Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
February18 book for Poison Apple Book Club
Instagram: @taleswithnicole
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"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." (goodreads)
I usually don't read historical fiction but I couldn't help but be intrigued by the Jack the Ripper aspect of this novel. I desperately wanted to love it, so when I was having trouble getting into the story it actually made me sad. The details were incredible, the amount of research the author must have done to make this story as real and accurate as possible was something I greatly appreciated. I even looked up the names of the victims myself and was so impressed with how she wrote each victim and murder as true as possible which keeping in line with the story Maniscalco. The main character of Audrey Rose was someone so interesting to me. I really connected with her on her interests and obsession with tracking down the Ripper, yet was amazed by portal of women from her time in London 1888. Her relationship with classmate Thomas Cresswell was fun and entertaining. So what was my problem!? With all these amazing things going for this book I was having a hard time picking this book up. I'm convinced it was just my mood, so to make sure I made the deadline to discuss this book for the online book discussion I got the audiobook from audible. The audiobook captivated me. I followed along in my book, making sure to pay full attention and ended up binge listening to the entire audiobook in a day. Having someone read for Audrey Rose gave her more of a voice and it just made the book so much more enjoyable for me.
I had a coworker read this book around when it was first released and no one else had read it. She was dying to talk about the identity of Jack the Ripper and I originally wasn't planning on reading the book until the entire series was released in paperback. So I let her talk about the major spoiler in this book with me and it didn't bother me at all. Since I read it way earlier than I expected, the identity of the Ripper was still fresh in my mind but I didn't care, this book was still so good. I felt it didn't take away from the story and it actually made it a little painful knowing what Audrey Rose didn't. I kept wanting to scream at her when she was getting closer and when she was getting way off track. I actually quiet enjoyed reading it this way but I am also excited to go into Hunting Prince Dracula knowing absolutely nothing.
Audrey Rose is such an inspirational character. She comes from an upper class family and single handedly made the decision she wanted more from her life than just to be married off and be nothing more than a pretty face. She is going against her father and society to prove, to herself and to others that women have more to offer. Audrey Rose is the hero of her story, not the damsel in distress. I love her passion and strength. I cannot wait to see where her character goes in the rest of this series.
I choose this book for my February book club read because it was described on the back cover that Audrey Rose was in love with Jack the Ripper and I thought that was a INSANE angle. Unfortunately that wasn't actually the case. In no way did I feel Audrey Rose was in love with the Ripper, she might have understood him at times but definitely did not love him. She was driven to find out his identity to bring justice to the women he slaughtered, which is a way more comforting storyline. However this book did not disappoint in the love area and I really felt the growing connection between Audrey Rose and Thomas developed rather maturely over the few months this novel takes place in.
This was a great first book from Kerri and I look forward to following Audrey Rose on more incredible adventures. I hope in the future Kerri plans on writing more historical fiction murder mysteries, she's amazing at it. And there are definitely no shortage of serial killers over the course of history to choose from!
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." (goodreads)
I usually don't read historical fiction but I couldn't help but be intrigued by the Jack the Ripper aspect of this novel. I desperately wanted to love it, so when I was having trouble getting into the story it actually made me sad. The details were incredible, the amount of research the author must have done to make this story as real and accurate as possible was something I greatly appreciated. I even looked up the names of the victims myself and was so impressed with how she wrote each victim and murder as true as possible which keeping in line with the story Maniscalco. The main character of Audrey Rose was someone so interesting to me. I really connected with her on her interests and obsession with tracking down the Ripper, yet was amazed by portal of women from her time in London 1888. Her relationship with classmate Thomas Cresswell was fun and entertaining. So what was my problem!? With all these amazing things going for this book I was having a hard time picking this book up. I'm convinced it was just my mood, so to make sure I made the deadline to discuss this book for the online book discussion I got the audiobook from audible. The audiobook captivated me. I followed along in my book, making sure to pay full attention and ended up binge listening to the entire audiobook in a day. Having someone read for Audrey Rose gave her more of a voice and it just made the book so much more enjoyable for me.
I had a coworker read this book around when it was first released and no one else had read it. She was dying to talk about the identity of Jack the Ripper and I originally wasn't planning on reading the book until the entire series was released in paperback. So I let her talk about the major spoiler in this book with me and it didn't bother me at all. Since I read it way earlier than I expected, the identity of the Ripper was still fresh in my mind but I didn't care, this book was still so good. I felt it didn't take away from the story and it actually made it a little painful knowing what Audrey Rose didn't. I kept wanting to scream at her when she was getting closer and when she was getting way off track. I actually quiet enjoyed reading it this way but I am also excited to go into Hunting Prince Dracula knowing absolutely nothing.
Audrey Rose is such an inspirational character. She comes from an upper class family and single handedly made the decision she wanted more from her life than just to be married off and be nothing more than a pretty face. She is going against her father and society to prove, to herself and to others that women have more to offer. Audrey Rose is the hero of her story, not the damsel in distress. I love her passion and strength. I cannot wait to see where her character goes in the rest of this series.
I choose this book for my February book club read because it was described on the back cover that Audrey Rose was in love with Jack the Ripper and I thought that was a INSANE angle. Unfortunately that wasn't actually the case. In no way did I feel Audrey Rose was in love with the Ripper, she might have understood him at times but definitely did not love him. She was driven to find out his identity to bring justice to the women he slaughtered, which is a way more comforting storyline. However this book did not disappoint in the love area and I really felt the growing connection between Audrey Rose and Thomas developed rather maturely over the few months this novel takes place in.
This was a great first book from Kerri and I look forward to following Audrey Rose on more incredible adventures. I hope in the future Kerri plans on writing more historical fiction murder mysteries, she's amazing at it. And there are definitely no shortage of serial killers over the course of history to choose from!
Stalking Jack the Ripper Series:
B1: Stalking Jack the Ripper
B2: Hunting Prince Dracula
B3: Escaping From Houdini
B4: Currently Untitled
My Rating: 4/5 Stars
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