I tend to avoid retellings of the classics, but gems like Edith Pattou’s East make me return to the genre. I read The Madman’s Daughter a year ago and loved it, so I thought Jessica Verday’s version would quench my thirst for a retelling based on Poe’s works. I was wrong — Strange Case of Of Monsters and Madness takes a bunch of Poe’s works and blends it with Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, as well as Shelley’s Frankenstein. Now, there’s nothing wrong with using these works for inspiration; it only becomes a problem when the result is bland and predictable.
After her mother’s death, Annabel Lee is summoned from Siam (modern day Thailand) to live with her angry, secretive father in Philadelphia. Her father’s anger is exacerbated by Annabel’s unconventional upbringing; he consequently ignores her. In response to her father’s behavior, Annabel becomes infatuated with her father’s assistant Allan, who is a writer, when not helping with medical research. But in darker hours, she comes across the devilish Edgar, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Allan – and who others insist doesn’t exist. Murders across Philadelphia, along with her father’s increasingly strange behavior, leads Annabel to discover a terrible truth: Edgar and Allan are two halves of the same person (the one and only Edgar Allan Poe), and they are about to commit the crimes detailed in Allan’s stories. Unless Annabel stops them.
In order to pull off a retelling, an author must create characters with similar personalities to those in the original. In the case of Annabel, Jessica Verday could have done way better. It’s not that she’s lacking in intelligence; she just lacks a personality. Although I found it cool that Annabel’s an aspiring surgeon, I still found it impossible to be interested in Annabel herself. As for Allan and Edgar, they’re bland as well. The author succumbed to the danger of overemphasizing their role as a romantic interest; the parts of poet and dark, devilish assistant were consequently not emphasized.
The plot, though fast-paced and initially intriguing, is predictable. The fact that the Goodreads synopsis reveals that Allan and Edgar are the same person, doesn’t help. That could have been an interesting twist–a twist that definitely would have redeemed the novel in my eyes. This being said, I devoured the novel in one sitting, though I also happened to yawn occasionally.
Of Monsters and Madness, though not the highest quality read, is definitely worth checking out!
Rating: 6 out of 10
Publisher: EgmontUSA (September 9th, 2014)
Length: 277 page (Hardcover)
ISBN #: 9781606844632
Source: Netgalley
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