Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

61 reviews

madkatrob's review

adventurous dark funny informative mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Drug abuse

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Gore, Medical trauma, Murder, Classism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Confinement, Mental illness, Violence, Vomit, Body horror, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Stalking, Suicide, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Medical content, Blood, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

abby_can_read's review

dark informative mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This wasn't bad, but I struggled to stay engaged. The plot was fine. The author changed some of the facts around and added new characters.  There were times when I felt like I was reading something else. The characters were fine and I assume they will developer more in the next book. The character relationships were what kept me so interested, between Audrey Rose and Thomas and Audrey Rose and her family. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Sexism and Death of parent

Minor: Drug abuse

imbored_soillread's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

First, a rant about the mc and then I’ll tell y’all how great this book is. I think she was insufferable at times. I’m not sure if this was the authors intention or not, but I found myself hating her point of view a couple times in the story. I am completely all for powerful women, but Audrey seemed to consider herself smarter and morally higher than everyone else in the story. Maybe pride is intentionally her main flaw, but I couldn’t stand it most of the time. She often ignored the adults in her life in the name of feminism to do absolutely stupid things because she believes herself, a 17 year old teen, above death and injury. This does get better as the series moves forward though. I did enjoy the plot and will be reading the next in the series. The characters were worth rooting for for the most part, and I didn’t see most of the main twists coming.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Torture, Cannibalism, Death, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexism, Addiction, and Drug abuse

Extra warning- take’s God’s name in vain and looks down on religion. Makes sense in the context of the book but I think people should know what they are getting into if it goes against their religious beliefs.

bzliz's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

This fictionalization of the infamous Jack the Ripper murders stars Audrey Rose Wadsworth, a young lady yet to make her society debut who prefers apprenticing in autopsies with her uncle to attending teas and such as young ladies of the time “should” do. In doing so she meets Thomas Cresswell, a handsome but arrogant student of her uncle’s who also apprentices for him. The pair immerse themselves deeply in the crimes to help stop the vicious killer and they can’t seem to stay apart from each other. They chase clues and face setbacks together, sharing theories and ensuring her uncle isn’t executed after being falsely accused of the crimes, but perhaps the real killer is still someone close to her. 

The book is well paced and I appreciate that Audrey Rose doesn’t fall too deeply into the “not like other girls” trap. Despite her drive toward macabre science, she still enjoys fine dresses and makeup like her peers, though she does find it hard to relate to their lack of drive toward being more than a future wife. I wish we’d gotten to see more interaction with her cousin Liza; I think she could use a positive female presence on her side given the heavy male influence around her. 

Like many mysteries, the characters don’t get a lot of development. The greatest changes here are shown only in how Audrey Rose and Thomas’s dynamic shifts to be more like partners than adversaries. I hope there’s more personal growth in the next book but I’m not holding my breath for it. 

The ending does go a bit off the rails but in a fun way. The real killer is

Audrey Rose’s brother Nathaniel. She followed much evidence proclaiming her father as the killer but in truth her brother became obsessed with bringing their mother back to life in some kind of Frankenstein style experiment. This is why he was killing and harvesting organs of women who he saw as being worthless to society.

The reveal could have played out longer and the change of heart setting up the next book felt a little heavy handed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Murder, Blood, Gore, Sexism, and Death

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Cannibalism, Vomit, and Alcohol

toshi's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Medical content, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

parker_rj's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, and Medical content

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

Minor: Drug use and Drug abuse

jia_pet's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Medical content, Stalking, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Terminal illness, Blood, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

tanvi45's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Sexism

Minor: Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Grief

lauren_shilling's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

THIS WAS SO GOOD!!! I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, because it is young adult, and YA has been really hit or miss for me recently. It's also historical, which I do not always enjoy either. However, I heard a lot of really good things about this book, and I am very intrigued by stories like this in general, so I decided to give it a try! I am so glad that I did! I loved the main character, she was such an amazing mc to follow. And Thomas Cresswell has my entire heart. Seriously, it's been a long time since I've fallen in love with a love interest in a book that wasn't mainly a romance, but I loved him so much!!! I did predict the plot twist, but it actually didn't hinder my enjoyment of the story at all! Sometimes when I predict a plot twist, it makes me lose interest in the story, but not in this book! This actually made it more exciting for me to watch the characters figure it out too and also to see if I was right or not! I don't really know how to explain it, but I really loved it! I'm so upset I don't have the second book in the series immediately, because I am so excited to continue on with it!! I cannot get enough of Audrey Rose and Thomas, and am so excited to read more about them!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Death, Medical content, and Blood

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Grief, Misogyny, Torture, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism

Minor: Classism