Ripper

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3.5 (2)

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Author(s)

Amy Carol Reeves

Publisher

Flux

Genre(s)

Historical Fiction

Age Range

12+

Release Date

April 08, 2012

ISBN

978-0738730721

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“I felt hot breath on my neck, and, horrified, I knew that he stood behind me...”

It’s 1888, and after her mother’s sudden death, Abbie is sent to live with her grandmother in a posh London neighborhood. When she begins volunteering at Whitechapel Hospital, Abbie finds she has a passion for helping the abused and sickly women there.

But within days, patients begin turning up murdered at the hands of Jack the Ripper. As more women are murdered, Abbie realizes that she and the Ripper share a strange connection: she has visions showing the Ripper luring his future victims to their deaths—moments before he turns his knife upon them. Her desperation to stop the massacres leads Abbie on a perilous hunt for the killer. And her search leads to a mysterious brotherhood whose link to the Ripper threatens not just London but all of mankind.

“I felt hot breath on my neck, and, horrified, I knew that he stood behind me...”

Editor reviews

4 reviews

Overall rating

4.3

Plot

4.5(2)

Characters

4.0(2)

Writing Style

4.5(2)

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A(0)

What a Cool Debut!

April 08, 2012

Overall rating

4.7

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Ripper was a very promising debut from Amy Carol Reeves. I loved the concept and how Amy Carol Reeves managed to craft a perfect mystery.

I love historical fiction, and Ripper was one creepy read! The way Amy Carol Reeves set up the story I was constantly on edge, and double guessing all the characters, wondering who could possibly have a hand in the mystery. I also really liked Amy Carol Reeves's writing style - I was hooked into Ripper within the first chapter. The plot was just brilliant.

I just loved the characters! They were such a fun batch. Mary was way too funny - she really brightened quite a few scenes. Abbie was an interesting main character - I didn't absolutely love her, but I did admire her spunk. I do wish Simon and William had been distinguished a bit more, as I often found myself confusing one with the other. I loved the pair of them though.

The biggest downfall of Ripper for me was the ending. The story was so great up to what I thought was a bit of an awkward ending. It also didn't quite feel complete and there were several plot points left open. On the similar note, I loved how Amy Carol Reeves ended the book with the very last page. It was just perfect.

Overall, I really enjoyed Ripper by Amy Carol Reeves. I thought it was a very promising debut and I loved the creep factor. My only issue with it was the ending, it didn't seem to mesh with the rest of the book. I am very curious to see more from Amy Carol Reeves in the future!

Erica Top 50 Reviewer 192 reviews

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Great Paranormal Twist

March 25, 2012 (Updated: March 26, 2012)

Overall rating

4.0

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It’s 1888, and Abbie Sharp has been sent to live with her grandmother in a posh London neighborhood. Abbie starts volunteer work at Whitechapel Hospital and meets Dr. Bartlett. Quickly she learns to love working there. She runs into another handsome doctor, William, who’s she’s attracted to.

But not much longer a string of gruesome murders happens. All victims are from Whitechapel. The killer has a name: Jack the Ripper. Abbie finds herself dreaming of the murders before they happen. Will she be able to stop the murderer from killing her next?

I loved this story. It has so much to love—it’s a historical YA with romance, mystery, and suspense. Abbie’s character is strong and also vulnerable. Her attraction to both William and even Whitechapel Hospital were believable. This story felt like it was true to the time period with it's pacing and even the descriptions. The murders are described in somewhat graphic detail but that doesn’t distract from the storytelling which to me is a huge plus.

The other characters add depth to the story too. The romance triangle isn't over the top which I felt held true to the time period of this story. I loved the paranormal twist to the Jack the Ripper premise. This element added to the story and helped with understanding later on more about Abbie's background.

A must read!

Good Points

1. Lots to love: This historical YA has romance, mystery, and suspense
2. Strong protagonist
3. Great paranormal twist to the Jack the Ripper premise

Kim Baccellia, Staff Reviewer Top 10 Reviewer 889 reviews

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User reviews

2 reviews

Overall rating

3.5

Plot

3.5(2)

Characters

3.5(2)

Writing Style

3.5(2)

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Hobbitsies Reviews: Rocky Middle, But It Picked Up!

May 15, 2013

Overall rating

3.0

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Ripper by Amy Carol Reeves started out pretty rocky for me, I must say. I felt sort of dropped into Abbie’s world and there were new characters thrust at me left and right, and I was just so confused by what was going on in Ripper.

That said, I did like the various assortment of characters, especially the males. I was worried when Ripper first started because it was quickly obviously that some sort of love triangle/square would form, and even though that was accurate, I liked something about each of the male characters and they all had an interesting backstory.

As for Abbie, I pretty impressed with her character overall. She didn’t back down from a challenge and even though she was the typical swooning damsel-in-distress at som points in Ripper, for the most part she was able to handle things with a firm grasp, so to speak.

Even though I was confused at first with Ripper, the story definitely got a little intense and high-stakes eventually and I was more gripped by the story than I was at the beginning, so that I flew through the ending fairly quickly.

The beginning to Ripper by Amy Carol Reeves was pretty rocky and that kind of set the tone for the rest of the story, but once I was able to push through to the middle, Ripper definitely picked up for me, although it still wasn’t one of my favourites. If you are particularly interested in Jack the Ripper legend, I recommend checking Ripper out and seeing what you think about this take!

Tara Gonzalez Top 100 Reviewer 68 reviews

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Good Read

March 26, 2013

Overall rating

4.0

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I did like the book this is the authors debut and as a story teller this was a well crafted book. As a reader I always love being transported to different worlds, but this transported me to a different time and I enjoyed that also. Whitechapel is so well described I felt as if it were a character itself. This was my first read of historical fiction and it will not be my last.

I am use to reading action packed books but this lacked all the action I am use too. Then I remembered this is a YA mystery. I usually read adult hard boiled mysteries so comparing it to them was not fair. As I remembered that I like the book more. ( Not that this book lacked anything in the murders department.) It just seemed slower than adult books I have read. The story is still captivating and very well written.

Abbie the main character was what I imagine a young girl would be like in 1888, but sometimes I found that frustrating because she did not ask the questions I think someone would ask now. Abbie was trying to find a killer and trying to find out more about her mother. Most people she talked to about her mother would elude that they knew her but Abbie never followed up with any questions. I know I would be asking a million questions about my mother. I guess that was not done in polite society back then.

I enjoyed the paranormal aspect of the book Abbie unique conection to the killer. I found that intriguing and a nice twist that kept me reading to see what would happen next. So after all was said and done I liked the book and will be picking up the next book in the series.

Karen Top 500 Reviewer