Stalking Jack the Ripper

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was really excited about this book even before it came out, but didn't get a chance to grab a copy until now. I started it immediately, but was not that impressed. I had a hard time identifying with Audrey Rose, and as the book went on I began to not really like her very much. By the end she got on my nerves so badly I was ready for Jack the Ripper to eviscerate her. She had anachronistic views on femininity for Victorian England and it drew me out of the action. It's one thing for a woman to attend a forensics medicine class, but it's quite another to walk around London in pants and just expect everyone to get over it. She also made some really "t00-stupid-to-live" decisions in the book, like going out alone to Whitechapel in the middle of the night (even if Jack the Ripper didn't catch her, why did it not even cross her mind that any other drunk could accost her at best and kill her at worst?!), following suspects alone, and finally confronting Jack all by herself. She was incredibly wishy-washy, going back and forth about things from one paragraph to another. She also jumped to conclusions constantly and much to predictably. Her attitudes, actions, and motivations really made me consider not finishing the book. When the love interest, Thomas, called her out on her silly behavior I wanted to cheer. She acted like a petulant, melodramatic, spoiled, middle-schooler and I was very disappointed.
I liked Thomas, but I think he could have found someone much better than Audrey Rose. She admitted to herself that she liked him but was still very rude to him. Again, she had that middle-school idea that flirting only consists of ignoring someone or cutting someone down. When something did finally happen between them, it was anticlimactic.
Some of the action in the book also made little sense and I had to wonder why it was included. For example, what "gentleman" in Victorian London would feel it was appropriate to take a lady to visit Bedlam just to make a point? Why would a "lady" visit a man's lodgings unaccompanied? Why would a chaperone think it was perfectly fine for a "lady" to sit alone with a "gentleman" in the parlor? I was also left with unanswered questions about vague plot points: how did Audrey Rose's mother actually die? Who was Thomas's family? Why was a portrait of an ancestor shooting a bear the most vile thing on the planet?
The descriptions the author used were sometimes much to flowery and took away from the action. It does not always have to take 3 long, word-filled sentences to describe how a person is scared, or how dark a room is, or how fog covers the landscape.
I really wanted to enjoy this book, but it was hard. I am not sure if I will read the next book in the series.


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