Another Jekyll, Another Hyde

March 1, 2012

Gr 8 Up-Madame Vileroy is as evil as ever. She is joined by several other characters from Another Faust (2009) and Another Pan (2010, both Candlewick) as she returns to the exclusive prep school Marlowe Academy. The demon-governess is once again stalking wealthy New York teens, putting their lives and souls at risk so that she can achieve immortality. Her newest victims are golden boy Thomas Goodman-Brown and his billionaire father. Using her powers of persuasion and deception, Vileroy becomes, much to Thomas's horror, his stepmother. Once installed in the Goodman-Brown mansion, she begins implementing her plan to destroy Thomas's soul and mind and resurrect the son she herself murdered centuries earlier. But Thomas may prove to be far stronger and more resourceful than Vileroy suspects. Though occasionally frustratingly stupid, he is a likable character, and the story provides enough suspense and mystery to keep readers engaged. However, many teens will be lost in several places if they haven't read the previous volumes, and the authors' attempts to fill in the backstory feel awkward and are not fully illuminating. Recommended where the series is popular.-Anthony C. Doyle, Livingston High School, CA

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2012
One of the Marlowe students finds his internal conflicts becoming all-too external, Jekyll-and-Hyde style, in the conclusion to the Another... series. Following his sudden break-up with Belle Faust in Another Faust (2009), Thomas Goodman-Brown hasn't been the same. Everyone thinks him constantly intoxicated (without justification; it's only occasional), but really he's reeling from the after-effects of the magic the Faust children used on him. A combination of his presumed guilt and the strain of his father's marriage to the missing Belle's governess Nicola Vileroy leads to Thomas' acceptance of a mystery drug at a club. Soon, Thomas is blacking out, students are being attacked and Vileroy drops a bombshell: There's a new stepbrother for Thomas, apart from her adopted Faust children. With help from briefly returning Another Faust and Another Pan (2010) characters, Thomas slowly pieces together how his troubles tie into Vileroy's motives. The prose is peppered with delightfully witty one-liners--the humor goes a long way toward keeping Thomas likable. The narration mostly follows Thomas, creating a focus that both enables his believable disorientation from the drug and allows his personal risks to elevate the story's tension. The preludes at chapter beginnings complete the story of who and what Vileroy is, building upon each other until questions raised by the previous novels have been answered. A high-stakes conclusion that satisfies. (Fantasy. 14 & up)

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February 1, 2012
Grades 7-10 Concluding the story line of Another Faust (2009) and Another Pan (2010)but perfectly readable as a single titlethis book brings back the sultry demon Nicola Vileroy, as she faces off against billionaire teen Thomas Goodman-Brown. While the literary references made in the first two volumes were a bit obscure, the Nayeris find a clever, accessible way to put a fresh spin on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic. Thomas is given a designer drug called W by a girl at a club, and his growing addiction to the pills coincide with increasing blackouts. Soon he is hearing a voice in his head: Edward Hyde, Nicola's son, who wishes to be reborn through Thomas' body and begins to take physical control of it in order to do some very ghastly things. The world of New York City kids is mercilessly drawn, and the authors have quite a bit of fun when Thomas and Edward begin fighting for control of their shared mouth, often within the same sentence. Never too scary, this is solid, nonromantic paranormal fare.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2012
In this third installment ([cf2]Another Faust[cf1]; [cf2]Another Pan[cf1]), the mysterious events center on an exclusive Manhattan prep school. When Thomas experiences inexplicable behavior swings and brutally attacks a classmate, he blames it on a powerful drug; in fact, his stepmother, a demon, is using Thomas to house the spirit of her son, Edward. The pace is slow, and the supernatural elements could be scarier.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)