The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: And Other Dark Tales

by Robert Louis Stevenson

In Stevenson’s suspense-filled masterpiece of horror, a shameless, repulsive creature stalks the streets and he’s becoming harder to control… The charming Dr Jekyll could not be more different to the violent and depraved Mr Hyde – until, that is, he takes a potion of his own concoction which allows him to embrace his darker side. As Hyde’s savagery escalates, Dr Jekyll finds himself trapped in a truly nightmarish tale of duality, leaving him forced to take desperate measures, as he discovers that leaving the monster behind is not as easy as he needs it to be. Four of Stevenson’s other dark tales (including ‘The Body Snatcher’) complete this investigation into demonic influences of the most personal kind.

FLAME TREE 451: From mystery to crime, supernatural to horror and fantasy to science fiction, Flame Tree 451 offers a healthy diet of werewolves and mechanical men, blood-lusty vampires, dastardly villains, mad scientists, secret worlds, lost civilizations and escapist fantasies. Discover a storehouse of tales gathered specifically for the reader of the fantastic. Each book features a brand new biography and glossary of Literary, Gothic and Victorian terms.

224 pages, Paperback

Published August 29, 2018

About the author

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer, and a leading representative of English literature. He was greatly admired by many authors, including Jorge Luis Borges, Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling and Vladimir Nabokov.

Most modernist writers dismissed him, however, because he was popular and did not write within their narrow definition of literature. It is only recently that critics have begun to look beyond Stevenson's popularity and allow him a place in the Western canon.

Reviews

[Steven Holtzleiter · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was an interesting read however the prose was difficult. Much of it consisted of long sentences with many clauses in each. This made it somewhat hard to follow the intent of the stories progression. It did get easier to understand and follow after the first 20-30 pages after I became more accustomed to the style.

[Lamina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I get why writers were dying over Stevenson and Jekyll and Hyde. He's got great ideas, I'm just not a huge fan of the gothic and the some of the period typical writing style bits were a bit lacklustre.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy a classic Robert Louis Stevenson book! The mix of short stories within this book fit well together...all creepy!

[Zack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me want to read more gothic horror and literature in general. Although the writing style is definitely different and something to get used to (very quickly though), it has a more unique quality than lots of modern fiction. Luckily, there is an extensive list of recommended books in the back of the book from the Flame Tree 451 publisher. Also, I never realized how good of an author Stevenson was, and waited way too long to read this book. Lots of moral topics breached, but especially duality of good/evil that come as a pair w/in all of us and how humans try to navigate that, successfully or not.
Dr/Mr: Format of the story incredibly different from modern literature, and even the other short stories in this book. The narrator isn’t the main character, and there is lots of correspondence and flashbacks and other weird structuring. The story itself was great, even though I was expecting to see/hear more directly from Dr/Mr, including more evil acts (didn’t realize how short it was). I really did like the end and the duality of evil/good w/in each of us.
The Body Snatcher: Good story w/very interesting (vague) ending. I liked the plot and how it followed real life events of the time. The characters didn’t really matter all that much, which was interesting to me. Clearly some teaching about the wrongs of doing bad things in order to advance something ‘good’ (science). Should ponder more the conversations between the two students, and talking about becoming more mature. Least obvious moral story of all the stories in the book.
Markheim: Captured my attention the most out of the short stories. Good story, and some very Poe-esque writing, especially immediately after he had killed the shopkeeper. Amazing character study, delving into all of the mental activity of this one man. His talk w/the devil/guardian angel was great, as the dialogue didn’t seem fake/preachy, but it came off as incredibly intelligent. Really really good short story.
The Bottle Imp: I swear I had read this story before, as I really remembered the old man in SF and the patch of leprosy from sometime before. Longer story, which added some substance to it compared to previous short stories. The concept/plot itself was really good, and I liked how the various characters all felt slightly different about using the bottle. Really makes you think, b/c I would most likely buy/use the bottle if the price was still at a point I wasn’t worried about reselling for. However, does that in itself damn your soul? Very interesting morals, but you could also do some very unselfish things w/the bottle, which wasn’t explored much at all.
The Merry Men: Started out weak for me (simply b/c I could barely understand what the uncle was saying at all). However, the story itself was very good. Not as much morals about good/evil in this one, but more studying how this uncle had gone crazy. Not my favorite, even though it picked up a lot by the end. Did like the ending w/the man the uncle had killed and buried coming back to hunt him down, and both of them ending in the sea w/the Merry Men.