My nerves trembled reading this book, my thoughts were filled with suspicion and unease, as Craig Russell unfolded his uniquely dark supernatural thriller with a recurring duality that permeates this outstanding story. The notion of the duality of nature in so many aspects of this book is tantalising and thrilling. From the title, Hyde, the implication is that polarity is evident, but this is not a retelling of the famous Robert Louis Stevenson book The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, but there must be some similarities – right? In fact, the prologue of the novel has Captain Edward Henry Hyde, superintendent of detective officers in Edinburgh’s City Police, preparing to tell his good friend Robert Louis Stevenson a story.

Edward Hyde attends the scene of a brutal murder, where the victim is hanged upside down from an elm tree, his head submerged in the river Leith and his heart cut from his chest. High pitched cries are eerily heard close at hand and it all resonates with Celtic myths and Highland legends. The cry of a banshee and the three times murder – hanged, ripped and drowned are rituals from an ancient era. What is deeply troubling Hyde, as he explains his fears to his friend and psychiatrist, Dr Samuel Porteous, is that he can’t remember any of the events that evening until he was at the scene of the crime. Porteous diagnoses the condition as epileptic seizures, compounded with nocturnal hallucinations, and treats him with a medicinal compound that he keeps hidden. Porteous treats Hyde at his private residence so he can keep the diagnosis and obvious consequences from the police department to benefit Hyde. Porteous only treats Hyde and one other patient privately and selfishly wants the glory and reputation of discovering a medical breakthrough.

“Porteous the physician also knew that there was another reckoning that must come with time. Another secret that slept, locked in his cells, in his blood, whose dark awakening was inevitable and spurred him to achieve his aims, establish his reputation, before it was too late.”

The significance of the hanging from the elm tree in the ancient threefold murder illustrates the link between this world and the otherworld, this world and hell. The final meal of grains and mushrooms, the cry of the banshee, and the apparent resurrection of the satanic Dark Guild are all parts of the Celtic myths that come from ancient Scottish folklore. A Scotland, that struggles between the duality of identity to be part of Britain and an independent country.

After a second, three times murder and the disappearance of the heiress to the Lockwood fortune, Elspeth Lockwood, the threat deepens and the race to solve the mystery intensifies. Hyde is constantly battling his nightmares and the investigation, and confides his secrets in Dr Cally Burr, one of the first female doctors in the country, which unwittingly draws her into the perilous plot.

As evident from Craig Russell’s previous book, The Devil Aspect, he has an amazing ability to diffuse a cold pure evil in the psyche of a mastermind killer. A killer that walks in daylight unsuspected by those around him coupled with a chilling and foreboding atmosphere that pervades all the scenes in the book. The mystery is baffling, engrossing, and scary, right until the case is solved and the madness and intentions of evil doings are uncovered.

Craig Russell uses story layers with such deft skill that his novel can only be described as an outstanding and fulfilling experience. I would highly recommend this book and I would like to thank Craig Russell, Little Brown Book Groups, Constable and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in return for an honest review.

The combination of historical and fact and imaginative fiction in this book is magical. Russell has done a fabulous job of creating the origin of the traditional Jekyll and Hyde story in a captivating way. It's clever having the prologue and the epilogue feature Robert Louis Stevenson, so that the reader receives a different element of storytelling. This makes it stand out from the traditional retelling by placing it in a historical context, and with the protagonist being Hyde, adds a level of curiosity and variation from the original that is impossible to ignore
Russell's writing style is gorgeous. He is so descriptive that it's impossible to not envision Edinburgh as if you are living there at the height of the industrial revolution. As someone who lives there now, I also appreciated his accuracy in depicting the city. This descriptive quality of the city also extended to his characters, and it's made so incredibly easy to imagine them as fully formed people.
His attention to detail, down to the characterisation of speech and how that varies throughout the different burghs was much appreciated, and added to the lifelike immersion of the reader into the novel.
The plot development is steady and leaves the reader wanting to come back to it, with multiple points of view to receive a well-rounded view of the whole story.
All in all, a wonderful read!

