The Book Club: Ripper By Stefan Petrucha

It's been over a month since I read a book! If you read my New Year's Resolutions, then you already know that my top goal is to read 50 books. Well, here is the second book of the year!

As I mentioned in my other book review, I will try to review this book without giving away too much details of the book! However, that is very difficult so if you haven't read this book before, please ignore the parts that say Spoiler Alert!

Rating: «««««

From the book cover, you can probably tell that this book is a mystery/action book, and it is. It's genre is a synthesis of mystery/action/historical fiction, and there is a dash of horror. This is a young adult book, the writing style probably will not appeal to older readers. 

Summary: (Spoiler Alert)

This book is about the life of orphan Carver Young. It is set in the late 1800's to the early 1900's in New York City. Carver grew up in Ellis Orphanage in New York City. He has a knack for opening locks, sneaking around, and detective work. He is adopted by a renowned detective, Albert Hawking. AS Carver's very first official "detective case," Carver is to find the identity of his father. The only piece of his father that Carver has was a letter from his father to his orphanage. By matching his father's handwriting to a letter written by Jack the Ripper, (spoiler alert) Carver finds out that his father is none other than the notorious Jack the Ripper. When Carver is investigating his father's identity, there have been brutal murders in New York City. The victims are all women, and they mimic the murders of the infamous Whitechapel murders. With the help of Delia, Finn and others, Carver sets out to find his father, who also is behind the New York murders. (spoiler alert) Carver finds out that Albert Hawking was Jack the Ripper in disguise. Carver's father led a double life. He was a notorious murderer as Jack the Ripper, but was one of the world's finest detectives as Albert Hawking. Carver never had the opportunity to arrest Jack. Although Carver is very disturbed that his father was a murderer, Jack writes Carver a final letter, in which Carver realizes that his father was once a good man.

Sorry for the bad summary! It was a very long book with many other major events, so it was hard to condense everything into a paragraph! I guess you'll just have to read the book to know what exactly happened! 

My Opinion:

I really enjoyed this book. It was fast-paced and interesting. Personally, I love mystery books, so I really enjoyed this book. There was a plot twist in the book, however it was a predictable plot twist. I only have two complaints for this book. The first is that some chapters are extremely short and choppy. The other is that the ending was not very satisfying to me. Other than that, I loved this book!

Main Characters:

Carver Young: He is the protagonist of the novel. He is a fourteen year old boy who was an orphan at Ellis Orphanage. He was then adopted by his mentor, who is a detective, Albert Hawking. Carver aspires to be a detective, and when he is adopted by Albert Hawking, his first "case" is to discover his father's identity, which leads to an unexpected turn of events.

Albert Hawking: He is a famous detective and co-owns the secret detective agency the New Pinkertons. Albert is a grumpy person, and can be described as half-crazy. He always wears a large overcoat and is not in the best physical condition. (Spoiler Alert) He is Carver's biological father, and is actually Jack The Ripper in disguise

Delia Ribe: She grew up in the same orphanage as Carver, and is his friend. She was adopted by writers from the New York Times, and she works there in the puzzle department. She helps Carver with finding his father and hunting down Jack The Ripper. She and Carver have a slight crush on each other.

Finn Echols: He is yet another orphan who grew up with Carver and Delia. Finn has the repuatation of a "bully" and dislikes Carver. Eventually, he and Carver form a friendship and he helps with capturing Jack The Ripper.

Jack The Ripper: (Spoiler Alert) He is Carver's father, and was disguised as Albert Hawking. The only reason why he started the New York murders that mirrored his Whitechapel murders was to create a "game" that would train Carver to be a great detective, and also lead him to his father. 

Septimus Tudd: He is the other owner of the New Pinkertons detective agency. Septimus works for Roosevelt and he is trying to solve the New York murders behind Roosevelt's back with the Pinkertons so he will gain more attention and respect.

Theodore Roosevelt: He is the commissioner of the police. He is basically the overconfident detective who becomes humbled by Carver's work.

Characters:

The characters were very well developed. There were quite a lot of characters, however each of them had their own distinct personality and persona. From the main characters to the minor characters, each one was very well developed and though out. 

Plot:

I summarized the plot above, however the plot line was fantastic. Kudos to the author for being super creative! It was super cool how the author (spoiler alert) related Carver finding his father to Jack The Ripper. Even though the "game" that Jack set up for Carver was evil and gruesome, it was a very interesting idea, and I loved it! Throughout the book there were small details that I thought were really cool, such as the use of anagrams. The author did a terrific job writing the mystery. You know how in some mystery novels the author reveals a lot to the reader so that the whole story becomes excruciatingly predictable while the protagonist seems clueless? That did not happen in this novel, which contributes to my liking for this book.

Conclusion:

 I definitely recommend this book. For young adults interested in this type of genre, or if you want to read something else other than main stream teenage love stories, then this book is a must read!