A Study in Red: The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper (Paperback)

Story Summary Robert Cavendish is bereft with grief at his father's recent passing. He was also surprised to learn his father bequeathed Robert a mysterious journal to be read after his death. Read by him and him alone. As he reads the journal, he comes to realize that he holds in his hands the actual rantings and admissions of Jack the Ripper! But that, as they say, is only the beginning. From those pages Robert discovers the answer to old mysteries and atrocities, answers that lead him down a path of horror and insanity. What affect can the secret ravings of a murderer such as Jack the Ripper have on a person? And what connection did Robert's father have to this secret journal?

Your Opinion
I was immediately struck by the enormous amount of research that went into A Study in Red (The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper). It brought 18th century London to life, making the story almost palpable. For over a hundred years, the mystery of Jack the Ripper has been investigated, written about, and discussed, but never like this. I could feel the cobblestones under my feet, hear the horses and carriages and smell the foul air of the London back alleyways.

The journal was an interesting tool, bringing the reader directly into Jack's world and the insanity inflicting him. Experiencing the journal with Robert was intense as the mysteries unfold page by page. The suspense kept me engrossed well into the late evening hours, just as Robert had... I can feel the goose bumps now.

The identity of Jack the Ripper has been explored, but never in such a deliciously nail biting manner. Although fiction, the possibilities of who Jack really was and where he came from as well as his unfortunate victims felt all too real thanks to the obvious hard work of the author to create this sensational tale.

Reviewed By: Terri

Following the death of his father, psychiatrist Robert Cavendish is bequeathed a set of papers and a strange age-yellowed journal. As he unpacks and begins to read the papers he is astounded to discover that he is holding the journal of the infamous Whitechapel Murderer who stalked the streets of the East End of London in the autumn of 1888. The pages are warm to the touch, and a force of great malevolence seems to guide Robert's journey through the mists of time as he is transported by the words upon the pages into the mind, and the world of the one and only Jack the Ripper!

His mind begins to feel the pull of another time, another place, as images of the Ripper's crimes fill his thoughts and Robert is beset by waking nightmares of such sadistic and terrible bloodletting that he begins to doubt his sanity.

As he delves further and further into the demented world of the killer Robert begins to sense that his family has been hiding a terrible secret for over a century, a secret that he knows will only be revealed when he completes the task of reading `The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper'.