cover image Hyde & Seek

Hyde & Seek

Simon R. Green. Baen, $28 (256p) ISBN 978-1-982193-38-6

Ex-cop Daniel Carter and his partner-in-violence Valentina “Tina” Hyde return in this blood-soaked urban fantasy. Having slaughtered the monster clans who ruled the criminal underworld and dispatched their creator Edward Hyde in 2021’s Jekyll & Hyde, Inc., Daniel and Tina, made unstoppably strong and nigh-indestructible through a special elixir, discover that aliens have long coveted Earth. With the monster clans gone, only Daniel and Tina remain to foil the aliens’ insidious agendas. The duo must track down and destroy the Greys, the Reptiloids, the Martians, and the Bug-Eyed Monsters who labor in secret to exploit and conquer the world, a quest which sees them contacting old friends for information and making strange new allies along the way. This second installment has an episodic feel, but it’s just as brutal, visceral, and bloody as the first, with Green’s protagonists coming across as every bit as monstrous as their opponents and twice as violent. The result is a fast-paced, adrenaline-fueled tale that’s reminiscent of grindhouse cinema and sure to satisfy series fans. Agent: Joshua Bilmes, JABberwocky Literary. (May)