A reimagined HG Well's "The Island of Dr. Moreau" with a female lead, "The Madman's Daughter" tries but ultimately falls flat as a gothic tale with the expected love triangle. In Shepherd's story Dr. Moreau has a 16 year old daughter who he abandoned after being banned from London society. She ultimately finds out he is still alive and living on an island somewhere in the South Pacific, living there so he can continue performing the medical procedures that got him in trouble with both the moral and legal authorities of his time.
To the detriment of the story, Juliet is a flat character who is quickly described as shockingly beautiful and interested in anatomy (unheard of for females of her time) but truly only serves as a someone who can react to the various events that happen around her.
The two male leads are enthralled with her (one her father's assistant, the other a castaway recovered on the voyage to the island)for reasons not readily apparent to the reader, and she of course struggles to decide which one she wants to be with. While the reader also understands the novel is set in Victorian times, the constant bosom heaving is distracting and pops up at awkward times. For example, when one of the male leads is comforting Juliet with an embrace after they find an eviscerated murder victim, her thoughts do not lie with the awful situation but instead on how turned on she gets by the embrace. Yikes.
Thankfully interesting philosophical questions are brought up in the story - What makes a man? Should man play God, even if he can? - which kept me reading. Still disappointed this is a planned trilogy. I didn't feel there was hardly enough to flesh out this volume, let alone two more.