Audrey Rose Wadsworth lives in the misogynistic society of 18th century London. Audrey Rose
has been dealing with sexism all her life, so the idea of what a “proper” woman should be has
stuck with her. However, she busies herself studying science and working under her uncle, who
does forensic medicine, against the wishes of her protective father and brother. Her life is turned
upside down when a serious of horrible and gruesome murders (mostly targeting women) occur
in the city, dragging her into the investigation. Now, she must prove to herself, society, and the
victims that she has what it takes to find the killer. But, she also needs to watch her back.
Characters:
Audrey Rose Wadsworth: She was a decent main character, but at times, it seems like she was
deliberately stressing how “not like other girls” she was, when the entire point of the book was to
be uplifting and feminist. Another problem I had with her character was that she didn’t really
accomplish any breakthroughs with her own talent. Everything she discovers kind of happens
through chance, without real sleuthing on her side.
Thomas Cresswell: It is very, very evident that Thomas Cresswell was based on Sherlock
Holmes. The references back to Holmes are very obvious. The author tried to make a likeable
character, but it’s pretty hard (at least in my opinion) to replicate Holmes’ personality almost
perfectly. Thus, Thomas just felt like a cheap rip-off, and I didn’t really enjoy his character. It’s
obvious that he likes Audrey Rose, as he constantly makes flirty comments towards her, but I
would’ve liked it more if him and Audrey stayed friends because they didn’t have any chemistry.
The plot was okay, I guess. I would’ve expected something more from a book like this. It starts
off pretty well, and we learn about the murders as Audrey battles societal expectations. However,
the middle of the book is where it starts lacking, and that’s where I got bored. I had to force
myself to read more until it got interesting again. Also, the identity of Jack the Ripper was
extremely predictable, and I guessed it from the start. I wanted to like this book, but it ended up
being pretty mediocre. I would recommend this to people who enjoy murder mysteries and can
handle a bit of gore. This book does have some real and graphic period photos that some might
not be able to handle. It also features detailed descriptions about the victims murdered by Jack the
Ripper. Overall, I’ll give this book a 2.5/5, rounded up to ⅗.