Book Review: Stalking Jack the Ripper

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Do you ever start a book thinking it is going to be okay. Like, a middle-of-the-road book. A book that you neither stay up late reading nor put down and forget about. When I saw that this book was recommended by James Patterson that is what I was expecting.

Not that there is anything wrong with James Patterson, but seriously, that is how his books makes me feel (and I have a sneaking suspicion that he isn't actually writing any books anymore, but that is a topic for another blog entry).

Anywho, back to the story. I was surprised. No, I was shocked at how good this was. My sister, whom I should probably listen to more often, don't tell her I said that. Anyway, my sister was like, "well, I've heard great things about it." Seriously? I hadn't heard anything about it. I just am enjoying these historical YA books lately. That's how it ended up on my list. Well, and it had an interesting cover.


Okay, if you're looking for girl-power, you've got it here. Even better that it is a historical book because it means more that Audrey Rose is all about being her own person. I love this theme lately. We are moving away from that fairy tale type book (enter the dashing boy hero) and seeing more girls who are saving themselves ... and bringing a dashing boy along for the ride.

I'm focusing (did I mention it's late and I took cold medicine, sorry if this is totally disjointed). Audrey Rose is not only super cool and solving crimes, she is actually wanting to study forensic medicine and is cool with cutting open cadavers etc. Which brings me to point one of what I didn't like: GORE. It gets a little descriptive. If I knew more about Jack the Ripper, I probably wouldn't have been surprised, but wowza ... ewwwwww.

Second point I struggled with was the father character. He was just too much. He was worried about too much, he had a billion character flaws ... he was too much. I can't go into details because it will give away plot points and I hate that in reviews. But, I didn't like how he was handled.

Finally, the romance bit. I really liked it. I even "aww'd" a few times. Thomas is kind of exactly the type of character I love in these stories. A bit of a jerk, but also charming and adorably sweet. So, yay for the romance. Also, the romance wasn't a bit plot point, it wasn't really even a part of the plot. Bravo Kerri Maniscalco for writing a book that could stand on it's own without being a "romance" driven plot. Yay!

Did I already say finally, then I guess this is a post script because the ending. Even if you don't like the book, you have to finish it, because the ending is spot on. Not that I hadn't figured it out already, I was so excited that it happened the way I hoped. Brilliant.

Signing off and taking my sick self to bed. See you later bookworms!