The Book:
Title: Escaping from Houdini
Author: Kerri Maniscalco
Series: Stalking Jack the Ripper #3
Published September 18th 2018
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, YA, Romance
Pages: 416
“Audrey Rose Wadsworth and her partner-in-crime-investigation, Thomas Cresswell, are en route to New York to help solve another blood-soaked mystery. Embarking on a week-long voyage across the Atlantic on the opulent RMS Etruria, they’re delighted to discover a traveling troupe of circus performers, fortune tellers, and a certain charismatic young escape artist entertaining the first-class passengers nightly.
But then, privileged young women begin to go missing without explanation, and a series of brutal slayings shocks the entire ship. The disturbing influence of the Moonlight Carnival pervades the decks as the murders grow ever more freakish, with nowhere to escape except the unforgiving sea.
It’s up to Audrey Rose and Thomas to piece together the gruesome investigation as even more passengers die before reaching their destination. But with clues to the next victim pointing to someone she loves, can Audrey Rose unravel the mystery before the killer’s horrifying finale?” –Goodreads
My Review:
This is the third book in the series and it just keeps getting better.
I have been perusing the other reviews on Goodreads to write this, mostly because I don’t have any ideas so I want to respond to the general feedback of others.
In this book, we see more horrific murders, which is super fun. The other books had fewer posed deaths. This one had interesting deaths that also had a mystery to find out what the specific deaths meant.
Wadsworth changes a lot in this book. She reflects on what she wants and her relationships. She has to work through her feelings of wanting to be free but also her feelings of wanting to be with Thomas Creswell. Yes, I agree with everyone saying she is dumb and annoying in this book, but she needs this character development. She literally understands she has been dumb in the end.
The circus aspect and magic show were so awesome. Maniscalco literally writes each so well. Normally, people are not that good at writing out magic tricks and writing magic shows out. I have never been impressed with an author’s portrayal of sleight of hand until Maniscalco.
Thomas Creswell is so amazing in this story. I love when a man gets jealous and he gets very jealous in this story. He also is trying to be so respectful of her while she is going around and keeping secrets from him. He let her choose him. He was amazing and patient. Why do people hate that?
I have seen a few people complain about how the heroes of the book become such bad people, but literally what more could you want? Characters need growth. They need to fall before they can fly. So I disagree with everyone who complains about that. It was so great.
I love the ending. Some people said that the ending was predictable, and I just might not understand stuff, but I do not think it was predictable at all. Maniscalco doesn’t have any predictable endings in my opinion.
I love this book series. Please check it out.
As always, thanks for reading,
A Bookie
Star Rating: 4.0
Another nice review for a cool book – and an interesting approach to doing the review.
I’m surprised you had the time for it given your busy schedule!