Search This Blog








2023 Literary Escapes Challenge
- Alabama (1)
- Alaska
- Arizona (1)
- Arkansas
- California (4)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut (1)
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia (1)
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas (1)
- Kentucky
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland (1)
- Massachusetts (1)
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York (2)
- North Carolina (1)
- North Dakota
- Ohio (1)
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina (1)
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont (2)
- Virginia
- Washington (2)
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.*
International:
- Australia (2)
- Canada (2)
- England (4)
- France (1)
- Ireland (1)
- Scotland (1)
- South Korea (1)
- The Netherlands (1)
-Vietnam (1)





2023 Build Your Library Reading Challenge







Monday, January 30, 2017
YA Jack the Ripper Novel Just Okay
2:00 AM
(Image from Barnes & Noble)
Audrey Rose hides a secret desire behind her high-born Victorian facade. The 17-year-old is fascinated by science, specifically forensics, the science of crime and death. As often as she can, Audrey Rose sneaks away from the home she shares with her paranoid father and protective older brother to her uncle's laboratory. An unofficial apprentice, she watches and learns all she can from her Uncle Jonathon's study of recently-deceased bodies. Disguised as a young man, she even attends his lectures on forensics at a local boy's school.
When Jonathon starts receiving the corpses of women brutalized in similar ways, it becomes apparent that a serial killer is on the loose in London. With the help of a handsome schoolmate, Audrey Rose is determined to find the killer. To her shock, the clues lead her in the one direction she doesn't want to go ...
I find books about forensics, especially in the earliest days of the discipline, intriguing, so naturally I wanted to give Stalking Jack the Ripper, a debut novel by Kerri Maniscalco, a go. What did I think? Well, it tells a compelling story. Familiar, yes. Predictable, yes. But I still found myself engrossed. Even though I could tell where the plot was going, I wanted to know how it all wrapped up. My biggest problem with the novel was with our heroine, Audrey Rose. A wealthy Victorian young woman flitting off to a bloody lab and gory crime scenes frequently without raising many eyebrows seems extremely far-fetched. The fact that she cares nothing about her reputation or family name means she risks little by dabbling in the "dark arts," making her story less tense and urgent than it could have been. Audrey Rose also seems more interested in science than humanity, which makes her difficult to empathize with at times. Considering all this, I didn't end up enjoying Stalking Jack the Ripper nearly as much as I thought I would. It kept me reading, but in the end, it was just okay for me.
(Readalikes: Reminds me a little of A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis)
Grade:
If this were a movie, it would be rated:
for brief, mild language (no F-bombs), violence, and blood/gore
To the FTC, with love: I bought a copy of Stalking Jack the Ripper from Changing Hands Bookstore with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger. Ha ha.
1 comment:
Comments make me feel special, so go crazy! Just keep it clean and civil. Feel free to speak your mind (I always do), but be aware that I will delete any offensive comments.
P.S.: Don't panic if your comment doesn't show up right away. I have to approve each one before it posts to prevent spam. It's annoying, but it works!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(Atom)




Reading
Murder Off the Books by Tamara Berry

Listening
Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country in the World by Sarah Smarsh



Followin' with Bloglovin'



-
Farm to Trouble47 minutes ago
-
Bookcover Spotlight #3014 hours ago
-
-
61. The Book Spy8 hours ago
-
-
Now You See Me byDK Hood9 hours ago
-
Time Travel Thursday12 hours ago
-
-
#ThrowbackThursday. Swords of Ice13 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
A Review of The Gift18 hours ago
-
The Bone Shard War19 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole2 days ago
-
-
Warrior Girl Unearthed2 days ago
-
Bookshelf Bounty5 days ago
-
I have been reading...5 days ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Book Blogger Hop #61 week ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
Books Read in 20232 months ago
-
-
Nonfiction November 2022: New to My TBR3 months ago
-
Are you looking for Pretty Books?5 months ago
-
-
HEARTS OF BRIARWALL by Krista Jensen7 months ago
-
-
-
-

Grab my Button!



Blog Archive
- ► 2021 (159)
- ► 2020 (205)
- ► 2019 (197)
- ► 2018 (223)
- ▼ 2017 (157)
- ► 2016 (157)
- ► 2015 (188)
I have a hard time with these types of books. While it would have been nice for a women to get herself involved in solving crime back then without anyone caring, it's just too hard to swallow knowing it wouldn't have been possible. Plus since they never caught Jack The Ripper I hate reading books about him. Leaves me unsatisfied.
ReplyDelete