Stalking Jack the Ripper Series✦ Keri Maniscalco

Stalking Jack the Ripper

By: Keri Maniscalco

Genre: Mystery, Horror

So today I’m sad. I have never met a character worthy of being my book boyfriend until I started this series. Today I concluded the series and had to give my book boyfriend away :,( Let’s back up, shall we?

I can’t recommend this series highly enough! I would give it 20 stars, 5 stars for each book if I could. We all know by now that I have a *healthly* obsession with all things crime related. I grabbed the first book (Stalking Jack the Ripper) a couple years ago because Jack the Ripper is one of the ultimate whodunits in the history books, one of my favorite gruesome murders, and I was curious how Keri Maniscalco could make it into an act of fiction. (Also the series was published by James Patterson’s publishing company, it has to be FIRE.) Cue my new BFFs, Audrey Rose Wadsworth and Thomas Cresswell. They are now two of my favorite characters EVER written into books.

Stalking Jack the Ripper follows Audrey Rose, a lord’s daughter, who was born into wealth and privilege. Despite the fact that she lives in the Victorian era when women are objects and treated like frail china, this chick is highly progressive. She shucks off the silk dresses and high tea for autopsies as she lives a secret life as forensic student to her uncle. A girl after my own heart ❤ Her quest into the art of death leads her down a dangerous path following Jack the Ripper in London and into the sights of fellow forensic student Thomas Cresswell (swoon).

Thomas and Audrey Rose (YES, WE ARE ON A FIRST NAME BASIS) find themselves thrown into the investigation of one of the first serial killers the world has ever seen. With Audrey Rose’s skill in dissecting a body and Thomas Cresswell’s sherlockian level deduction skills, the streets of London have never met a more formidable team!

I was hooked from the first page all the way to the BANG at the end and left salivating for the next book!

From the series as a whole, there is phenomenal character development. The relationship between Wadsworth and Cresswell is one of my biggest ships to date. Keep in mind, the “romance” portion of the book is teeny tiny, but powerful. I mean honestly, how can you not adore a man that says things like “Your happiness is always necessary to me. We’ll find new ways of navigating the world together, Wadsworth” or ” I long to live in a world where equal treatment is not something in need of commending” and “Beyond life. Beyond death, my love for thee is eternal.” DUDE. This is not a romance book and I’m still mostly in love with a main character. They don’t complete one another, but instead complement one another in the most incredible way! We also have the opportunity to see Audrey Rose develop and hone her skills and learn to accept the darker side of herself that craves the feeling of carving open flesh. Thomas goes from a cold and analytical man with a dark heritage to opening up for his best friend. It’s so sweet and a little saucy without being so over the top that the author draws away from the story line. This is a horror novel after all.

The scenes are well set, if a little descriptive in a gruesome way. If you’ve ever heard about the Jack the Ripper murders, most of the illustrative content is spot on! It’s not supposed to be pretty, brutal doesn’t begin to describe what these women endured. Eviseration, anyone? The author also takes certain liberties with history that are mostly subtle but fit the story line well. An example being that the events occurring in Stalking Jack the Ripper and Capturing the Devil are actually years apart but are just months away in the bookverse. I’m not super into dates and times so I barely noticed. I love that each book title is a callback to a murder in real life history. I can’t tell you how psyched I was to find out the last book was about the Devil in the White City (one of my favorite historical murderers to learn about!). Between book one and book four, I was ecstatic!

The series progresses as follows!

• Stalking Jack the Ripper
• Hunting Prince Dracula
• Escaping from Houdini
• Capturing the Devil

Hunting Prince Dracula takes place in Romania when Audrey Rose and Thomas go to an elite school to escape the trauma experienced in London and to master the art of autopsy and realize something a little fishy is going on. They are shocked to discover Vlad the Impaler is wreaking havoc on the icy halls and unsuspecting students. Or is he? They must use their expertise to bring the blood bath to a finish!

Escaping from Houdini transpires on a voyage across the ocean to America. Audrey Rose and Thomas are delighted to meet a circus troupe on board until they realize the group may have ties to a series of women missing and being brutally slain in bizarre ways. Unfortunately for this duo, their investigation time is coming to a close as the new land draws nearer. Will they be able to save everyone they hold dear and stop a fearsome murderer?

Finally, Capturing the Devil is the book I just completed. We follow Audrey Rose and Thomas on the hunt for an elusive killer unlike anything they’ve ever seen before. Following him from the snowy streets of New York to the gleaming city of Chicago, they play a deadly game of cat and mouse until they realize… they’ve been playing mouse far longer than they know! Also, there is a twist I was NOT expecting but it brings the series full circle!

I teared up when I finished this series. I’ve had this book for months on my Kindle and refused to open it because I knew the end was nigh. It is/was one of my all time favorites and one I recommend to literally everyone who asks me for book recommendations. I was slightly disappointed with the last book because I felt it focused a little too heavily on the growing romance between Wadsworth and Cresswell, but it was still amazing. It wrapped the series up with a pretty little bow and my hurt hearts from putting down my favorite series for the last time.

Fear not though. I have already pre-ordered Keri Maniscalco’s next book. It is not Cressworth related, but it still sounds AMAZEBALLS. I can’t help it, some authors are addictive. *shrugs*