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A review by davastewart
Ripper by Isabel Allende
3.0
First, I love Allende, in large part because I love magical realism. However, I also enjoy a good thriller/mystery as well, so I was excited about this. And I liked it, quite a lot -- until the very end. I liked it so much that it was hard to give it three stars, but...well, the end. I didn't like it at all. It felt like a cop out.
If you don't want spoilers, stop reading now.
In the end, the killer turns out to be not one, not two, but THREE people in one. I could buy the story that the killer was a man who dressed as a woman and befriended the MC -- who was a healing arts practitioner. She did massages, among other things. I could not buy that the MC knew both the male and female versions of the killer and didn't recognize that they were the same person.
Even more annoying was that when you get to the end of the story, the killer does some narration, but they (singular "they" right there!) mention the male version of themselves as if he were someone else. I don't know if this meets the technical definition of "red herring" but it felt manipulative when, in the last few pages, the big twist is revealed.
Still, all but the last 10-20% of the story was GREAT. I liked the characters, I liked the steady but calm building of the tension, and I liked the lyrical quality of Allende's prose. If I could do it, I'd rate it at 3.75 stars.
I haven't read other reviews, but if you like mystery and/or Allende, you might like this one. But you also might be annoyed by the ending.
If you don't want spoilers, stop reading now.
In the end, the killer turns out to be not one, not two, but THREE people in one. I could buy the story that the killer was a man who dressed as a woman and befriended the MC -- who was a healing arts practitioner. She did massages, among other things. I could not buy that the MC knew both the male and female versions of the killer and didn't recognize that they were the same person.
Even more annoying was that when you get to the end of the story, the killer does some narration, but they (singular "they" right there!) mention the male version of themselves as if he were someone else. I don't know if this meets the technical definition of "red herring" but it felt manipulative when, in the last few pages, the big twist is revealed.
Still, all but the last 10-20% of the story was GREAT. I liked the characters, I liked the steady but calm building of the tension, and I liked the lyrical quality of Allende's prose. If I could do it, I'd rate it at 3.75 stars.
I haven't read other reviews, but if you like mystery and/or Allende, you might like this one. But you also might be annoyed by the ending.