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stunoelle's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0
chewdigestbooks's review against another edition
2.0
I love Barker & Llewelyn, I really do. Yet when they or really their author, Will Thomas, take on the Ripper and chooses one of the actual suspects to nab, I have to put my foot down. As much as I enjoyed reading about their ways of going about the hunt and their interactions with Scotland Yard during the investigation, when anyone chooses their favorite Ripper suspect and points a finger toward him, in fiction or non-fiction, I cry foul.
1. It is like jumping on the cash cow bandwagon. Every book, again fiction or non-fiction, that does so is guaranteed more press and sales whether they have a crackpot reasoning or even a sensible one.
2. There is not enough evidence anymore to safely identify the actual ripper and anyone doing so is total conjecture and possibly dangerous.
And in the case of Barker & Llewelyn...
3. The characters are known to and should be celebrated for their attitude towards diversity and for them to possibly against that (Will leave out spoilers) disputes what we've come to know about them in the earlier 6 books.
That being said, I love the characters, we get to learn a bit more about them both and it won't stop me from reading the rest of the series.
I may go on a bit of a Ripper tirade every once in a while...ok, every time there is a book about him. I can't really blame those that do take him on, it's like catnip. Perhaps that is one of my major issues, it's too easy and if I read or hear of one more book that says that THEY have if figured out once and for all, I may puke.
1. It is like jumping on the cash cow bandwagon. Every book, again fiction or non-fiction, that does so is guaranteed more press and sales whether they have a crackpot reasoning or even a sensible one.
2. There is not enough evidence anymore to safely identify the actual ripper and anyone doing so is total conjecture and possibly dangerous.
And in the case of Barker & Llewelyn...
3. The characters are known to and should be celebrated for their attitude towards diversity and for them to possibly against that (Will leave out spoilers) disputes what we've come to know about them in the earlier 6 books.
That being said, I love the characters, we get to learn a bit more about them both and it won't stop me from reading the rest of the series.
I may go on a bit of a Ripper tirade every once in a while...ok, every time there is a book about him. I can't really blame those that do take him on, it's like catnip. Perhaps that is one of my major issues, it's too easy and if I read or hear of one more book that says that THEY have if figured out once and for all, I may puke.
truestorydesu's review against another edition
4.0
*Chomp* another fictional detective solves Jack the Ripper. Yay. Now on to book 8!
vkemp's review against another edition
4.0
Cyrus Barker and his assistant, Thomas Llewelyn, are hired by Scotland Yard to investigate the killings committed by Jack the Ripper. This is the third or fourth book I have read recently regarding the murders committed during 1888 by person or persons unknown. Barker and Llewelyn are as baffled as the rest, but know they cannot permit the Jews of Whitechapel to be driven out of the district by those who would perform this pogrom. As they investigate, more women are murdered, the canonical five. Barker does eliminate the royal connection (Prince Albert Victor, known as Eddy and his tutor, Stephen James) as well as John Pizer and Montague Druitt, all of whom were suspects at the time. No one will ever know if the suspect Barker and Llewelyn uncover is the real culprit, but Will Thomas presents a believable plot.
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