Good Evening Everyone :)
Do you ever have the situation where you feel an over hyped book isn't going to be your type of thing, but then you have it recommended to you by so many people, including a bunch who have similar reading tastes to yourself, that you go ahead and read it anyways?
Well, that's what happened to me recently when I decided to pick up Stalking Jack The Ripper. I didn't really think I'd enjoy it, as forensic science is not my cup of tea, but I had so many people recommend it to me that were saying they didn't expect to like it either, but it ended up blowing them away. I honestly didn't even have it on my October TBR list, but I just had an urge to give it a try, so I picked it up from the library, and decided to give it an honest try and see what I thought about it. Unfortunately, I didn't really end up enjoying it, but it actually wasn't for the reasons I'd expected going into it.
Stalking Jack The Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco:
Source: Library
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson
Publication Date: September 20th, 2016
Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Horror
Series: Stalking Jack The Ripper
Synopsis:
Presented by James Patterson's new children's imprint, this deliciously creepy horror novel has a storyline inspired by the Ripper murders and an unexpected, blood-chilling conclusion...
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.
The story's shocking twists and turns, augmented with real, sinister period photos, will make this dazzling, #1 New York Times bestselling debut from author Kerri Maniscalco impossible to forget.
******synopsis from goodreads*****
Warning: This Review Will Contain Spoilers For Those Who Have Yet To Read The Book!
My Review:
I was determined to go into this one with an open mind, especially since forensic science is usually not my forte. Unfortunately, I really didn't end up enjoying it as much as I was hoping to, and it actually had nothing to do with the forensic science side of it like I'd initially expected.
What I Did Like:
I always enjoy when a talented author can take a real historical event and turn it into their own fictional story, and I thought Kerri Maniscalco did a pretty good job of this. It's a unique story setting to tackle the horrific case of Jack The Ripper in a young adult novel, and this alone has me giving her props for doing so. I also enjoyed the way that the whole novel has a sinister appeal hanging over it, right from the first pages, and this definitely did make me want to keep reading even when I wasn't necessarily enjoying the story itself that much. I loved the setting, and the way that the author went to great lengths to keep the setting and happenings as close to the real events as she possibly could, and you could tell she'd put a lot of time and effort into researching all these events before she ever even tried tackling writing this novel. And lastly, I actually really enjoyed the inclusion of the photographs that are scatted throughout the story, including pictures of some of the prominent places featured in the novel, and a photo of one of Jack The Ripper's actual letters.
What I Didn't Like:
Now unfortunately we're moving onward to the negative stuff.
First things first was the character of Audrey Rose herself. I'm sorry to say but I really couldn't stand her. She was so lackluster, and failed to produce any kind of emotion in me, and when I felt so little for the main character, it was a challenge to stay invested in the story. On top of being a one dimensional character, she also makes such dumb decisions throughout the course of the novel, like the instance where she's determined to head to the area where the gruesome murders have happened late at night by herself, and is quite put out when Thomas suggests that perhaps he accompany her. I'm all for strong female protagonists that are determined to do things for themselves, but walking directly into a psycho murderer's pathway without anyone else along to help if things go sour seemed a bit overkill, even for a strong, determined heroine.
Secondly, I couldn't get into the romance at all. It felt so rushed, and while I wouldn't necessarily consider it insta-love as Audrey Rose and Thomas do know each other for awhile before anything develops, it just felt like there was no build up to it, and all of a sudden they're both obsessed with being together. And once again, Audrey Rose makes many eye roll worthy decisions during these times as well. Like how she's uncomfortable with Thomas being in her family's home when her aunt and cousin are already in bed, but she sees nothing wrong with gallivanting all over the city with him when it's just the two of them, and then never seems to take social protocols into consideration in the slightest.
I also couldn't really get into the plot. I found it really dragged during the middle part of the story, and even though I wanted to keep reading to finish it, I really had to push myself to do so. Despite this novel being about one of the world's most famous unsolved murder mysteries, I really just found the plot to be slightly boring, and failing to hold my attention.
So when you take into consideration the fact that I really didn't enjoy the main character, the romance or the plot, it's not hard to understand why I didn't care for this novel at all, but I saved the worst for last:
THE KILLER WAS SO OBVIOUS!!!!
I knew less than a third of the way through this book exactly who the killer was, and it just got more and more blatantly obvious on every single page. I was hoping the ending would bring about a grand plot twist that would prove me wrong, but alas that did not happen, and this ended exactly as I was expecting with only a few weird twists thrown in along the way.
I went into Stalking Jack The Ripper expecting to not like the graphic forensic scenes, but honestly expecting to really enjoy the rest. I did obviously find many of the scenes to be too graphic for what I'd want to read, but I simply skimmed those and tried my best to get invested in the rest of the story. Unfortunately, this one just didn't do it for me, and is one of those instances where the super hyped book that everyone else truly loves just didn't get the same reaction from me. I'm glad I gave it a chance, but as I wholeheartedly didn't enjoy it, I most definitely will not be continuing on with the rest of the series.
Final Rating: ⭐⭐
Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day.
This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The photo does not belong to me, and all rights to the respective owners.
Do you ever have the situation where you feel an over hyped book isn't going to be your type of thing, but then you have it recommended to you by so many people, including a bunch who have similar reading tastes to yourself, that you go ahead and read it anyways?
