The Blurb:
"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 practise 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."
I really wanted to love this book. I had heard so many wonderful things about it on Goodreads and through Booktube - everyone was recommending it as one of the best reads for Fall and for Halloween. Unfortunately, I think this caused the book to be a bit over hyped for me, because for me it fell rather flat. I didn't hate it by any means - as I will outline below there are parts of it that I did indeed enjoy - but overall it didn't enrapture me the way I expected it too, and I definitely finished it with an overall feeling of disappointment.
The Good
The story of Audrey Rose Wadsworth is set in the wonderfully gory world of Jack the Ripper era Victorian London. Audrey is secretly studying forensic medicine with her uncle and one of his pupils, Thomas, and during one such examination session they perform an autopsy for the police on the second of Jack the Ripper's victims. From there the story proceeds into a part investigative/part medical mystery, whereby Audrey and Thomas try to find and stop Jack the Ripper by examining his victims and his crimes scenes.
I quite enjoyed the setting of the novel and I applaud Kerri Maniscalo for creating a wonderfully macabre setting - like something out of a Guillermo del Toro movie. Whitechapel felt the dirty and grimy place it used to be, and London seemed so sinister (especially compared to all the fanciful Victorian London's I've read in my time). In particular, her description of the gore of the Ripper's victims, and the precise way she described forensic science was spectacular - it was certainly macabre enough to have me reading with the lights on. Overall, the description of the setting was what kept me largely engaged with the novel and I do hope that in future instalment's Ms. Maniscalo does not shy away from these gory descriptions - it definitely was the thing I liked the most in part because it was so unique to read so much gore in YA.
While I will elaborate more on her character later on, I did like Audrey Rose to some degree. I think it was refreshing how she wanted to study under her Uncle and how she very actively sought to prove herself in the forensic field. It was also refreshing to see a heroine with a more scientific mind, perhaps even a calculating mind, to a certain degree. I enjoyed how Audrey Rose struggled with society's expectations v. her own desires - though I agree with many others that the 21st century feminism was certainly "hammered" in some places down the readers throats. I appreciate a novel challenging gender norms, but in a historical novel it also has to be realistic and I found that in some parts Audrey Rose's ideas were... well removing me from the setting of the story. However I'd much rather have a booked hammering feminism into people than not so I'm not really going to count that as a problem. I still liked Audrey Rose's dedication to her studies, her interest in science and forensic medicine, and the fact the heroine didn't let her shy away from using her brain. All without being a Mary Sue!
The Bad
However; I also found Audrey Rose sometimes to be... well to be a bit dense. I understand that Kerri Maniscalo wished to have a headstrong heroine - and I respect that. But at some times in the novel Audrey Rose went from headstrong to just plain stupid. At one point in the novel, she goes dashing off into Whitechapel at night without any thought to her safety and only later realizes "Crap, this is a bad idea especially since I can't fight and didn't bring anything to defend myself." As much as I appreciate a heroine who is not a Mary Sue and uses her brain and doesn't need to be rescued - Audrey Rose still ultimately had to be rescued multiple times because even though she had a brain in a few instances she forgot to use it. Because of this I felt like, for the sake of the plot, the strong smart character that Maniscalo was trying to create was sacrificed for the sake of developing the relationship with the main male character, Thomas, who was usually Audrey's rescuer. Some of Audrey Rose's decision just didn't make sense, and were plain stupid in light of how "smart" she was portrayed to be. I just cant believe an individual who loves science and who comes off almost methodical in their thinking would commit some of the actions she did.
In fact, outside Audrey Rose I really didn't connect much with any of the other characters. The main love interest,Thomas, is introduced in the first few chapters and you immediately know he is going to be the love interest. It was very instal-love-y and the whole romance was underdeveloped I think to the detriment of Audrey Rose's character. In fact, I think this novel would have worked better without the romance - if it had instead simply focused on the solving the murders. The romance felt forced to me, one second Audrey Rose hated Thomas (but was admiring how he was so attractive it was frustrating) and the next she loved him. It all seemed rather... convenient? I just didn't buy the insta-love nor the "development" of the romance at all.
I also felt that Audrey's family as well was lacking in any character development. I especially was annoyed because Audrey Rose was the only main female character who wasn't portrayed as a simpering ninny. Something which verges really close to Mary Sue territory, as the heroine is so "special" in comparison to other woman. A request in future novels would be to bring some other female characters in, some who are likeable and aren't portrayed as morons - especially if you are trying to be a "feminist" book. Feminism isn't one woman looking down on others for being in her opinion, stupid.
After the characters the biggest problem I had with the novel was the way the mystery was handled. In the first half of the novel the mystery is handled brilliantly. As I said, the descriptions of the murders and the gore and the overall suspense was quite thrilling. However, about halfway through Audrey Rose begins to make some rather silly conclusions based on startlingly little evidence. The person Audrey Rose suspects (and I won't spoil it but it is someone close to her) just sort of came out of nowhere for me. I re-read one chapter twice just because I really couldn't understand how Audrey Rose jumped from point A to point F in coming to her conclusions. I think this was in part because I had already guessed in the third chapter who the Ripper was. I knew so early on that when the red herrings candidates were presented to me I just didn't find them plausible or believable in the novel. Unfortunately as a mystery... I wasn't really at all mystified.
Conclusions
Overall I'm giving the book 2.5 stars - I don't despise it but I definitely didn't finish reading it going WOW I want to pick up the next one. I may continue the series if Kindle or a bookstore ever sells it for extremely cheap (I'm talking like Amazon's $0.99 sales) but I am definitely not rushing out to buy it. Unfortunately, I think it was over hyped and that contributed largely to my disappointment. I am genuinely shocked at all the reviews saying this was one of the best books of last year because I found it to be a fine, if somewhat mediocre, edition to the YA genre.
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