arts&culture
LITERARY Scene By Ryan G. Van Cleave
THREE RIVETING NOVELS TO KEEP YOU ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT SEEKING HYDE By Thomas Reed Seeking Hyde, the debut novel from Sarasota author Thomas Reed, tells the story behind Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous horror story, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which earned the author great fame and fortune. Seeking Hyde sticks quite closely to Stevenson’s biography, and Reed’s background—witness 20 years of exploring, teaching, and writing about the life and times of Stevenson—makes him the ideal person to engage in such a creative exploration. What’s interesting to note is that while Stevenson intended his horror story to be an act of moral contrition, it has been accused of inspiring one of the bloodiest series of events in all of English history—the Jack the Ripper murders. Indeed, exploring that irony and its complexities is at the heart of this novel, admits Reed in the back matter of this book. The cat-and-mouse ending between Stevenson and Jack will surely delight fans of the thriller genre. And those who love historical stories will doubtless find this well-researched account of Victorian England to be compelling and full of authenticity.
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www.ThomasReedAuthor.com
SKY WITHOUT STARS: SYSTEM DIVINE BOOK 1 By Jessica Brody & Joanne Rendell If you like Les Miserables, then this clever reimagining of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece might just be for you. It’s the story of three teens from wildly divergent backgrounds who deal with the looming threat of revolution on the French planet Laterre that’s full of seediness, darkness, and power plays. That’s right, the “French planet,” because Sky Without Stars is a science fiction dystopian novel yet it somehow retains the sense of an old-world setting, too. Part of the charm of this book is how the multiple points of view keep the story
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SARASOTA SCENE | JUNE 2019