#netgalley #hyde

*This will be published on the 2nd of April on the below links*

This is the first book I have read of Craig Russell's, but I am hoping it won't be the last.

Hyde follows Captain Edward Hyde, as he tries to battle his own strange seizure states, where he cannot remember what has happened, and hunt down the person(s) that gruesomely killed a man. As the boundaries between reality and fantasy become more blurred, and a cult-like group start to emerge, Hyde must hunt them down quickly before more people are murdered.

I am a huge fan of classic novels and I loved the twist that this book added. The epilogue in particular gave me chills and brought a whole new perspective to such a famous tale. I really liked that I could not work out who was involved until it was revealed, it kept me on the edge of my seat. I also loved the paranormal and medical aspects that were brought into this. It is an area that particularly fascinates me and I loved seeing Russell's portrayal.

My only issue with the book was the way some of it was written. It reminded me very much of the classics that I love. However, because of this I found it required a lot of concentration and focus to read. I often found myself drifting off and having to re-read passages where I hadn't taken in what I was reading. That being said, this is an issue I have with classic literature too, so I suspect anyone who doesn't have this issue will love this book.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that is interested in mysteries or who is interested in a new take on a classic novel. I want to thank Netgalley, Little Brown and the author for the chance to read this novel and give my personal opinion.

A terrific gothic story full of folklore and legends and supernatural elements who features as its protagonist the complex and multi-layered character of Captain Edward Hyde. Hyde is hunting a killer before he strikes again, but he suffers from blackouts and lost time which he doesn’t remember. Can he trust himself? Set in Victoria Edinburgh, you will find an intriguing mystery, a dark atmosphere, and the author’s brilliant writing style, but it didn’t held my attention as much as the author’s previous novel, The Devil Aspect, but it is still worth a read.

Another deliciously dark thriller from Craig Russell - seriously creepy suspense and fascinating psychology in a vivid and richly-detailed Victorian Edinburgh.

Hyde by Craig Russel is a police procedural style story that follows Captain Hyde who is investigating an unusual murder that resembles the three-fold death from the Celtic tales. The story is an intriguing take on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and talks about the duality of the nature of man, the good and the evil, and with RL Stevenson appearing in both the prologue and epilogue was quite interesting to read. Hyde is a gothic horror story that is steeped in Celtic folklore and tales that creates a haunting atmospheric setting and is quite fascinating.

Hyde is the Captain of Edinburgh's Police force and is deeply troubled by his past and his time as a soldier in India. He is also suffering from a rare form of epilepsy that causes hallucinations and episodes which take him out of the real world and puts him in the Celtic otherworld. These episodes followed by the loss of time and memory of the events that preceded them make him worry about his state of mind and the things that he is capable of. While he is struggling with strange visions, he finds himself at the place of a gruesome murder followed by the haunting banshee cry. As he investigates the murder, more and more shocking things come to the surface, and secrets are revealed that should have stayed hidden. Secret societies, Celtic rituals, the resurrection of the Deacon, hellhounds all ramp up the intensity and grips us till the end. Can Hyde stop the murderer before he strikes again or will he come face to face with the monster who hides within himself?

Overall, this was a really good horror story that will fascinate you and pull you in with the interesting world, paranormal elements, and enchanting folklore. The atmospheric setting and the ominous dark cloud that hovers around the main character provide the perfect backdrop for the gothic style of the story. I gave the book 4 stars and highly recommend checking it out. I have seen amazing reviews for the author's other works. This makes me excited to add Craig Russell to my approved list of Authors. If you love folklore, gothic horror, and police procedural-style stories, then definitely check this one out.

