Book Review :: Stalking Jack the Ripper, by Kerri Maniscalco

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
ISBN: 031627349X
Series: Stalking Jack the Ripper #1
Also in this series: Hunting Prince Dracula
on 2016-09-20
Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Young Adult
Pages: 327
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.

Last updated on 19 March 2023

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What is Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco about?

Stalking Jack the Ripper introduces us to Audrey Rose Wadsworth, a science-loving, autopsy-doing, elbow-deep-in-innards young woman in the 1880s who doesn’t want to just get married and settled down with some man she doesn’t love. Audrey is fascinated with science and spends most of her time with her uncle in his lab, avoiding her over-baring father who is trying to get her to marry, and trying to put up with Thomas Cresswell, her uncle’s apprentice.

Then the murders begin. And Audrey throws herself into the mystery, getting ever closer to Jack the Ripper as he terrorises the streets of London. As she puts together the mystery, she discovers that the murderer is not only someone she knows, it’s someone she loves. But who could it be… ? Dun dun dun!

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My thoughts on Stalking Jack the Ripper

This was a great book. I love a story set in the 1800s and better still when it’s in London. Incorporating a historical series of events like Jack the Ripper into a YA novel was an excellent move, and I loved the setting and the times just as much as the characters and the plot line.

Audrey as the main character was a lot of fun. She’s feisty and strong, and won’t let what society expects of her to be a barrier to what she really wants to do. The guts and gore of this book were so much fun to read, and I know that sounds barbaric and horrible, but the science and the autopsies were definitely a part of the story which I enjoyed. Thomas Cresswell gets mixed reactions on the internet and the reviews that I’ve read, but I liked his character. And I totally ship Audrey and Thomas and want to read the next book asap.

“There’s nothing better than a little danger dashed with some romance.”

There were several suspects throughout the story of who the Ripper was going to be (we knew from the get go that it was someone close to Audrey), and while the reveal was meant to be a shocker, I did call who I thought it was long before we got to that stage. Having said that, I think the reveal was done really well, and for those who perhaps didn’t see it coming, then the impact would have been pretty in the face.

A few gripes include Audrey’s Indian heritage not getting a look in (her mother is Indian, father English), and I think that could have been handled much better. Also there were so few female characters other than Audrey and her cousin, with whom she goes to for advice and to complain but not much else. Here’s hoping for more female characters in the next one.

Overall, loved this book! It reminded me of Clockwork Angel/Prince/Princess by Cassandra Clare, and also a bit of The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee. I can’t wait to get into Hunting Prince Dracula, which sees Audrey and Thomas off to Romania on an adventure, and then follow that up with Escaping from Houdini and Capturing the Devil.

Have you this book/series? What did you think (without spoilers!)?