Stalking Jack The Ripper - A review - spoiler free
This book was very enjoyable. I appreciated the strong female lead, the well-written dialogue and the way the plot flowed fast enough that I wasn’t bored but slow enough that I didn’t feel confused or lost. THIS POST IS SPOILER FREE
Like I said, this book was overall well written and well paced. There were a few small issues with the visual parts of the book (the handwriting used for a few of the letters was physically difficult to read), but I feel like this book is not above the general reading level. I do not think this book holds much re-read value.
I loved and adored the characters in this book. The main character was strong and competent and none of the choices she made seemed out of place. The love interest was intriguing and interesting. I enjoyed reading about these two. There were only one or two characters in the book I didn’t care to read about, but as it’s 1st person book, they didn’t play a huge role.
The plot of this book is not a huge surprise - it’s about the investigations of the Jack the Ripper killings. People are killed, people investigate and history tells us what happened from there. There was a small surprise at the end that took me by surprise, but overall, the plot was interesting, just not surprising.
This book does a solid job of sucking you into the story and pulling you into 1888 London. The wardrobe descriptions, the settings, all of it. It wasn’t perfect, but it was certainly very good!
I definitely take a hard look at the dialogue in the books I read because it’s one of my favorite parts. Well written dialogue and witty banter will make me love a book faster than anything else - and poorly done dialogue will make me put it down. This book has some AWESOME dialogue that makes sense for the characters, time, location and conversation while keeping me excited to read the rest of the scene.
BONUS ROUND: Historical Accuracy: 6/10
This is where this book loses most points. While the overarching background events of this story are relatively true to historical events - the ending features NONE of the large main theories about the Jack the Ripper case and a LOT of creative liberties were taken with history. HOWEVER - I didn’t totally tank this score, because the author offers a list in the back of the book of any major historical changes she made and offers a more accurate depiction of events.
OVERALL I REALLY LIKED THIS BOOK! I gave it 4/5 on Goodreads and here it’s made a 45/50 on the general review scale and a 51/60 with the bonus round. I DEFINITELY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK to someone looking for a fun, quick and enjoyable read.