Captain Edward Hyde has a secret that seems like a gift one day and a curse the next. He keeps that secret with one man, his physician, but life is about to get complicated and he may need both the gift and the curse to catch a killer and save himself.
Murder is afoot in Victorian Edinburgh and it is disturbing to say the least. With signs of the occult and ritualistic killings,
Captain Hyde must use all resources available to him. Maybe even the one he keeps locked away.
It’s not too long before he’s embroiled in the darkest of cases and he realises he’s up against a very sadistic killer.
Hyde soon realises the answer to this case maybe in his otherworld and he must risk it all to catch his quarry or he might just lose his mind forever.
A darkly intense and atmospheric reimagining of Stevenson’s character.
An absolutely remarkable piece of literature.
I thought the book was wonderful from beginning to end.
One of the best books I’ve read this year.

In Victorian Edinburgh, Detective Superintendant Edward Hyde is uneasy. In one case of frightful murder, leading to a hanging, he worries that the police have got the wrong man. In another, he finds himself conveniently close to the victim, but can't remember how he came to be there. And there are nagging requests from Special Branch in London to investigate a rising nationalist politician.

And Hyde's sessions with Dr Porteous, who he relies on to cure the memory loss and associated troubling dreams, are not helping at all...

Russell's speculative detective novel, loosely framed around Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde (there is a prologue in which Hyde tells Stevenson his story as inspiration to the latter) is a heady blend of many elements.

There is the brooding, unrestful Hyde, half convinced that he is a monster - people tend to draw away from him, as though sensing something troubling about him. Hyde is I think suffering (alongside the epilepsy that Porteous diagnoses) from PTSD, after serving in the army in the East. Russell makes a point not only of the awful things that Hyde has witnessed and indeed taken part in, but also of the taint, the fundamental badness, of the campaign that Hyde took part in, devoted to theft and looting ('cruelties performed under a sun-blazed sky in the name of Empire'). Fragemented personalities recur ('he had been a different man, back then).

This links in turn to political turmoil, as Scots radicals seek to free themselves from what they see as English domination and from being associated with that same infection of Empire. This is an interesting connection to make, the focus on colonialism and its relation to English and Scottish history and society being a truly hot topic in today's politics and one capable of provoking strong emotions (see the UK Government's defensiveness over challenges to the interpretation of colonial-era figures and artifacts).

Underlying this is a third layer - a preoccupation both with the Celtic supernatural, as both occultists and mountebanks move in various secret circles overlapping both with nationalist politics and with the apparently staid Establishment. That preoccupation bleeds into national myth-making about the origins of the Scots and their real destiny. And alongside all this, Russell also reflects the place of gay men in society, and the constraints under which women exist. We meet Elspeth Lockwood, heiress to one of Edinburgh's great department stores, a woman who very much wants to go her own way, and I really liked Dr Cally Burr, who performs many of the autopsies for Hyde; as a female doctor, she's treated with a great deal of suspicion and is short of work (we see her being helped out by the famous Dr Joseph Bell, mentor to Arthur Conan-Doyle who is mentioned but does not appear in the story). Burr is smart and resourceful, practical where Hyde seems likely to wilt under the various stresses that he suffers, and certainly the kind of person you want beside you in a creepy Gothic house at night.

Because this book is Gothic, whatever else it may be. There is an isolated mansion of bad reputation, whispers of supernatural beasts, devils and ancient gods and of secret sects and guilds behind the bland face of respectable Edinburgh ('fine Presbyterians of good birth and standing leading double lives') as well as secret tunnels beneath it, at least some of which are certainly real. There's a danger, I thinks in overdoing the Gothic, but for my money, Russell gets it just about right: enough, combined with the theme of madness and loss of identity and control, to darken the atmosphere (alongside the various horrific murders) but not enough that solid, systematic police work becomes self-evidently pointless. Truly, Edward Hyde lives in more than one world at one, but he is sufficiently rooted in the "real" one, enough of a respected, credible figure that he makes progress, gets things done (aided by Burr's shrewd insights).

