Review: Ripper by Stefan Petrucha

4 frosted brownies.

Cover Love:  Yes.  I really like this cover.  I like the colors and the silhouette of Carver running.  It just really works for me.

Why I Wanted to Read This Book:  I saw a few blurbs about it and wanted to know more.  Plus Jack the Ripper is fascinating to me.  Here is the synopsis from GoodReads:

Carver Young dreams of becoming a detective, despite growing up in an orphanage with only crime novels to encourage him. But when he is adopted by Detective Hawking of the world famous Pinkerton Agency, Carver is given not only the chance to find his biological father, he finds himself smack in the middle of a real life investigation: tracking down a vicious serial killer who has thrown New York City into utter panic. When the case begins to unfold, however, it’s worse than he could have ever imagined, and his loyalty to Mr. Hawking and the Pinkertons comes into question. As the body count rises and the investigation becomes dire, Carver must decide where his true loyalty lies.

I Kept Reading Because: This was the type of book that totally engrossed me while I was reading it, but that I didn't think much about when I wasn't. So it took me a little longer to read than most.

Romance?: Maybe the start of one.

What I Liked (& Didn't):

I loved Carver.  He was awesome. Smart, but insecure in his abilities.  No matter if Hawking was wrong to hang him out there on his own, it was definitely the push that Carver needed.

I do love stories of Jack the Ripper.  This one was great imagining that he moved onto the United States.  It is a good twist on this legend.  The author does include some history to any real person he wrote about in the story.  It's a good historical fiction tale because this history is not that long ago.

I did not see the twist coming AT ALL.  In fact, I didn't even think there would be a twist.  It was written pretty straightforward and I was not expecting what happened.  And it made the whole book worthwhile.

I loved the technological elements that the author added to Carver's world.

I like the people that the author surrounded Carver with, Hawking, Delia, Finn, the other detectives.  All the supporting characters interacted well with Carver.

I loved the setting of New York and that the author used real people as characters.  So fun!

To Sum Up:  A good mystery with tension and well written characters.  This one will be fun to booktalk!

Book bought for my library.