Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

Stalking Jack the Ripper is a book that I've been wanting to read for a long while. I've spoken to Kerri Maniscalco a few times on Twitter and knowing she was so nice just made me need it even more. The thing is that when it comes to historical novels or stories about serial killers...I'm really picky. If something is wrong I will point it out and it might be why I don't enjoy a huge amount of either.

This novel, however, had mostly good so let's talk about it, shall we!



What I Liked

Getting a modem woman right in a historical setting can be hard. Feminism has changed so much in a short period of time so we can't stick our values on women who wouldn't have behaved that well. But Kerri did a good job with Audrey Rose. She had a Victorian sense of propriety but still wanted women to be more equal and treated as people. It was a good mix and I look forward to seeing how she deals with school in book 2. I'm glad she was very feminine and liked fashion so when she did start wearing trousers, it was as a practicality and it wasn't a big thing. Some women would have already been doing so after all and they wouldn't have been seen as proper for it either.

The romance was something else I liked. Cresswell was funny and teasing, he made me like him and he was very smart. I liked their relationship and how they bickered. You can see how they'll help each other grow as people in the future and as they're teenagers and that's important. They aren't the people they'll be in a few years and I think you got a glimpse of that.

The forensic science and criminal profiling parts of the book were great. I would have maybe liked to see more of how the police failed the investigation but on Audrey Rose's side, you could see that Kerri knew what she was talking about with the science and the profiling. It was also generally nice to see a book with a heroine that was so focused on science.

What I Didn't Like

I said when I find something wrong with this sort of novel I'll say and there were two things I did have a big issue with and they sort of tie together.

I didn't like the Frankenstein aspect of the book. Because we don't know who the Ripper was and why he did what he did, Kerri got away with it and it made the book intriguing to read. But when you find out who the killer is...it doesn't really make much sense. I can see the main reason why he was doing so but with the timeline, I couldn't see a trigger. Who the killer was did make sense so I'm not going to deduct points for that but I would have liked to see more of the trigger after there was some great profiling.

Overall I really loved the book though and I would recommend it. If you're looking for something original that is such a clever read then this really is it. Everything about this book feels so true to the time and to real serial killers which is totally awesome and the slight paranormal twist on book 1 and I'm super excited to see how things go on book 2.

5/5 stars