The book is also grounded in the medical science of the time (even if it looks primitive to us) and it is convincingly, pleasingly Victorian without were seeming a pastiche. Russell has fun with erudite bits of language and Hyde will certainly broaden your vocabulary, adding words such as muliebrity, supervenient, brumous and peccancy. I did see a couple of the plot twists coming (such as the identity of the Hanged Man) but there were also some jaw-dropping surprises and, above all, Hyde is a book that hooks the reader and builds to a tremendous climax.

An interesting counterpoint to Russell's The Devil Aspect which also dwelt on issues of good and evil, divided personality and the relation between individual responsibility and political crime.

Definitely recommended.

Rather enjoyed this book. The setting, the characters, the madness of it all. A whirlwind of a mystery murder albeit gory with a lot of blood, but an interesting take on the whole 'Jekyll and Hyde' story. 3.5 Stars

After reading the stunningly good Devils Aspect, I requested this with intrigue and excitement yet unfortunately for me I found this Reimagined version of Jekyll and Hyde quite flat.

Whilst the writing can be quite vivid, it’s very much a literary read.

The characters are the bright spark in this dark, morose, sullen read that fails to hit the notes for me

4.5 stars
Having read and loved The Devil Aspect when I read it a while ago I was quite excited to get my hands on this book. Although it didn't quite hit the high spot its predecessor did for me, I found it to be a thoroughly decent read.
Edward Hyde is a Superintendent in the police in Edinburgh, having served some time in India and seen some shocking things which have stayed with him. So much so that he still struggles with nightmares and, more worryingly, missing time, and regularly sees Dr Samuel Porteus - a psychiatrist - on the down-low due to his position, but he's a friend so he keeps his secret. He diagnoses Hyde with epilepsy and prescribes a powder which he constantly tweaks to try and get it to work. All this is not really helping Hyde and he is shocked when he finds himself at the scene of a gruesome death with no memory of how or what brought him there. It's a death related to the underworld and the stuff of his nightmares... he fears he could be more involved than just an observer after the fact.
I started this book a couple of times. It really didn't spark me or hold my attention. Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind - well, who is these days!? But I had faith in the author left over from his previous book and I dug into all my trust and, on the third time of starting, dug my heels in, gritted my teeth, dedicated a whole morning to it and cracked on.
And then I got to that place - you'll know where I mean when you read it - and it just flew... And I am so glad I stuck with it. I'd love to wax lyrical about why you should persevere but spoilers. Just trust me on this - keep going. You will be rewarded.
Twists and turns aplenty, with a plot that takes a long time to set up but once it's there just bursts into life and takes over. And an ending that makes the whole thing worth while - and also worth re-reading from the start! (and I never re-read)
Not always completely believable but the gothic atmosphere and wonderful writing - characters included - made any niggles I had fade into insignificance, and I was left at the end wholly satisfied. So much so, I am really looking forward to seeing what's next. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Hyde is a beautifully descriptive gothic novel that is a wonderful new spin on the classic story of Jekyll and Hyde.set in Victorian England , Hyde is a police officer and straight away this novel hits the ground running with the discovery of a man hanging upside down, his throat cut and his heart missing.

The character's within are well written and this novel is sure to become a wonderful addition to the Hyde name.

I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed other books by the author, especially The Devil Aspect so I was really looking forward to this. It sounded right up my street; historical fiction come murder mystery with some horror aspects thrown in for good measure. I thought this was a terrific book. I loved the atmosphere of Victoria Edinburgh which brings the city and era to memorable, vivid life. This was a real pleasure to read. The book is an original take on Jekyll/Hyde and I really liked where the author went with such a well-known tale. This is worth a read.

Hyde is a Gothic horror novel set in Victorian Edinburgh, which reimagines Robert Louis Stephenson’s character as the chief detective of Edinburgh‘s police force. He is suffering from a condition which causes him to lose time, have vivid dreams and visions. He has kept this condition secret to all but his close friend Dr. Samuel Porteous.

