Posted in Book review

Book Review: Stalking Jack the Ripper

Posted on by Sionna (Books in Her Eyes)

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

Stalking Jack the Ripper (#1) by Kerru Maniscalco

Genres/Themes: Mystery, Thriller, Jack the Ripper, YA, Forensic science, Historical

★★★★☆

This was an absolutely fascinating book!

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord’s daughter, with a life of wealth and privilege stretched out before her. But between the social teas and silk dress fittings, she leads a forbidden secret life.

Against her stern father’s wishes and society’s expectations, Audrey often slips away to her uncle’s laboratory to study the gruesome practice of forensic medicine. When her work on a string of savagely killed corpses drags Audrey into the investigation of a serial murderer, her search for answers brings her close to her own sheltered world.

It started of badly… for me anyways, because I was trying to eat dinner and was reading about an autopsy.

*Shut book, finished dinner, took a break, then started it again*
Word of advise: Unless you don’t mind reading about death, autopsies, etc. while eating, I’d say put the book down because some of it seems a bit graphic if you have a good imagination because the author’s love of forensic science is indeed present.

Moving on, I thought this was a brilliant book. The science was there and interesting, there was witty banter that I totally ate up, deductive reasoning, and an interesting theory on who Jack the Ripper was as well as why he committed the crimes. I’m not sure if what the book has is what the author truly thinks about the unsolved crimes or if she came up with something fictional to make an intriguing book.
Audrey Rose is a good MC. Both girly, yet unafraid to get blood on her shoes, it was nice reading from her POV. Thomas is AMAZING. Loved that he was included– even if he was reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes (which probably made me like him more ^_^). Audrey Rose’s family was an interesting dynamic and showed how life was like for women in the time, although because it is fiction, she definitely gets away with more than she would have!

Personally, I thought the book was a bit wordy, which would lead me to being distracted by other things, but it wasn’t too bad.
My biggest concern with this book is how Audrey Rose is 1/2 or 1/4 Indian, talks about loving naan bread and wearing saris, yet it isn’t brought up besides that. She also has super white skin while if she actually had to deal with her mixed heritage I think the book would have been more interesting and full. But… in the end, it felt like a gimmick to make her ‘not just white’ #diversity when really… there is no diversity here.

Will I read the sequel??? Probably. I want more of the banter and plus… DRACULA! I’m down with that haha.

I recommend this to people who don’t mind liberties taken with historical fiction and murder mysteries.

Author:

10 thoughts on “Book Review: Stalking Jack the Ripper”

    1. It was………..weird.
      Mother had skin the color of ‘honey’ and daughter is ridiculously pale and only brings up Indian customs or food briefly….

      It was strange… I just don’t understand why the author made her that way in the first place.

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  5. I also really loved this book! It was fun, and was well written (with likable characters). I loved how Audrey Rose was both feminine but tough and really smart, not many characters are balanced like that. And Thomas was just awesome. He was like a more outgoing, flirty version of Sherlock Holmes. And I also can’t wait for the next book!
    While I wasn’t a big fan of the whole, “she’s mix-raced but it’s rarely mentioned” thing, I can sort of understand that. I’m half Asian, but the only time my family includes Asian culture in our lives is during extended family gatherings like Christmas and New Year’s. Like yeah, my mom does sometimes make Japanese food, but it’s really rare, and while we do have a few Japanese trinkets, they aren’t a big factor in our lives. So while I think it is important for diversity to be explored, my personal experiences made me less annoyed with it.

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    1. Hmmm, that is a good take on it [diversity mentioned]. It isn’t like we all talk or bring up our heritage all the time. ^_^ I would have thought having mixed parentage like that in that era would have brought more drama, but I’d have to do more research on it, really.

      Flirty Sherlock Holmes!!! I loved it. Thomas was probably my favorite character.

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      1. That’s a good point though. In the time period, it probably could’ve been a bigger deal than nowadays, where interracial families are much more common. I was just relating to my own experiences.
        Yeah, Thomas was a lot of fun! And he proved to be more interesting than I thought he would be. The romance in general was interesting; it was neither love at first sight or slow burning.

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