The tagline: A fabled killer is unleashed again…
The story: Jack the Ripper’s back and Hell’s coming with him…
In 1888, five women are brutally murdered in the East End of London. The killer is never caught.
In 1996, four women die in similar circumstances, their corpses mutilated. Again, the murderer escapes justice.
In 2011, Charlie Faultless returns to the East End after 15 years in exile. His mother and girlfriend were victims of the 1996 killings and he has returned to confront his dark past. But his homecoming coincides with further atrocities, and the reappearance of history’s most terrifying serial killer: JACK THE RIPPER.
With old hatreds simmering, Charlie faces violent ordeals at the hands of men fuelled by revenge and demons raised from hell.
And as Jack The Ripper’s identity is revealed, the truth about Charlie’s past also comes to light… and it is equally shocking.
The critics: This energetic and slightly supernatural rendering of the Jack the Ripper story is requisitely gruesome, darkly funny, and seriously creepy. In 2011, journalist and author Charlie Faultless is hoping to write a book about a series of Ripper-inspired murders in 1996 that claimed the lives of his mother and his lover. Shortly after he returns to his roots in the gutted housing projects of London’s East End, the killings begin again. Faultless is soon the primary suspect, harassed by a zealously vengeful police superintendent. With disciplined dexterity, Emson vaults among three time periods while presiding over a sizable and dissimilar cast, all of them integral and none underplayed. The mystery is not the identity of Jack the Ripper, who is a ruthlessly macabre and often brutally humorous presence throughout, nor his motive or choice of victims. It lies instead in Faultless’s grimly desperate quest to discover his own role in the entirety of the story. While the bloody revelation is not wholly convincing, Emson’s ambition will keep readers impressed and engaged. Publisher’s Weekly
Reader Simon Vance gives a stellar voice performance filled with nuance and mystery. With deliberate and varied pacing and a smooth delivery, Vance deftly leads the listener into this dark world where history and the supernatural collide. Library Journal Audio Review
I personally really enjoyed the story line and found the ending a surprising twist. Thomas Emson is an amazing writer and creates characters who have bad or evil in them such as Charlie faultless and makes the reader connect with them and wants them to win. This is another brilliant book… for any Thomas Emson fan, or a fan of horror, this is a must read. Emma Clarke, Amazon