Honestly, Thomas is a snarky Sherlock Holmes ( )

Fieldnotes:
London, 1888

1 Overly Plucky Teenaged Girl with an Unhealthy Obsession with Science and the Dead
1 Deceased Mother (Scarlet Fever)
1 Overprotective Germaphobic Father
1 Hair-Obsessed Brother with Ever-Changing Interests

1 Uncle Specializing in Autopsies
1 Bright but Arrogant Assistant & Student of Forensic Medicine
1 Manhandling, Irksome Superintendent of Police
1 Clumsy, Near-Sighted Mongrel

1 Forensic Medicine Class at Harrow (??) that works on ACTUAL cases (??)
London Necropolis Railway
Very Modern Ideas Regarding Sex Workers
A Spot of Profiling
The Greatest Show on Earth
Bedlam

3 Links Between Victims of Jack the Ripper and the Wadsworth Family
3 Increasingly Insane Letters
1 Carriage Marked "M" for Murderer
1 Cryptic Death Pronouncement
1 Seance

Dark Secrets Within the Wall
2 Secret Laboratories
Galvanic Experiments that Would Make Dr. Frankenstein Proud

Gruesome Illustrative Photos

The Long Version:
I don't know why I keep reading YA Jack the Ripper books - every time I end up irked. In this case, our overly plucky teenaged investigatrix is 17-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth, only daughter of a lord. She has a truly unhealthy interest in the science of death (and a complete disdain for proper attire while autopsying and disregard for the poor servants who have to try to save her many blood-stained silk slippers). She essentially interns with her forensic pathologist uncle in Highgate (despite the distance from Belgravia - it is NOT THAT CLOSE) who is feuding with her father because his medical degree didn't allow him to save her mother from the scarlet fever she contracted while nursing Audrey Rose. She has some guilt-related mommy issues.

Her father, Lord Edmund Wadsworth, has responded by isolating himself, becoming extremely germaphobic and relying on his laudanum to get himself through the days. Thankfully, her dandy of an older brother Nathaniel helps her circumvent the most stringent of his restrictions.

Anyway, she banters hostilely with her uncle's arrogant (but, of course, handsome) Sherlockian assistant Thomas Cresswell, and the three of them essentially profile Jack the Ripper and speculate that he is attempting to perform an organ transplant (which has never been successfully done).

There are a lot of truly implausible moments where a 17-year-old gently born GIRL is wandering the streets UNCHAPERONED and hanging out ALONE with a teenaged boy. Not to mention being allowed to examine MURDER VICTIMS in the SLUMS in the EAST END. There is very little Victorian hand-wringing. There is not even an APPROPRIATE AMOUNT OF HAND-WRINGING because this is INSANE. There are some very modern ideas about sex workers that are distinctly out of place given Audrey Rose's circumstances, but this didn't bother me as much as everyone acting like being a policeman (even superintendent) was a prestigious career for a NOBLEMAN in 1888. We've just dropped a mostly modern teenager into a facsimile of the Victorian era and given her teen Sherlock as a boyfriend.

There is a lot of incredibly awkward flirting, which I found less cute and more strange and...well, flirting over CORPSES isn't a thing that works for me, honestly.

I could get over a wallpaper historical with modern sensibilities if this was fun and clever, but the tone felt off. Not to mention our heroine was TSTL, insisted on doing truly stupid and dangerous things with no thought for potential consequences and then got fixated on who she decided was the culprit - evidence and her own observations be damned. I guessed the culprit and most of the why early on, which wouldn't have been a problem if this had at least been suspenseful and/or wrapped things up sensibly. For me and my tastes, it did neither. ( )

This was a big disappointment. There has been so much research done in the 100+ years since the Ripper murders......and little to none of that appeared in this book. For a "historical" novel, there is no feeling of being in Victorian London gained from reading the book. The novel also lacks in the "why" for why Jack commits the murders. The reader can guess different possibilities, but the author never researched the psychology behind such things and/or incorporated into the novel. We read this in our book club, and this was pretty much the consensus among all of us. There are much better historical fiction and serial killer novels set during this time period.

If you are really tempted to try this, check it out from the library. ( )

I really enjoyed this story. It was the prefect fall read. I fell in love with the both these main characters. I just was so captured by not only the characters but also the mystery. I loved how Kerri told the story and also how it was still in lines with the real murders but she also made it more streamlined and interesting story. I was also love the photo accents in the story because it made the atmosphere of the story even more creepy. I was totally wrong about who was Jack and that was perfectly fine. I enjoy this story a lot and want to read book 2 soon! ( )

I really enjoyed this story. It was the prefect fall read. I fell in love with the both these main characters. I just was so captured by not only the characters but also the mystery. I loved how Kerri told the story and also how it was still in lines with the real murders but she also made it more streamlined and interesting story. I was also love the photo accents in the story because it made the atmosphere of the story even more creepy. I was totally wrong about who was Jack and that was perfectly fine. I enjoy this story a lot and want to read book 2 soon! ( )