Like Stoker’s novel Dracula, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Gothic-Horror novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a familiar and foundational work of Horror that is much different from the story that has become part of our collective imaginations. And for that same reason. like Dracula it is a book that is good to reread every now and then.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the story of a well-respected London doctor named Henry Jekyll, who starts acting strangely. Worrying his friends, especially his lawyer, Mr. Utterson. Utterson discovers that Jekyll has some sort of connection to a creepy, violent man named Edward Hyde. No one knows who Hyde really is, but everyone who meets him feels an instant loathing and and nameless fear for some reason..

Utterson becomes obsessed with figuring out what’s going on. It seems like Hyde must have some kind of power over Jekyll (maybe blackmail or something darker) since Jekyll refuses to cut ties with him. Over time, Hyde’s behavior gets worse, and things start to spiral out of control. Jekyll grows more secretive, hides away in his lab, and tells his friends to leave him alone.

The whole story has the eerie, foggy London vibe that I resonate with as a reader. It is full of mystery, guilt, and the feeling that something is terribly wrong beneath the surface. But no one quite knows what it is

The novella explores the duality of human nature, the limits of scientific experimentation, and the struggle between good and evil within the same soul, all wrapped in a dark, Gothic atmosphere that reflects Victorian anxieties about morality and identity.

I look forward to my next rereading. I recommend it highly!