Spooky Reads Day 14: Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

Title: Stalking Jack the Ripper
Author: Kerri Maniscalco
Page Count: 326
Rating: A
Keywords: London, Serial Killer, Gothic, Mystery
Genre: Young Adult
Narrators: Nicola Barber
Duration: 9 hours and 26 minutes
Younger Readers: This is a fictional representation of Jack the Ripper, the infamous serial killer who primarily targeted prostitutes. Language and sexual content are minimal however.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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. 

Why this is great for October:

As you'll see in my review from 2017 below and my most recent Friday Reads video, I absolutely adore this series! It is a delightful mix of forensic science, cute romance, creepy mystery with definite hints of malice that make your skin crawl, and great writing. If you haven't picked up this series yet, then do it! This is book one. Book two is Hunting Prince Dracula (which includes my all time favorite scenes of train travel and creepy forests) and book three is Escaping From Houdini. Plenty of material to dive into for the month.

My Original Review:

I loved this one! On a very long travel day from the US to Dublin, Ireland  I listened to this book and it actually made the three flights, cab rides, and random strangers falling asleep on me tolerable. As someone who travels often, finding a book that is just the right level of engaging and fun is crucial to not losing my mind. I have certainly made the mistake of packing overly dense non-fiction tomes for school (try explaining a forensic anthropology diagram of a murder scene to the person sitting next to you for three hours, never goes well), overly emotional romance novels that left me weeping, and the dreaded just plain boring book in my many years of flying all over. This one was perfect though. It was intriguing, funny, fast paced, and kept me in Audrey Rose's world.

Audrey Rose was enjoyable in that unlike most female YA characters that are involved with "nontraditional" interests or occupations, she did not entirely shun the girly things. She was well balanced. At times she would be examining a mutilated body and at others she would be experimenting with makeup or thinking about pretty dresses. This mix made her far easier to relate to.

There is some small degree of romance but it is never more than a flirtation built up from friendship. It is always obvious and up front but still a satisfying build up. If you hate the YA trend of insta love then you should have no worries with this read.

Without giving anything away, if you gravitate towards creepier themed books or loved the gothic books required in high school you should definitely give this read a try. Aspects of the resolution were easy to pick up for me but the actual ending was a total shock.

If you want something on the shorter side, fun, a bit gruesome, and completely satisfying, I definitely recommend picking up this book. I have absolutely become a fan and will be reading the rest of the series.

If you listen to the audiobook I did enjoy Nicola's narration. It took me about twenty minutes to get used to her reading style but soon after it became natural and no issues. Occasionally a word was pronounced in a way a smidgeon off from how I am used to hearing it pronounced. However, this distraction quickly fades as well. I listened at 1.5x speed on Audible.