I'm not a Ripperologist, so I started reading I, RIPPER with
very little knowledge of the details surrounding Jack the
Ripper's murders. Author Stephen Hunter delves right in,
taking us to the scene of the first crime with the first
sentence of his new novel. It's all told in retrospect,
alternating between the killer's own diary and the memoirs
of an aging journalist who covered the story. The device
allows for a somewhat unique perspective.
The journalist, known as Jeb, recalls the key details of the
crimes and pieces together his own case. During those dark
weeks of 1888, he wants to make his name by naming the
murderer; two-and-a-half decades later, he vividly recalls
for us the media frenzy, the violence of the scenes, and the
resolution of the case which, until now, has remained
hidden. Jack, of course, is telling the story more
immediately, in the hours or days after each gruesome
killing, and he has his own focus, though he is careful
about the details he lays out in his journal.
About a third of the way in, I started watching Ripper documentaries on YouTube
and reading
some of the websites that specialize in Ripper lore (how it
would have helped if I'd used the bibliography provided by
Hunter on the final pages). I wanted to know if the novel
was accurate or if the author, as some do, played fast and
loose with the truth. From what I can tell, it is the
former. Hunter does have his own interpretations of the
evidence, which is how he crafted his plot and presents his
own idea of what might have happened to Jack.
I don't want to give too much away, but the true identity of
the killer wasn't a surprise to me. Perhaps I've read too
many mysteries to miss the signs. The full name of the
journalist, while it was a surprise, did result in my saying
aloud, "Oh, come on" -- though again, as improbable as I
found it, my limited research did support the idea.
If you are, like me, a connoisseur of historical fiction and
mysteries; if you, like me, enjoy the occasional
Ripper-based movie or documentary; or if you are a
Ripperologist looking for some new twist to the familiar
tales, you will find much to enjoy in I, RIPPER.
The electrifying new thriller from New York Times
bestseller Stephen Hunter takes you deep inside the mind of
the most notorious serial killer of all time: Jack the
Ripper.
In the fall of 1888, Jack the Ripper
slaughtered five prostitutes in London’s seamy Whitechapel
District. He did not just kill—he ripped with a butcher’s
glee—and then, after the particularly gruesome slaying of
Mary Jane Kelly, he disappeared. For 127 years, Jack has
haunted the dark corners of our imagination, the paradigm of
the psychotic killer. We remember him not only for his
crimes, but because, despite one of the biggest dragnets in
London history, he was never caught.
I,
Ripper is a vivid reimagining of Jack’s personal story
entwined with that of an Irish journalist who covered the
case, knew the principals, charted the investigation, and at
last, stymied, went off in a bold new direction. These two
men stalk each other through a city twisted in fear of the
madman’s blade, a cat-and-mouse game that brings to life the
sounds and smells of the fleshpot tenderloin of Whitechapel
and all the lurid acts that fueled the Ripper headlines.
Dripping with intrigue, atmosphere, and diabolical
twists, this is a magnificent psychological thriller from
perennial New York Times bestseller Stephen Hunter,
who the San Francisco Examiner calls “one of the best
storytellers of his generation.”
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