The Heartless City by Andrea Berthot
Series: Stand-Alone
Published by Curiosity Quills Press on August 17th 2015
Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 241
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
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I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Henry Jekyll was a brilliant doctor, a passionate idealist who aimed to free mankind of selfishness and vice. He’s also the man who carelessly created a race of monsters.
Once shared secretly among the good doctor's inner circle, the Hyde drug was smuggled into mass-production - but in pill form, it corrupted its users at the genetic level, leaving them liable to transform without warning. A quarter of the population are now clandestine killers – ticking bombs that could detonate at any given moment.
It's 1903, and London has been quarantined for thirteen years.
Son of the city's most prominent physician and cure-seeker, seventeen-year-old Elliot Morrissey has had his own devastating brush with science, downing a potion meant to remove his human weaknesses and strengthen him against the Hydes - and finding instead he's become an empath, leveled by the emotions of a dying city.
He finds an unlikely ally in Iris Faye, a waitress at one of the city's rowdier music halls, whose emotions nearly blind him; her fearlessness is a beacon in a city rife with terror. Iris, however, is more than what she seems, and reveals a mission to bring down the establishment that has crippled the people of London.
Together, they aim to discover who's really pulling the strings in Jekyll's wake, and why citizens are waking up in the street infected, with no memory of ever having taken the Hyde drug...
Heart-eating monsters, it turns out, are not the greatest evil they must face.

Henry Jekyll’s aim was to create a drug in order to free the human’s from selfishness and vice, instead he created a pill that turned people into monsters without warning, monster’s that target the human’s heart and caused London to fall under a quarantine when the drug hit the streets and infected half its population.

The Characters

I actually found the characters in this story quiet good. I thought the development was well done. Did I wish for more? Yes, maybe a little more, but overall I wasn’t really disappointed. Each filled with secrets, but nothing that shocked me once they were finally revealed.

Elliot Morrissey is a 17 year old boy who lives in The Palace where his father, a physician works on trying to figure out the clue for the drug. Each morning Elliot must go out and find a dead body for his father to experiment on. Trying to remove his empathy, Elliot created a potion that only intensified that, now Elliot can literally feel other people’s emotions as if they are his own. When he meets Iris, a young waitress, the emotions that pour out of her nearly blind him. A burning so strong, it nearly rivals his own. There is an instant attraction between Elliot and Iris on a lot of layers from physical to emotional. Iris is a young waitress who’s mother hold’s a big secret from her. She doesn’t know who her father is, but she is aware that she is different from the normal humankind. A secret that if got out, the Lord Mayor (rules of the current London) would love to get his hands on.

The secondary characters received just as much development I believe and left me quite surprised at how much they have contributed to the story and made it a bit better for me. Cam is a tortured soul that also has his own share of secrets. It didn’t take a while to figure out and I applaud the author for including a variety of characters into her story, none are the same and the difference brings them together. Regardless. I loved the direction she went with Cam. I found myself really hurting for the fact that due to the day and age, he could not be true to himself and was considered – not normal.

My favorite had to be Philomena. A young girl who has come of age that was being pushed to marry Cam. She is a hot head who is tired of living behind the secure walls of The Palaces and wishes for something more out of her life.

The Plot

This is where things got a bit tricky. I liked the premise, I loved the set up. A sort of different take on Hyde. The dark setting of London made it creepy and engrossing but I found it…lacking. I thought the book was going to be more and I wished it was more. Maybe even a series? Instead, it seems like a Stand-alone due to it’s wrapped up ending. I found myself mostly reading about the characters and their secured life behind The Palace walls. While people were being killed outside, Cam, Elliot and Iris were planning for a coming out ball. The true monster was the Lord Mayor and the author did not disappoint me with that. I guess I was just kind of hoping for more of the outside world? The ending was better as everything came crashing down around the group, shocking secret’s spilled, making the ending a lot more entertaining. But unfortunately I only got more of the Hyde from the ending than most of the book. Thought it didn’t feel rushed, I wished for more. I craved for the dark side of London, which was the reason I picked up this book.

The Writing

The writing itself was really good. I really liked the author’s style. Despite wanting more, I found myself unable to put down the book and was totally engrossed in it. The ideas seemed original and fresh. I liked the outlook on Hydes, I really enjoyed the underlying darkness of the book not just for the monster’s that roamed the city, but the monster’s that roamed behind the security of the Palace walls. Berthot did an excellent job pulling my attention in and not letting go. I was a bit confused about the genre of the book. I think it’s supposed to be YA, there was a bit more steam between Elliot and Iris than I would have read otherwise, or maybe I just have not read a YA book similar to this in a while. It didn’t go beyond kissing, but the sexual tension was definitely there.

In the end, this was actually a very interesting book. Did I want more? Yes, of course. I find myself torn with the rating. I gave it 3.5 stars, but it was honestly close to 4. I loved that even though everything that I wanted more of happened in the end, it did not feel too rushed for me. I just think it could have been more. Did I enjoy the writing? Absolutely. I will be picking up more from this author should she write anything else in the future. Her idea of this book in a sense was really fantastic. There was one positive from this stand-alone is the fact that the ending did not leave you screaming from a cliffhanger.