By having Edward Hyde as his main protagonist, the author has allowed the reader to go into the novel with some assumptions. The reader assumes a level of evil or danger from the character that the author can use and manipulate throughout the story. This also allows for surprises and twists, and keeps the reader guessing as to Hyde’s true nature. The idea of Stephenson’s Jekyll and Hyde is one of dual personalities and the duality of human nature. Russell has similarly used these themes in this story, both with Hyde and others. Many of the characters in this novel have secrets that they are determined to keep, which heightens the mystery in the novel, as the reader is never quite sure who to trust.

Hyde is an imposing character, yet one I really warmed to. There is sadness to him, and he holds a strong conviction. He believes he loses time due to a dual personality disorder within him, and there is a lack of understanding about such conditions in this novel, due to the Victorian time period. This plays into the story, which is at its core a murder mystery thriller.

This novel also highlights the attitudes towards women in the nineteenth century. One of the main characters is a doctor, who as a female doctor is overlooked and mocked by men in profession. Dr. Burr has worked harder then her male colleagues to get a much lower position. Yet she is brilliant and it is not hard to see why Hyde is so drawn to her.

Hyde is set in Edinburgh which allows the plot to move from the Georgian town houses in New Town to the poor tenements in Old Town. The city is a character of its own, and there is the light and dark contrast of the town and its citizens. The poor parts of the city and the characters who live there help add to the dirt and danger of the story. Mixed in is a story of Celtic tradition and Scottish folklore and nationalism, with appearances from Robert Louis Stephenson and Arthur Conan Doyle, which really shapes this novel as a very Scottish story.

With twists and turns, this novel is a dark and well written horror story, and fans of gothic thrillers should check this one out.

History, crime, a gothic edge and a sense of the occult. What is not to love about Hyde? It certainly ticked all of the boxes for me, keeping me engrossed in the story of Captain Edward Henry Hyde, Superintendent for the Edinburgh City police. Drawing upon the central theme of Stevenson's work - an exploration of the human mind and the duality of our personality - the author entertains readers with a story that is full of tension, steeped in mystery and a chilling atmosphere, topped off with a fair enough spattering of gruesome murders for which our eponymous hero finds himself under suspicion. This is, in essence, a murder mystery but with a twist and with rich and vivid imagery that transports readers to 1880's Edinburgh.

Hyde is a character who commands attention. It is made clear from the off that his stature and his countenance cause trepidation in those around him, that there is something about him that sets others on edge from the moment they see him. In many ways, this does come through in his character too, something quite stark in his persona when we truly meet him that had me, as a reader, at once on high alert. And yet his was a character I quickly warmed to. Yes, there were major question marks over his situation, the episodes that he suffered from which caused him to lose time and recollection, but I felt I trusted him which I knew from the start was a very clever ploy by the writer. It was, afterall, the central theme of the novel. That sense that it was possible for two very separate personalities to exist within one body - one good and one evil - and there was every possibility that we were only privy to the point of view of Hyde's more amiable side, if amiable is the right way to describe his character. To find the answer to that, you will need to read the book for yourself, but I really did like Hyde's character, his strong sense of right and wrong, at least in his conscious mind.

The landscape that Craig Russell portrays for readers is of the dark and secretive Edinburgh, a city awash with secret guilds and dark history. This is gothic mystery at it's best. Not only is the setting perfect - and let's face it, can you think of a better cast city than Edinburgh with its secret vaults, lost streets and ghostly legends for creating an sense of the otherworld and of dark obsessions - the atmosphere that enshrouds the city lends itself to that all important suspense and mystery. There is a chill to almost every page, and we are faced with almost more questions than answers, a blend of murder, missing persons and the occult keeping my completely engaged in the story. There is an almost ritualistic quality to the murders, and the haunting nightmares that afflict Hyde draw us constantly back to Scottish folklore and legend. With a myriad of suspects, including Hyde himself, the truth is kept just ever distant from the reader right until the last and I admit that in spite of everything, I really did not expect what came to pass.

