By J S Barnes

Titan Books, out now

In H G Wells’ The Island of Dr Moreau, a shipwrecked traveller finds himself alone on an island ruled by a mad doctor and inhabited by creatures who are at once both beast and human. He escapes…but that is only the beginning of the story.

As with his Dracula’s Child, J S Barnes has taken a classic novel and taken it in a new direction, and what a world it depicts. Serving as both a prequel and sequel to Wells’ 1896 classic, the book covers events from 1877 to 2035 in just under 350 pages. ‘Ambitious’ doesn’t begin to describe it.

A group of men track down Dr Moreau’s lab in London, where two of them lose their lives as victims of the scientist’s experiments in fusing humans with animals. He escapes to an island, and Wells’ novel is then played out as an epistolary by Edward Prendick. Maybe he should have kept this story to himself, as others show interest in Moreau’s teachings and create an underworld for the hybrid beasts.

Barnes’ writing grabs you be the scruff of the neck and drags you along at high speed. Each section of the book is divided into sub-chapters, presenting the action from a different character’s perspective. The only downside to this is that we don’t get to spend much time with each character, and may only later engage with them peripherally or not at all.

Barnes thinks nothing of jumping a year or decade between sections, allowing the evolution of the hybrid city to develop in a realistic timeframe. Rather than reading a complete history, we jump in at different entry points to enjoy key scenes – one involving an assassin on a train is remarkably good.

Verdict: An epic ‘what if…?’ that significantly expands Wells’ cautionary tale about genetic engineering, taking it to exciting new places. 8/10

Nick joy

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