Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Seek: The Strange Case Continues

This book is, despite what others claim, not a good sequel and in order to explain why, here comes a spoiler: it dismisses the original story. Here, the events of the original novel are depicted as a delusion of a mad Utterson and his promised transformation into his own alter ego, Jericho Horne, using Jekyll’s potion, is a fever dream. Very unsatisfying

I enjoyed the story. It kept me guessing and wondering. Did not care for the ending as it left me with a lot of questions

I adore classics. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is at the top of my list of recs when people ask which one I could read over and over. Therefore, when I seen this title I had to read it! The cover was also stunning and everything that I could ever want when cover shopping. (We all do it and I at least admit it.)

I did not love this adaptation as much as I had hoped for. The author does do a pleasant job of staying true the mystery that surrounds the first novel, however, there is just something missing to tie it in together successfully. We find the story opening to the fast approaching closing date to the inheritance of the Jekyll Estate. There is a conflict that arises from sudden appearance of a man claiming to be Jekyll though we know from experience that both “men” have perished as they were the same man. Turns out that the imposter is a Jekyll relative but not the man himself.
My biggest peeve was the unhinging of the narrator and would be inheritor Mr. Utterson. The rapid deterioration of his well being and credibility seemed forced and unnecessary to me.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, was one of the only books given to me as assigned reading in high school that I actually enjoyed. It’s a wonderfully macabre Gothic novella that explores the duality of man within a really interesting sci-fi scenario. I enjoyed the book so much in high school that it actually led to me watching the fantastic BBC series Jekyll (a show that actually ended up being a really interesting sequel to the original story). So, naturally, when I saw that Anthony O’Neill’s Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Seek, a sequel to the original Jekyll & Hyde, I was immediately interested. The question is: how good is this book? Is it a worthy sequel to such an amazing original? The short answer is: no, not really. But it’s more complicated than that.

I wanna make it clear that it’s not as if Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Seek is a bad book. It’s absolutely fine. And that’s its biggest problem. While the original story used its fantastical plot as a device to explore the duality of man and sought to answer deeper questions about humanity, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Seek doesn’t really do that. It tries, but I don’t think it really succeeds. Boiled down to its simplest form, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Seek is a novel about one man’s descent into madness. The only problem is that the reader can’t ever quite tell if he’s going mad or not. This problem stems from the premise of the book: someone purporting to be Dr. Jekyll has reappeared a mere two weeks before Utterson, his lawyer, would have inherited his estate. Utterson – and all who read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – know that Jekyll and Hyde were the same person, and thus when Hyde committed suicide, Jekyll also died. So, the audience spends the entire novel siding with Utterson, believing that he’s correct and that this person claiming to be Jekyll is lying. Utterson slowly loses his grip on reality as he tries to prove this to be true, but it doesn’t quite work because we know he’s right. We’re not really unsure if this imposter is Jekyll, because we already know that Jekyll is dead. Before the final chapter begins, it seems as though Utterson has finally gotten all he’s needed to prove he’s correct, and then the final chapter switches perspectives and just sort of ends without giving any actual answers to the story (I’m purposely being a bit vague as to the specifics as I don’t want to spoil it). This kind of ending would work if this book wasn’t a sequel to a different story but was its own thing. This ending works if the audience doesn’t know whether the protagonist is correct or not. But we do know, unless, of course, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Seek’s point of view is that the events, as they were told to us in the original Jekyll and Hyde, weren’t totally accurate. If that’s the case, then the book needs to make that clearer or, again, the ending doesn’t really work. As written, it’s just sort of frustrating and the deeper meaning that the novel is trying to explore doesn’t quite land.

From a writing standpoint, it’s totally competently written. The prose feels like it’s trying to evoke the prose of Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde, but it never really goes any further than that. It does the job, but it’s nothing special. The pacing is mostly good, though the beginning is a little slow (also like the original Jekyll and Hyde). While having a disappointing ending, the plot is still interesting. I’m not against the general premise of the story, and the first 3/4 of the novel mostly worked for me, mainly because I expected some kind of reveal in the last 1/4 of the novel that would explain what was going on. The first 3/4 of the story feel like a mystery novel; you’re reading it, trying to piece together the mystery, and anticipating the big reveal at the end. The original Jekyll and Hyde, while being a Gothic horror novel, was a mystery. All of these mysterious things happen, revolving around Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, leading Utterson to try and piece it all together, all leading up to a climax where everything is revealed and tied together. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Seek doesn’t have a climax like that. It’s all building up to it and then it just… ends. It’s a subversion of expectations, sure, but it’s one that doesn’t work.

As a sequel to The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Seek does feel a bit weird, mainly due to how Utterson and Poole act within the story. I understand that seven years have passed and that this book is trying to push the idea that Utterson isn’t totally together, but they just act a bit… strangely when viewed in comparison to the original novel. It’s not super distracting, but it is noticeable, at times. Then, of course, there’s the weird resolution that doesn’t seem to match up with everything we know about the original story. Honestly, this novel would be a whole lot better as its own standalone story, totally unconnected to the continuity of the original novel. It can be heavily inspired by it, sure, but it shouldn’t be a direct continuation of it. It just doesn’t work as a continuation of the story. It doesn’t have anything interesting to offer as commentary or addition to the original novel, and it just sort of ends up confusing. The first 3/4 make for an enjoyable read, and the last 1/4 isn’t bad, just disappointing. It’s nowhere near as good as it could be, but it’s also not awful. It’s a quick read and it does make for a fun read on a cold, autumn day.

Seven years after the death of the sinister Mr. Edward Hyde which, we all know from the source material, also took away the unfortunate soul of Dr. Henry Jekyll, a mysterious man arrives in London claiming to be the deceased Jekyll and laying claim to his estate.

As the double life of Dr. Jekyll was known to only a very few, mostly everyone is fooled by the man’s claim, except for Mr. Utterson, Jekyll’s lawyer who was the sole beneficiary in Jekyll’s will. Needless to say the people surrounding Utterson don’t believe his wild claims that the gentleman in Jekyll’s residence is in actual fact an imposter, believing that Utterson is merely trying to lay claim to the estate himself.

In a feint attempt to uncover the truth, Utterson goes down a dark path of madness not dissimilar to the one walked before him by his old friend Henry…

Perfectly capturing the bleak atmosphere of Victorian London and the origin story, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Seek is a solid sequel to the classic novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. I was thoroughly gripped by the mystery at the heart of the story and even started to doubt myself just like Mr. Utterson did as the supposed imposter was so very good at portraying the character of Dr. Henry Jekyll.

The book wasn’t very big,so I whizzed through the pages rapidly as I was trying to uncover the mystery, and along the way I was very impressed by Anthony O’Neill’s capability to mimic the tone and feel of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde so very well. Utterson wasn’t as charismatic a protagonist as Jekyll perhaps, but this is a story-driven sequel and the story was very well put together indeed.

While I wasn’t a huge fan of its inevitable ending, it did echo The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde perfectly, so I can’t fault it that. And overall, with its beautifully atmospheric setting and gripping plot, this was a solid 4-star read for me!

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