This is my blog about the different types of books I read, mainly mystery, myths, and magic, and what I thought of them. I hope you like them, too.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

The Name of the Star & Jack the Ripper

From Hell,
I have recently read the The Name of the Star (T.N.O.T.S) by Maureen Johnson. This book was incredible!!! Basically a girl named Rory moves to a boarding school in England. But the first day she get's there a copy cat Jack the Ripper begins murdering people in almost exactly the same way as the 1888 Jack the Ripper. So she goes to her boarding school and every thing is okay (well as okay as it can be during a "New and Improved Ripper-mania" with a serial killer on the loose.) until 9/30; the night of the 3rd and 4th murder. Rory and her roommate sneak out to see if the can catch a glimpse of the terror. When returning to their dorm Rory sees something; and even though her roommate was right there only Rory saw it. To find out how this is possible you'll have to read the book! Everyone knows how I am obsessed with PERCY JACKSON. Well if you asked what my favorite book is, I would say it's a tie between P.J & T.N.O.T.S!! Which for me is HUGE. My favorite part would probably be the suspense.
INFORMATION
Jack the Ripper (for those of you who don't know) was pretty much one of the first serial killers. Back in 1888 it was hard for people to understand someone killing just to kill. But the worst part is that he got away. Modern day Ripperologists (I know what your thinking but "Ripperology" is a real thing) say they know who it is, and it is VERY possible they do! But they will never know for sure because all witnesses and evidence are long dead. Wait...it gets better! Some people believe that the reason he stopped was that he actually didn't! He simple decided to let AMERICA in on the fun. In New York, 1891, a string brutal murders done in a similar manner as the Rippermania victims were killed began. A message to the chief was written on the wall that said "Okay catch me boss" which could have been linked to the "Dear Boss" letters believed to be sent by Jack the Ripper! 11 days passed after the first NY murder and by then they had 3 more victims but no killer. Since this is supposed to be a review of a book I'm going to stop my self there, but for more info click on the link above!

So anyways, the story takes place in modern day England and what people are scared of, besides the whole serial killer on the loose thing, is that they don't know if this new Saucy Jack will continue after 11/9 and if he does will the police ever be able to stop him. The one thing I have to say about this book was the alcohol. Its not that the main characters got drunk or anything, I just felt like they brought it up too much. I would recommend this book to only people 8th grade and up because it is about a serial killer. This book wasn't extremely creepy or gory but it did have it's moments. I was left gaping at the end until I learned (thankfully) that there WILL BE A SECOND BOOK!! This is the first book in the Shades of London series which was very nice so I will post more information on this if you only wate a whil longer. To conclude this very long post, this book was fantastically creepy and took a paranormal twist to a classic killing. What do you guys think happened to J.T.R? Post in the comment section of your theories!
signed
Catch me when you Can Mishter Lusk

1 comment:

  1. Explanation: Okay so you guys are all probably wondering what the words in red are. Well Hundreds of letters were sent saying they were from J.T.R, most of them were proven to be fake except for 3 of the letters. One was the "Dear Boss" letter I briefly talked about in the post. The other was the "From Hell" letter. The words in red were quotes from the letter :-). The reason it's spelled wrong is because it was spelled in 1888 London where they didn't have spell check.

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