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rachel_abby_reads's review
2.0
London in the late 1800s is still struggling with a post Jack the Ripper world- one in which this most disturbing villain has not been caught. There plenty of other villains - murderers, cannibals, child molesters. They have been caught and incarcerated. Justice has been served.
Still. Doesn't that seem unsatisfying? They caused so much pain, suffering and fear. Doesn't incarceration seem ... inadequate? The Karstphanomen certainly think so. It's a "society" of men who believe that true justice, one that might actually result in rehabilitation, is for these villains (you can tell who the bad guys are, of course; they're the ones in jail) to suffer as their victims did. Over and over. Including the famous Saucy Jack.
Oh, yes. He's chained and detained in a dark cell in a catacomb under London. He was caught. Just never tried. And the Karstphanomen have arranged to break 5 other heinous killers from prison, to face their personal brand of justice. Too bad things don't always go as planned, and now these men, and Saucy Jack, are on the loose again.
Back to our heroes: Walter Day and Nevil Hammersmith. Walter's wonderful wife Claire has nearly reached term with her pregnancy. Walt is feeling all kinds of ambivalent here, which is natural and common, but we never get to see the resolution of it. We're left in an odd limbo.
There is plenty of blood and gore (the worst of it takes place off screen, as it were, but there is still plenty of spraying blood and post-mortem description to upset the average digestion). Lots of tension - will Jack kill, who will he kill, and holy cow, if the good guys are in this mess, how can this possibly work out?!
And thus ends the book. It doesn't. Grecian has done a fine job of making it look like there will be no happy ending, at least not until the next book comes along. It's like he's tired of this world and story, and he wants to end it in such a way that there is no clamour for more. I might well accept his motive.
On a side note: Jack adopts the delusion that he is somehow a Christ figure. As a former jail nurse, I have met three different men claiming to be Jesus Christ. I must say, the ultimate effect of encountering all these delusions that the true Christ is seen more truly as the miracle that he was and is.
Still. Doesn't that seem unsatisfying? They caused so much pain, suffering and fear. Doesn't incarceration seem ... inadequate? The Karstphanomen certainly think so. It's a "society" of men who believe that true justice, one that might actually result in rehabilitation, is for these villains (you can tell who the bad guys are, of course; they're the ones in jail) to suffer as their victims did. Over and over. Including the famous Saucy Jack.
Oh, yes. He's chained and detained in a dark cell in a catacomb under London. He was caught. Just never tried. And the Karstphanomen have arranged to break 5 other heinous killers from prison, to face their personal brand of justice. Too bad things don't always go as planned, and now these men, and Saucy Jack, are on the loose again.
Back to our heroes: Walter Day and Nevil Hammersmith. Walter's wonderful wife Claire has nearly reached term with her pregnancy. Walt is feeling all kinds of ambivalent here, which is natural and common, but we never get to see the resolution of it. We're left in an odd limbo.
There is plenty of blood and gore (the worst of it takes place off screen, as it were, but there is still plenty of spraying blood and post-mortem description to upset the average digestion). Lots of tension - will Jack kill, who will he kill, and holy cow, if the good guys are in this mess, how can this possibly work out?!
And thus ends the book. It doesn't. Grecian has done a fine job of making it look like there will be no happy ending, at least not until the next book comes along. It's like he's tired of this world and story, and he wants to end it in such a way that there is no clamour for more. I might well accept his motive.
On a side note: Jack adopts the delusion that he is somehow a Christ figure. As a former jail nurse, I have met three different men claiming to be Jesus Christ. I must say, the ultimate effect of encountering all these delusions that the true Christ is seen more truly as the miracle that he was and is.
diannel_04's review
2.0
Alough I really like the characters of Inspector Day and Sergeant Hammersmith I really couldn't enjoy this book. The parts with them in it were interesting but the parts where Jack the Ripper is the narrator were just plain annoying. This makes Jack sound like a raving lunatic, which technically he was, but if he was as crazy as this guy he could never have gotten away with what he did without being picked up and locked away.
