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sprite_of_the_shadows's review against another edition
4.0
I loved the beginning of this book when the history and characters in this book. However, I couldn't help to feel that the conclusion did a disservice to the history. Over all entertaining but some of the plot holes and stretching disappointed me.
devey821's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
3.75
bananathemuffin's review against another edition
2.0
So I picked this book up because I'm highly interested in the Jack the Ripper murder case. Unfortunately, this book was a huge letdown for me. A huge thing was the fact that I guess the author decided not to use the data we do have on the case??? Other than the victims, I didn't recognize any of the names she used. Where were the numerous suspects we have records of? Where were the famous police detectives? Why was the only police officer a young, hot bachelor that was hinted at being a romantic interest for all of 5 seconds? Who knows. The author said she was inspired by wanting to know what the lives of the victims were before being murdered, but even then all she did was tell us that they worked for this girl's family before turning to prostitution.
There's this forward written by The James Patterson himself. I already don't have a very high opinion of him, but that's besides the point. He said that despite the book taking place in the 19th century, readers would find the main character to be a modern hero.
And exceptionally modern she was.
It felt like she didn't really care that she was living in the year 1888. The social norms of the day just didn't apply to Audrey Rose Wadsworth. Until, of course, she needed to bring them up to create forced tension between her and her love interest, Thomas. Then it was a problem that she was a lady and shouldn't be in close quarters with a boy without a chaperone. But who cares? Not Audrey Rose, as even after bringing up social regulations she would break them in the next sentence.
And the fact that a murderer was running around the streets of Whitechapel brutally murdering woman was less scary than the main character, dressed in her black riding slacks. Oh so scary. Grown men literally trembled before this teenage girl going through her goth phase in 19th century London. Oh, and she hated them right back, so I guess it evens out. She seemed to hate men on principle. A guy did something to annoy her? Yupp, she hated him for the rest of the book. He could never redeem himself.
I could rant about the book from cover to cover, but the end was what really got me, so I'm going to rant about that.
...no.
That's not how murder mysteries work. You, the reader, are supposed to be able to follow along and make your own guesses and accusations alongside the character. This one was like a slap in the face. The evidence pointing to her brother being the actual murderer? He wore gloves the entire book. He looked scared/upset when certain events happened and Audrey Rose is all "How could I have missed this???"
Well girl it's no show against your own intelligence since I'm right there scratching my head with you. Seriously? Evidence that supposedly points to her brother is that he got scared when certain events happened or people showed up? I'm really sorry, but there was talk of a brutal murderer on the loose. Any sane person would get noticeably upset at mention of the murder case.
And then to really rub salt in the wound, everyone offers Nathaniel a chance to just...leave? Like they don't even care that he hacked up all those women to go all Dr. Frankenstein on everyone (oh, by the way, this is all in the name to revive his dead mom. Very convincing). Audrey Rose, their father, and Thomas all tell him "if you promise that you're really sorry and won't do this again we'll let you go and won't tell the police where you went."
Like I get familial bonds, but for real? He tried to bring back your dead mom by slaughtering other women and your response is to just...let him go? I feel like more characters besides Jack the Ripper have major issues that need resolved. And then he kills himself. It's really quite the anticlimactic ending.
I guess the reason I'm giving this book two stars instead of just one is because it wasn't the worst thing I've ever read. It didn't insult or offend me on a personal level.
But long story short, I think that this book is poorly written and there's a lot of actual evidence and data on the Ripper case that could have really enriched the story and made it more believable, and the author just blatantly didn't use it.
There's this forward written by The James Patterson himself. I already don't have a very high opinion of him, but that's besides the point. He said that despite the book taking place in the 19th century, readers would find the main character to be a modern hero.
And exceptionally modern she was.
It felt like she didn't really care that she was living in the year 1888. The social norms of the day just didn't apply to Audrey Rose Wadsworth. Until, of course, she needed to bring them up to create forced tension between her and her love interest, Thomas. Then it was a problem that she was a lady and shouldn't be in close quarters with a boy without a chaperone. But who cares? Not Audrey Rose, as even after bringing up social regulations she would break them in the next sentence.
And the fact that a murderer was running around the streets of Whitechapel brutally murdering woman was less scary than the main character, dressed in her black riding slacks. Oh so scary. Grown men literally trembled before this teenage girl going through her goth phase in 19th century London. Oh, and she hated them right back, so I guess it evens out. She seemed to hate men on principle. A guy did something to annoy her? Yupp, she hated him for the rest of the book. He could never redeem himself.
I could rant about the book from cover to cover, but the end was what really got me, so I'm going to rant about that.
Spoiler
So it's supposed to be a murder mystery, yeah? Well guess again, because our murderer has very little evidence pointing towards him and everyone's reaction is just kind of "wow he was so good at hiding it throughout the entire book....no.
That's not how murder mysteries work. You, the reader, are supposed to be able to follow along and make your own guesses and accusations alongside the character. This one was like a slap in the face. The evidence pointing to her brother being the actual murderer? He wore gloves the entire book. He looked scared/upset when certain events happened and Audrey Rose is all "How could I have missed this???"
Well girl it's no show against your own intelligence since I'm right there scratching my head with you. Seriously? Evidence that supposedly points to her brother is that he got scared when certain events happened or people showed up? I'm really sorry, but there was talk of a brutal murderer on the loose. Any sane person would get noticeably upset at mention of the murder case.
And then to really rub salt in the wound, everyone offers Nathaniel a chance to just...leave? Like they don't even care that he hacked up all those women to go all Dr. Frankenstein on everyone (oh, by the way, this is all in the name to revive his dead mom. Very convincing). Audrey Rose, their father, and Thomas all tell him "if you promise that you're really sorry and won't do this again we'll let you go and won't tell the police where you went."
