After being fired from the Metropolitan Police, Sergeant Nevil Hammersmith opened his own detective agency. The de facto owner, and so far only client, is Claire Day, Inspector Walter Day's wife. Walter has been missing for a year, and Nevil is obsessed with finding his former colleague and friend. What Nevil lacks in skills, he makes up for in determination; he will find Walter if it kills him. Jack the Ripper seems to have vanished, and London breathes more easily, but Jack has merely been keeping a low profile: a little murder here and there, nothing too conspicuous; old habits die hard. Jack has now a different agenda. This is what Walter deduces one morning, when the door to the cell where Jack has been keeping him is unlocked. Walter knows it's a trap, but he'll take his chances...

Nevil employs two young women: Eugenia Merrilow and Hatty Pitt, the latter knows she can do a detective's job, and when a gentleman asks that they find his missing brother, Nevil concedes that Hatty can take care of it, and Nevil will concentrate on finding Walter. And this is one of the very many highlights of this amazing book: LOST AND GONE FOREVER features some exceptionally strong female characters, and Hatty is simply fabulous. I love this series, and Mr. Grecian's Victorian London has never felt so real, down to the claustrophobic fog in late spring, the advances in forensics and crime detection, the glittering new department stores and modern conveniences. But most notable is the unsettling, chilling atmosphere that surrounds Walter's ordeal, and of course Jack. It feels entirely realistic and it is totally surreal, as we are thrown head first into the madness of the bone-chilling Jack, who is as mesmerizing as ever and even more frightening. The secondary characters are smashing, particularly Mr. and Mrs. Parker.

Alex Grecian's attention to detail is stunning, especially when it comes to Plumm's Emporium, and what takes place there, and the care he takes with the most mundane observations make them fascinating. LOST AND GONE FOREVER is an extremely intense book, and the comic relief provided by hard-of-hearing Ms. Goodpenny is very much welcome. Mr. Grecian's prose is efficient, eloquent and so very elegant, and he never strays from appropriate usage. It's hard to believe that a series based around Jack the Ripper has grown to five books, and seems to be getting stronger all the time. LOST AND GONE FOREVER is an extremely complex thriller, some major characters die, and this reader couldn't be happier that Alex Grecian is far from done!