The most annoying thing in this book is that Claire Day is heavily pregnant with her first child, she's actually does give birth, in her own house, in her own bed. Well guess what, she had the kid, she already had her first kid in book 2, The Black Country and it wasn't under these circumstances.
All in all I have to say this book was a huge disappointment after the first two which I thoroughly enjoyed. I hope Alex Grecian goes back to their formula for book 3 because this one did not work.
The most annoying thing in this book is that Claire Day is heavily pregnant with her first child, she's actually does give birth, in her own house, in her own bed. Well guess what, she had the kid, she already had her first kid in book 2, The Black Country and it wasn't under these circumstances.
All in all I have to say this book was a huge disappointment after the first two which I thoroughly enjoyed. I hope Alex Grecian goes back to their formula for book 3 because this one did not work.
pollyno9's review
4.0
Such a quick read for so many pages! It managed to be very fast paces without feeling rushed.
jennybeastie's review
2.0
I think perhaps this is one of those series that isn't meant to be read all at once -- I've been enjoying up until this book, but this one? Meh. Very predictable/ heavy-handed foreshadowing, very unbelievable secret society that lends to a tortured plot, and I just got frustrated seeing the same villains come back again. It felt a little like a batman movie -- the joker has escaped and is up to his old tricks! But now he's targeting the hero! Duh-duh-duh!
*sigh*
I'm relieved at the survival rate of the main characters, but I'm not sure I find that believable, either, and the set up for the next book just makes me want to headdesk.
*sigh*
I'm relieved at the survival rate of the main characters, but I'm not sure I find that believable, either, and the set up for the next book just makes me want to headdesk.
tanyarobinson's review
3.0
I have very mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I think the plot is quite clever, and I found myself musing a lot about the idea of "appropriate punishment" for violent criminals. The interesting characters I loved from the first two Murder Squad books, however, took a back seat to a very twisted Jack the Ripper. I actually got bored with his wandering monologues, and was disturbed by the gory violence throughout the book. I was also a bit let down by the ending. I'm not sure if I'll continue with the series or not.
slimikin's review
2.0
For a little while there, I thought Grecian would just kill every single one of his characters and leave me sitting, stunned and awash in their blood, in the parlor of Day's house. Yeesh. This was definitely more of a gory thriller than the smart, historically nuanced mysteries I've come to expect from this series.
carolsnotebook's review against another edition
2.0
Things I didn’t like -
1. Jack the Ripper – really? Couldn’t we have a new bad guy, not one who’s been written and re-written a million times? It just annoyed me.
2. Day’s wife Claire has her babies in this one. Not only was she annoying, but I really don’t want to read about labor.
This is a bit more gory than most mysteries I read, but that didn’t really bother me. I don’t know that it’s really a mystery, more a thriller. We know who the killers are already and the other bad guy is pretty obvious from the beginning.
I will say John Curless did an excellent job as reader. He kept the characters separate and there were several longer dialogues that he kept interesting and moving along. I felt like he read it as it was meant to be read, melodrama and all. I probably wouldn’t have finished it if it had been in print instead of audio.
You can find my whole review at
1. Jack the Ripper – really? Couldn’t we have a new bad guy, not one who’s been written and re-written a million times? It just annoyed me.
2. Day’s wife Claire has her babies in this one. Not only was she annoying, but I really don’t want to read about labor.
This is a bit more gory than most mysteries I read, but that didn’t really bother me. I don’t know that it’s really a mystery, more a thriller. We know who the killers are already and the other bad guy is pretty obvious from the beginning.
I will say John Curless did an excellent job as reader. He kept the characters separate and there were several longer dialogues that he kept interesting and moving along. I felt like he read it as it was meant to be read, melodrama and all. I probably wouldn’t have finished it if it had been in print instead of audio.
You can find my whole review at
hslk0111's review
3.0
I loved the first book. The second book was pretty good. This one was just okay. I like the characters and the time period, but the plot was a little far fetched. I will, however, eagerly wait for book 4.