Craig Russell has done a fine job of examining the very essence of human nature and the condition that, today, would be recognised as Dissociative Identity Disorder, or multiple personality disorder if you are slightly more old school. In the period that the book is set, the idea of this kind of psychosis as a diagnosed and manageable condition was still in its infancy, so that sense of Hyde not really understanding the condition that affects him rings true. The notion is continually in play, even if we don't realise it, but it does not overwhelm the story, it only enhances it.

I really don't have the words to do this book justice and much that I would want to say would lead to potential spoilers. All I will say is that if you are a fan of gothic crime or historical crime fiction then I would recommend you read this book. With a haunting and atmospheric narrative, an intense mystery at its heart, compelling characters, and a dark chilling presence that casts its shadow over every page, it's a definite thumbs up from me.

I don't quite know what to make of this one. I love books written in a Victorian setting. I love retellings of classic novels. I love stories which feature the perspective of the "villain" in the original.
But this book... I can't say I liked it.
Even in a retelling, I do prefer having the original character's traits being used, so the character stays true to themselves and is not presented as some twisted confusing version of them. That is exactly where the books fails. By the subtitle "There is no Jekyll - only Hyde" I had the false pretence that the book would actually be a horror novel, focusing on a Hyde who had taken complete controll of Jekyll's body and continues his killings and malicious intends. But that is not what is book is. Matter of fact, the only thing this Hyde and the original Hyde had in common was the name. As a fan of the original story, this was extremely disappointing. I did enjoy the cameo of Arthur Conan Doyle, though.

I received a free ARC by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

'There is no Jekyll, only Hyde.' This is another amazing Gothic read from Craig Russell. I was absolutely blown away by The Devil Aspect, Russell's previous novel and Hyde is just as addictive. This is a wonderful reinvention of the character created by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Captain Edward Hyde is investigating a series of murders in Edinburgh which imitate the Celtic threefold death ritual. At the same time, he is investigating himself and his strange blackouts and loss of memory. He fears he is living in two realities and is terrified that they are connected in the most disturbing manner. This is a masterful exploration of dual personalities, madness and horror set against the sinister backdrop of Victorian Edinburgh.

I found this a completely addictive read. The atmosphere the author creates is intense and charged with suspense. The narrative is taut and compelling. The characters are so well drawn. This is an easy five stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A deeply dark gothic horror story, if you like this genre you will love this. I am not one to normally read this genre but want to try some new things this year so thought this would be a good place to start. Set in Victorian Edinburgh, which adds to the atmosphere of the novel. With Scottish myths and Celtic folklore added, there is obviously some deep research gone into this story.


Captain Edward Hyde, Superintendent of Edinburgh’s police, attends a ritualistic killing of a man hanging from a tree in the Highlands. There is a lot of talk of Scottish folklore, creatures from other worlds and ages and demons. Hyde is after a killer before he can strike again.

But Hyde suffers from a condition that means he passes out and and enters a Celtic Underworld, where the dead and demons roam and time passes. The problem is when he wakes up again he doesn’t know what has happened in the time he has lost, except for the nightmares he has afterwards.

This is a very well written, well researched novel, but for me I found it at time very heavy reading, it really needed full attention. But if you love creepy then this atmospheric novel will not disappoint.

I would like to thank #netgalley and #LittleBrownBookGroupUK for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I loved the idea of it, but felt it didn't meet my expectations. Packed full of atmosphere, but I could not connect with the story at all.

Thank you to netgalley.co.uk for giving me a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

After reading Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde a few years ago and enjoying that, I couldn’t wait to read this one once I realised it was inspired by this book. I noticed a few other reviewers mention a previous book by the author however this is my first book by Russell but I didn’t feel lost or confused. The book was well written, it was filled with the usual Victorian gothic themes which I really enjoyed about the original book. I didn’t mean to read the whole book over the day but I just could not put it down.