The Diabolical Miss Hyde

Today's post is on The Diabolical Miss Hyde by Viola Carr. It is the first in her Electric Empire series. It is 444 pages long and is published by Harper Voyager. The cover has Lizzie Hyde on it with Captain Lafayette behind her. The intended reader is someone who likes steampunk, sort-of retellings, and a fun story lines. There is some language, sex, and violence in this book. The story is told in two ways third person from Eliza's perceptive and first person from Lizzie's. There be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Magic, mystery, and romance mix in this edgy retelling of the classic The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde–in which Dr. Eliza Jekyll is the daughter of the infamous Henry...
In an electric-powered Victorian London, Dr. Eliza Jekyll is a crime scene investigator, hunting killers with inventive new technological gadgets. Now, a new killer is splattering London with blood, drugging beautiful women and slicing off their limbs. Catching "the Chopper" could make Eliza's career—or get her burned. Because Eliza has a dark secret. A seductive second self, set free by her father's forbidden magical elixir: wild, impulsive Lizzie Hyde.
When the Royal Society sends their enforcer, the mercurial Captain Lafayette, to prove she's a sorceress, Eliza must resist the elixir with all her power. But as the Chopper case draws her into London's luminous, magical underworld, Eliza will need all the help she can get. Even if it means getting close to Lafayette, who harbors an evil curse of his own.
Even if it means risking everything and setting vengeful Lizzie free . . .

Review- This is a very fun steampunk adventure with some old literary threads. Carr does a lot with this plot and she makes it work. The steampunk world is very well realized and I want to see more if it. I liked both of our heroines. They bring different things to the table. Eliza is very practical and uses her brains to get through everything but Lizzie is the dark side that can solve the problems that need more than just brains. The villain for this book was okay but he was just stand in for the real villain. The real villain is very fun and I look forward to seeing more of him. The good captain was interesting and I look forward to seeing where he goes in the story. The one thing that I found annoying was how much Eliza and Lizzy dislike each other. They look down and almost hate their other half. That did get old. But it is a solid first in a new series.

I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.