Review: Stalking Jack the Ripper

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was kind of fascinating in terms of the case, because who isn't curious about unsolved serial killer murders? Most people have heard of Jack the Ripper (and if you haven't, how big exactly is the rock you live under?) but personally I've never looked into the details of it except for maybe watching that one Johnny Depp movie.

So subject matter - entirely fascinating.

Audrey Rose is a cool character. I like how she's such a feminist considering it was the 1800s, but it also irked me a little because I felt like a lot of the arguments against sexism were kind of modern? Like I get that it's possible there were contrary women back in the day who had their own ideas and whatnot, and I'm sure there were stereotypes like her tea friends, but it just felt a little too much like the author was using a history piece to discuss the absurdity of current sexist injustices. But maybe that's just me and I'm a little sensitive. Audrey is cool, though. She has no time for your misogynistic crap.

Thomas was a catch, too. Who doesn't love a smarmy, arrogant douchebag with a heart of gold? At least Audrey resisted him a bit. That whole kiss-or-kill dilemma ... *sigh*

Nathaniel was an interesting character but there was too little of him for my liking, and I was pretty confused about how I was supposed to feel about their father. This story seemed to jump around a bit and for some reason I found it hard to really lose myself in the story. I really enjoyed it, but was never totally invested.

I'm pretty mad at the blurb because the story makes this big deal about 'who could possibly be the killer?' but you have a pretty short list of suspects after reading the back cover. It bugged me. That being said, I worked out the killer pretty early on and it didn't hugely impact my reading experience. Is it wrong to be so fascinated by gore?! Like, I don't really care about solving the mystery, I'm way more curious about what he did to those bodies. I feel a little sick though when I take the time to remember this actually happened to real people. Those poor women. Such an absolute injustice that no one was ever convicted for their murders.

I have read so many glowing reviews for this book and I think that's where my disappointment comes in. Because I enjoyed it, but nowhere near as much as everyone else seemed to. It was a good story, and it's nice to read some gritty YA for a change, but it was still too predictable and familiar to really blow me away.

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