Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - Stalking Jack the Ripper

This wasn't bad, but I struggled to stay engaged. The plot was fine. The author changed some of the facts around and added new characters. There were times when I felt like I was reading something else. The characters were fine and I assume they will developer more in the next book. The character relationships were what kept me so interested, between Audrey Rose and Thomas and Audrey Rose and her family.

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imbored_soillread's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

First, a rant about the mc and then I’ll tell y’all how great this book is. I think she was insufferable at times. I’m not sure if this was the authors intention or not, but I found myself hating her point of view a couple times in the story. I am completely all for powerful women, but Audrey seemed to consider herself smarter and morally higher than everyone else in the story. Maybe pride is intentionally her main flaw, but I couldn’t stand it most of the time. She often ignored the adults in her life in the name of feminism to do absolutely stupid things because she believes herself, a 17 year old teen, above death and injury. This does get better as the series moves forward though. I did enjoy the plot and will be reading the next in the series. The characters were worth rooting for for the most part, and I didn’t see most of the main twists coming.

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bzliz's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

This fictionalization of the infamous Jack the Ripper murders stars Audrey Rose Wadsworth, a young lady yet to make her society debut who prefers apprenticing in autopsies with her uncle to attending teas and such as young ladies of the time “should” do. In doing so she meets Thomas Cresswell, a handsome but arrogant student of her uncle’s who also apprentices for him. The pair immerse themselves deeply in the crimes to help stop the vicious killer and they can’t seem to stay apart from each other. They chase clues and face setbacks together, sharing theories and ensuring her uncle isn’t executed after being falsely accused of the crimes, but perhaps the real killer is still someone close to her.

The book is well paced and I appreciate that Audrey Rose doesn’t fall too deeply into the “not like other girls” trap. Despite her drive toward macabre science, she still enjoys fine dresses and makeup like her peers, though she does find it hard to relate to their lack of drive toward being more than a future wife. I wish we’d gotten to see more interaction with her cousin Liza; I think she could use a positive female presence on her side given the heavy male influence around her.

Like many mysteries, the characters don’t get a lot of development. The greatest changes here are shown only in how Audrey Rose and Thomas’s dynamic shifts to be more like partners than adversaries. I hope there’s more personal growth in the next book but I’m not holding my breath for it.

The ending does go a bit off the rails but in a fun way. The real killer is

Spoiler

Audrey Rose’s brother Nathaniel. She followed much evidence proclaiming her father as the killer but in truth her brother became obsessed with bringing their mother back to life in some kind of Frankenstein style experiment. This is why he was killing and harvesting organs of women who he saw as being worthless to society.

The reveal could have played out longer and the change of heart setting up the next book felt a little heavy handed.

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