Like I get familial bonds, but for real? He tried to bring back your dead mom by slaughtering other women and your response is to just...let him go? I feel like more characters besides Jack the Ripper have major issues that need resolved. And then he kills himself. It's really quite the anticlimactic ending.
I guess the reason I'm giving this book two stars instead of just one is because it wasn't the worst thing I've ever read. It didn't insult or offend me on a personal level.
But long story short, I think that this book is poorly written and there's a lot of actual evidence and data on the Ripper case that could have really enriched the story and made it more believable, and the author just blatantly didn't use it.
laurax2304's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
busyreadingbooks's review against another edition
4.0
I'll reread this book and read the whole series one day, trust. This book made me realise how much I like Kerri Maniscalco's brand of writing.
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1st read - 4 ⭐️ (2020)
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1st read - 4 ⭐️ (2020)
sara11_reads's review against another edition
2.0
So much potential, too bad it was so poorly written.
xodandee's review against another edition
4.0
I stumbled upon this novel in a video by one of my favorite Booktubers, Sasha Alsberg. Jack the Ripper is a subject that has fascinated me for years, ever since I read Maureen Johnson's The Name of the Star. I even got to look at the letters Jack left for the police to find when I was in Europe a few months ago. National Archives is a wonderful resource. Anyway, from what I remember, I enjoyed the writing of Johnson's novel but was not 100% into where the plot was going---it wasn't what I was expecting.
I'll start with the main character, Audrey Rose Wadsworth. She's everything you'd want in a female protagonist---strong-willed, defiant, smart, and my favorite, not anything like how society wants her to be. Audrey spends her time opening up cadavers with her neurotic uncle. She possesses great skill in the science and strives to obtain any knowledge she can on the study, without her father knowing of course. While Audrey doesn't like to stick to the typical expectations of a woman during this time period, she does a nice job at creating a facade in order to conceal her true motives from the people that would disapprove and interfere with her plans.
What I admire most about her character is that her motives are not driven by the love interest and her potential relationship (He'll remain nameless because I want this to be as spoiler-free as possible). She's mesmerized by the science behind the murders and brutal states of the bodies that she and her uncle must analyze. It just so happens, however, that that allows her to cross paths with the love interest of the story. The two work together to try and figure out the crime, and while there are a few romantic scenes, it didn't take away from the plot nor did it seem out of place.
The writing itself was rather delicate and beautiful, but dark at the same time, which I think parallels to Audrey's personality quite nicely. The novel did not have as much dialogue as I would have liked, but it was nothing that took away from my desire to keep reading. The novel was very good about incorporating end of chapter cliffhangers, which made it hard for me to put this book down because I was always wanting to know what happened next.
As the story progressed, I was worried that I would know who Jack the Ripper was right away. However, Maniscalco did a great job in keeping me guessing in terms of who the true killer was, and there was a point where I had three different people on my list of potential suspects. Once you know who the killer is, it's interesting to remember the past comments and descriptions that were pointing to this specific character all along.
The ending was a bit underwhelming, and while I liked the twist on who the killer was, I didn't like the outcome afterwards. I thought it deserved a more interesting and dark ending than the simple and rather expected outcome of any mystery/crime novel. The novel ended rather quickly, and I had so many remaining questions after finishing it that I knew weren't ever going to be answered.
I'll start with the main character, Audrey Rose Wadsworth. She's everything you'd want in a female protagonist---strong-willed, defiant, smart, and my favorite, not anything like how society wants her to be. Audrey spends her time opening up cadavers with her neurotic uncle. She possesses great skill in the science and strives to obtain any knowledge she can on the study, without her father knowing of course. While Audrey doesn't like to stick to the typical expectations of a woman during this time period, she does a nice job at creating a facade in order to conceal her true motives from the people that would disapprove and interfere with her plans.
What I admire most about her character is that her motives are not driven by the love interest and her potential relationship (He'll remain nameless because I want this to be as spoiler-free as possible). She's mesmerized by the science behind the murders and brutal states of the bodies that she and her uncle must analyze. It just so happens, however, that that allows her to cross paths with the love interest of the story. The two work together to try and figure out the crime, and while there are a few romantic scenes, it didn't take away from the plot nor did it seem out of place.
The writing itself was rather delicate and beautiful, but dark at the same time, which I think parallels to Audrey's personality quite nicely. The novel did not have as much dialogue as I would have liked, but it was nothing that took away from my desire to keep reading. The novel was very good about incorporating end of chapter cliffhangers, which made it hard for me to put this book down because I was always wanting to know what happened next.
As the story progressed, I was worried that I would know who Jack the Ripper was right away. However, Maniscalco did a great job in keeping me guessing in terms of who the true killer was, and there was a point where I had three different people on my list of potential suspects. Once you know who the killer is, it's interesting to remember the past comments and descriptions that were pointing to this specific character all along.
The ending was a bit underwhelming, and while I liked the twist on who the killer was, I didn't like the outcome afterwards. I thought it deserved a more interesting and dark ending than the simple and rather expected outcome of any mystery/crime novel. The novel ended rather quickly, and I had so many remaining questions after finishing it that I knew weren't ever going to be answered.
karenholmes's review against another edition
4.0
This book surprised me. It's not a bad book at all, nor I was expecting it to be bad. But even though the author has explored the time and the stories about Jack the Ripper she comes with a fictional theory and she follows from there.
I liked the characters, specially the banter between Thomas and Audrey Rose and her relationship with her cousin and aunt.
But I did feel I needed a bit more. maybe I do need next books to make my mind.
I liked the characters, specially the banter between Thomas and Audrey Rose and her relationship with her cousin and aunt.
But I did feel I needed a bit more. maybe I do need next books to make my mind.