that could mean the end of civilisation.

'Sherlock Holmes and Mr. Hyde' is the second volume in 'The Classified Dossier', an alternate Holmesian universe featuring characters of gothic horror fiction. Packed with action and adventure, mystery and the supernatural, as well as the real horror of Jack the Ripper and a fanatical cult, Klaver delivers a thrilling novel in the tradition of the classic fiction it emulates and expands upon.

Not only does the story feature Jekyll and Hyde, but Count Dracula and Mina return, as well as appearances from werewolves, and brushes with the Lovecraftian universe and the work of HG Wells. Ultimately, the novel delivers an exciting, thrill-ride with a mash-up of characters and bending of lore that you'd expect to see on the screen rather than the page; often, I was reminded of the original Dark Universe monster movies.

While diverting, in some elements significantly, from the established events of the source material of Stoker's Dracula, Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde, and Conan Doyle's Holmes stories, Klaver does demonstrate a detailed knowledge of all three canons and his changes are perhaps not as audacious as they may feel - those stories largely comprised of first person narratives or witness testimony and thus, by definition, presenting single perspectives with the potential to have been economical with the truth.

Building on the events of the previous volume, the novel develops the narrative threads that began in the separate novellas of the first book and deeper explores the rewriting of Dracula's tale and discoveries of the esoteric and the supernatural, culminating in a climatic action-packed finale that satisfies both narratively and emotionally.

The series will continue with 'Sherlock Holmes and Dorian Gray', promising a mystery for Holmes and Watson wrapped up with Egyptology and Wilde's anti-hero.



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