Escaping from Houdini (Stalking Jack the Ripper #3)

Be warned there are minor spoilers ahead. Sigh, I have been a huge fan of the Stalking Jack the Ripper series and I was beyond excited to read this book, Escaping From Houdini! The story started off perfectly, Audrey and Thomas were off on another grand adventure and their relationship had also deepened. In addition, the setting was wonderfully tantalizing with its mysteriousness and intriguing characters, I was delighted! The mystery behind the murders was very complex although the motivation was as old as time. There was so much to delight the senses so why was I disappointed? Why would the author decided to take such an amazing duo as Audrey and Thomas, a duo by the way that I have been desperately rooting for since book one, and drive a wedge between them? Ok, I could see them having a conflict over points of view or over personal issues but to take a team that I love and drive a freaking love triangle between them?! I hate love triangles on any given day but this felt like a betrayal to me. I was definitely on team Thomas in this book and spent most of it with open disdain for all the scenes with Audrey and Mephistopheles, which ended up being a majority of the book. So frustrating! I was mostly frustrated with the love triangle but there were some exciting parts of the story and I liked the inclusion of Houdinis character. It is always fun when historical figures are incorporated into a story. The ending left me with mixed feelings and I cant say that I am excited about Audrey. I think she has a better understanding of herself and learned a valuable lesson that many people actually learn in life about getting in over your head. I just hope that she learns to communicate better in the next book because a lot could have been avoided if she just thought things through. Sorry, I know this is more of a rant but this book really pushed my buttons, ha ha ha.

While this book started strong the authors decision to not only introduce a nonsensical love triangle, she also single handedly destroyed her main character turning an intelligent, strong minded, mature, female character into a immature chick who wanted nothing more than to get drunk, high, and get laid by a guy she had known in less than a week. I felt like the authors use of plot-devices was simply ridiculous- Audrey Rose making bargains to save her cousins reputation and then dressing in nothing but corsets and stockings and bringing said cousin to a party where they do drugs and then going out EVERY night to meet with the new love interest and make out. AR was unbearably out-of-character and her logic during this entire book was completely flawed. I feel like this was simply some weird wish fulfillment on KMs part. I really wish I would have read the REAL reviews before I had purchased this one.

This was my least favorite of the series – such an understatement. Lots of twists and turns in the storyline but it seemed so forced and weakly put together. We\’ve come to admire and appreciate Audrey Rose\’s strength of character from the last two books, and in this book we see her complete lack of character and morals as she doesn\’t hesitate in hurting those around her with weak and shallow justifications to do so. It was more like a modern day 17 year-old girl with no thought of others– out of place for the Audrey Rose we have known and even more so for the time period. Maybe the author was going for Audrey considering her options not being tied to Thomas. Instead it came across as her being selfish, shallow, and unwilling to consider the thoughts and feelings of others or the commitmemt she had made to Thomas. Her willingness to hold to her word so absolutely for Mephistopheles and not be commited or loyal to Thomas in any way was a huge descepancy in her character. Her interactions with Thomas, and his with her, in the end are so oddly put together they fell way short of being beliveable. There should have been no way Thomas would so coldly walk away and then return as if all was well WITH NO ACTUAL CONVERSATION about what had occured. So is Audrey Rose supposed to be a modern woman considering her independence while Thomas is a spineless door mat or puppy ready to follow her around?! Ridiculous! This was such a disappointment, I am left hoping that Thomas Cresswell can find someone actually deserving of him!!! Don\’t think I can stand to pay for and read the next one.

Audrey and Thomas are back in the third book in the Stalking Jack the Ripper series. They are en route to America on the RMS Etruria. They are happy to have a break from murder and are planning to enjoy the voyage and the circus that is performing on the ship. When a girl is murdered at their table during the circus act, Audrey and Thomas need to find the killer fast before he kills again. Audrey and Thomas are still so cute and perfect for each other and I loved every scene with them together. Thomas is one of my top book boyfriends for many reasons his devotion and his heart being two of them. Audrey has some intersecting character development and I didnt always agree with the decisions she made in this book. I have been wanting more circus books and books set on ships and was so excited when I found out this book had both. I loved the circus and was very mesmerized by the leader of the circus Mephistopheles. He was very charismatic and I was very drawn to his character. The circus added a fantastically and mesmerizing background for the mystery. The mystery in this one was my favorite of the three books so far and the best written. The suspense in this book was very high. Being stuck on a ship in the middle of the ocean with a killer or killers with no way out. I cant imagine how terrifying it would be. Kerri Maniscalco has given us another amazing un-put-downable book in the series. Full of danger, suspense, mystery, romance, murder, and a circus I will not soon forget. Rating: 5 stars

This book. Oh my god, this book was incredible. 3 books in and I still can never work out who the killer is and still feel as shocked as I did when I read Stalking Jack the Ripper. I really enjoyed it, at first I was worried it would be a little slow and maybe not as good as the previous two, but within a few chapters, it was an intense as the others. I was a little frustrated with the introduction of the new love interest, throughout Audrey Rose has been a strong character who didn\’t have any romantic moments until the last book, and even that took two full books to get to. I love Thomas\’s character too much to want to see her with any other, and I think she did too ultimately. I loved the brief steamy make-outs scattered throughout, whenever the book got too serious a scene would be thrown in to ease the tension and make my heart flutter like I was the one in the room with him, not her. I must have highlighted a passage in every scene that was remotely romantic! I loved that we got to see more of Liza also, when we were first introduced to her in the first book I was worried she would be used simply as a plot device to highlight how different Audrey Rose is, but instead she is shown to be the strong character she is and it just shows that you can come across as a more traditional Victorian young girl but still be as badass as the non-traditional girl. I loved their relationship, it was just as it should be between family, there was no competition, despite Liza not being interested or familiar with the work Audrey Rose does, she was still included and still listened and supported them all during their time. Just as Audrey Rose was there for Liza. It made me wish I had the same depth of relationship with cousins of mine. I cannot wait for the fourth, and I really really hope the series will never end!

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