The Album of Dr. Moreau
2021 • 176 pages
Ratings7
Average rating4.3
15
Ratings7
Average rating4.3
Daryl Gregory's The Album of Dr. Moreau combines the science fiction premise of the famous novel by H. G. Wells with the panache of a classic murder mystery and the spectacle of a beloved boy band. It’s 2001, and the WyldBoyZ are the world’s hottest boy band, and definitely the world’s only genetically engineered human-animal hybrid vocal group. When their producer, Dr. M, is found murdered in his hotel room, the “boyz” become the prime suspects. Was it Bobby the ocelot (“the cute one”), Matt the megabat (“the funny one”), Tim the Pangolin (“the shy one”), Devin the bonobo (“the romantic one”), or Tusk the elephant (“the smart one”)? Las Vegas Detective Luce Delgado has only twenty-four hours to solve a case that goes all the way back to the secret science barge where the WyldBoyZ’ journey first began—a place they used to call home. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Reviews with the most likes.
Way better than I expected it to be! I picked this as a short silly book to breeze through as something of a palette cleanser between serious books, but dang, I got so wrapped up in this, I just couldn't stop talking about it.
It nails the murder mystery sensation of making you suspect every single suspect and getting to the reveal having no idea whodunnit, not to mention having a great multidimensional detective with a brilliant backstory. The sci-fi element is really intriguing and while it his out in the background for most of the book, it was quite a strong story in itself. And it was really touching too. Sam Miller's blurb on the cover was really on point: by the end of the book, I was really emotionally tied to these half-animal young men in a way I definitely did not see coming. Every character in this story is very well developed. And how it does all this in such a short story is a bit of magic in itself.
Oh and the animal puns were horrible in the absolute best way. Well done, Mr. Gregory!
