Review: ANOTHER JEKYLL, ANOTHER HYDE by Dina and Daniel Nayeri(to be released on March 27, 2011)

Courtesy of Net Galley(Candlewick Press)

Thomas Goodman-Brown is having a new mother, and she is Governess Nicola Vileroy, the care-taker of his ex-girlfriend. Well, not that he care much, since he’s wrecked after his ex, Bella Faust and her four siblings went to Geneva. The night of his father’s wedding with Vileroy, he got busted for possession of drugs that wasn’t his, and got bailed by his friend, Connor. After he was bailed, Conner and he go to Club Elixir, where he receives a bottle of W. Thomas takes W and finds himself very high and even black out later. He then wakes up few days later, with only  vague recollection of what has happened. Soon, he finds himself having untimely blackouts with absolutely no idea what he was doing when Vileroy says he does.

Dina and Daniel Nayeri bring us a reimagined tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with demons and Upper East Side family troubles.

In short, the characters are enjoyable, the ones to love are lovable and the baddies just make you hate them enough. Thomas is so sweet, trying to cheer his sort-of girlfriend and just attempting to make up for lost time. He is also smart, being able to piece everything together, and hey, you don’t always get to read about a guy who wants to become a lawyer. Nicola Vileroy is just mean, you’ll clench your teeth as much as I do if you read the story-I don’t want to give anything out. Even when Hyde appears only after half of the novel, his presence and effects are clear and strong enough to make you pity the victim and hate Hyde.

The story itself is entertaining. You get to watch Thomas investigate and slowly learn the truth. Everything is reasonable and well paced. It reminds me a little of Sherlock Holmes.

Another thing worthy of mention is the relationship between Thomas and his father. They were sometimes like friend, and I appreciate a father who actually listens to his child and is not swept by his new wife.

The writing is neat and compact, successfully arousing tension and create atmosphere. The only thing though, is that I don’t like the abundance of references to social websites. Five years later and people may forget what Facebook looks like.

Another Jekyll, Another Hyde is a fun and extremely entertaining adventure novel with little paranormal thrown in, a shorter read compared to the usual 400 pages.  However, I do not recommend it to those who like their novel with a lot of paranormal and romance. And of course, it's a series, but if you don't mind having to piece some stuff together and wanting to know what has happened in the previous novels, enjoy.

The guy on the cover is cute and innocent,but I don;t remember seeing him in the novel. Mmm, may be my bad. It's a nice change to see a guy on a cover though the cover is still not interesting enough for me. It also reminds me of Fractured Light's cover(my review here).

Ratings: 4 stars

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