Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde

Title: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
Published: Originally in 1886
Genre: Horror!
Pages: 88


The classic horror tale! First time reading it, and I haven't even seen any of the numerous movies. Or TV-series. Or parodies. Or heard the radio shows. But! I have read The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen -comics, and there met both Dr and Mr.

The main character of the story -and this came as a bit of a surprise to me- is neither, though, but the lawyer Mr Utterson, an old friend of Dr Jekyll's. On a walk with his cousin, they come across a door along a street, and the cousin is moved to tell a story of how he met an off-putting little man called Mr Hyde, whom he followed to the same door after a small accident. Later on, Utterson realises that the door is also connected to the house of Dr Jekyll, and that there is a troubling connection between Hyde and Jekyll.

Perhaps because I knew what the connection was, or because I started the short book on the same day I went back to work, holiday over, the story didn't really catch my attention. But at only 88 pages it was a quick read, and well worth it to see for myself the tale that has inspired so many people for over a century.


   Mr Utterson stepped out and touched him on the shoulder as he passed. 'Mr Hyde, I think?'
   Mr Hyde shrank back with a hissing intake of the breath. But his fear was only momentary; and though he did not look the lawyer in the face, he answered coolly enough: 'That is my name. What do you want?' 
   'I see you are going in,' returned the lawyer. 'I am an old friend of Dr Jekyll's - Mr Utterson of Gaunt Street - you must have heard my name; and meeting you so conveniently, I thought you might admit me.'
   'You will not find Dr Jekyll; he is from home.' replied Mr Hyde, blowing in the key. And then suddenly, but still without looking up, 'How did you know me?' he asked.