Well, that's what happened to me recently when I decided to pick up Stalking Jack The Ripper. I didn't really think I'd enjoy it, as forensic science is not my cup of tea, but I had so many people recommend it to me that were saying they didn't expect to like it either, but it ended up blowing them away. I honestly didn't even have it on my October TBR list, but I just had an urge to give it a try, so I picked it up from the library, and decided to give it an honest try and see what I thought about it. Unfortunately, I didn't really end up enjoying it, but it actually wasn't for the reasons I'd expected going into it.
Stalking Jack The Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco:
Source: Library
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson
Publication Date: September 20th, 2016
Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Horror
Series: Stalking Jack The Ripper
Synopsis:
Presented by James Patterson's new children's imprint, this deliciously creepy horror novel has a storyline inspired by the Ripper murders and an unexpected, blood-chilling conclusion...
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.
The story's shocking twists and turns, augmented with real, sinister period photos, will make this dazzling, #1 New York Times bestselling debut from author Kerri Maniscalco impossible to forget.
******synopsis from goodreads*****
Warning: This Review Will Contain Spoilers For Those Who Have Yet To Read The Book!
My Review:
I was determined to go into this one with an open mind, especially since forensic science is usually not my forte. Unfortunately, I really didn't end up enjoying it as much as I was hoping to, and it actually had nothing to do with the forensic science side of it like I'd initially expected.
What I Did Like:
I always enjoy when a talented author can take a real historical event and turn it into their own fictional story, and I thought Kerri Maniscalco did a pretty good job of this. It's a unique story setting to tackle the horrific case of Jack The Ripper in a young adult novel, and this alone has me giving her props for doing so. I also enjoyed the way that the whole novel has a sinister appeal hanging over it, right from the first pages, and this definitely did make me want to keep reading even when I wasn't necessarily enjoying the story itself that much. I loved the setting, and the way that the author went to great lengths to keep the setting and happenings as close to the real events as she possibly could, and you could tell she'd put a lot of time and effort into researching all these events before she ever even tried tackling writing this novel. And lastly, I actually really enjoyed the inclusion of the photographs that are scatted throughout the story, including pictures of some of the prominent places featured in the novel, and a photo of one of Jack The Ripper's actual letters.
What I Didn't Like:
Now unfortunately we're moving onward to the negative stuff.
First things first was the character of Audrey Rose herself. I'm sorry to say but I really couldn't stand her. She was so lackluster, and failed to produce any kind of emotion in me, and when I felt so little for the main character, it was a challenge to stay invested in the story. On top of being a one dimensional character, she also makes such dumb decisions throughout the course of the novel, like the instance where she's determined to head to the area where the gruesome murders have happened late at night by herself, and is quite put out when Thomas suggests that perhaps he accompany her. I'm all for strong female protagonists that are determined to do things for themselves, but walking directly into a psycho murderer's pathway without anyone else along to help if things go sour seemed a bit overkill, even for a strong, determined heroine.
Secondly, I couldn't get into the romance at all. It felt so rushed, and while I wouldn't necessarily consider it insta-love as Audrey Rose and Thomas do know each other for awhile before anything develops, it just felt like there was no build up to it, and all of a sudden they're both obsessed with being together. And once again, Audrey Rose makes many eye roll worthy decisions during these times as well. Like how she's uncomfortable with Thomas being in her family's home when her aunt and cousin are already in bed, but she sees nothing wrong with gallivanting all over the city with him when it's just the two of them, and then never seems to take social protocols into consideration in the slightest.
I also couldn't really get into the plot. I found it really dragged during the middle part of the story, and even though I wanted to keep reading to finish it, I really had to push myself to do so. Despite this novel being about one of the world's most famous unsolved murder mysteries, I really just found the plot to be slightly boring, and failing to hold my attention.
So when you take into consideration the fact that I really didn't enjoy the main character, the romance or the plot, it's not hard to understand why I didn't care for this novel at all, but I saved the worst for last:
THE KILLER WAS SO OBVIOUS!!!!
I knew less than a third of the way through this book exactly who the killer was, and it just got more and more blatantly obvious on every single page. I was hoping the ending would bring about a grand plot twist that would prove me wrong, but alas that did not happen, and this ended exactly as I was expecting with only a few weird twists thrown in along the way.
I went into Stalking Jack The Ripper expecting to not like the graphic forensic scenes, but honestly expecting to really enjoy the rest. I did obviously find many of the scenes to be too graphic for what I'd want to read, but I simply skimmed those and tried my best to get invested in the rest of the story. Unfortunately, this one just didn't do it for me, and is one of those instances where the super hyped book that everyone else truly loves just didn't get the same reaction from me. I'm glad I gave it a chance, but as I wholeheartedly didn't enjoy it, I most definitely will not be continuing on with the rest of the series.
Final Rating: ⭐⭐
Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day.
This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The photo does not belong to me, and all rights to the respective owners.
This sounds SO cute!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry for such a late reply; somehow I was never notified of your comment. I know lots of people loved this one, and hopefully you will too if you get a chance to read it. It wasn't for me personally, but I seem to be in the minority. Thanks for reading and commenting. :)
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