Stalking Jack The Ripper (Stalking Jack The Ripper #1)
By Kerri Maniscalco
Genre: YA Historical Fiction
Recommended For: Ages 17+ (there are some pretty graphic scenes) and history buffs who like a little twist on the true story, also great for crime-fiction lovers

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.

The Gist:

There are so many reasons I loved this book. The case of serial killer Jack the Ripper has long fascinated people and my interest in the case only increased after reading this story. Audrey Rose finds herself in the middle of the investigation, and not just because her uncle is the person examining the dead bodies (which she gets to assist with). Her partner in the investigation is the wise-cracking Thomas who has a Sherlock Holmes-esch quality to him and quickly became my favorite character. And it was fascinating to read about the Victorian forensics described in the story and Audrey Rose’s interest in inspecting dead bodies felt unique. I loved every minute I spent reading this book. There was never a dull moment, and even some scenes where it felt like my heart was racing a million miles a minute! For a book about death, I found the excitement and interesting characters rather refreshing.

What I Liked:

The first chapter blew my mind. After I read the first page I knew I was going to love this book. A young woman who is compassionate, yet also is not afraid to pursue knowledge and her passion or show people how smart she is? Oh, and she gets thrills from cutting into dead bodies? Yes please. Talk about a multi-faceted main character.

I think my favorite part was seeing how an investigation was carried out in the late 1800s. To see the leaps in technology during that time and how they assessed and understood what they discovered in the dead bodies intrigued me. I love it when I learn something from a book without it feeling like I’m in school. And Maniscalco did an excellent job portraying the information about the forensics and facts about Victorian life without it getting too teachy or feeling like an information dump.

Maniscalco also did an excellent job with the flirtation between Audrey Rose and Thomas. For those who love a good romantic plot line in their stories, this is the book for you. It never overshadowed the main plot, but boy did it add some juicy tension.

I was uber impressed with how well the book was paced. It never felt slow and Maniscalco managed to maintain an increasing level of intensity as the story went on, while still allowing the reader moments of breathing so my heart didn’t explode (which it almost did in one scene).

The character development was also top notch. Throughout the story, we see Audrey Rose and Thomas go through things that change them and reveal the deeper part of themselves they try to hide from most people. They both have come a long way by the time we reach the end.

What I Didn’t Like:

POTENTIAL SPOILER-READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

I wasn’t all the surprised about who Jack the Ripper was. There were a few people I had in my head as possibilities but by the time that was revealed, that person was my main guess. The only reason I listed this under what I didn’t like is because it felt like Maniscalco was going for some major twist, but it definitely didn’t feel like a twist to me. That being said, this did not affect my enjoying the book immensely so I don’t take any points away for it.

LunasLuckyRating: 5/5 Lunas