Ripper

Name: Serina

Grade: 12+

Title: Ripper

Author: Stefan Pretrucha

Carver Young is a fourteen-year-old orphan with great ambition and wits, whose home has been Ellis Orphanage since he was an infant. Nothing remains a secret from the inquisitive Carter for long, including the locked file room that he manages to get sneak in. There, in his files, he discovers that even though his mother died in childbirth, his father may be still alive, an interesting prospect for him that he plans to look further into. That is, assuming he can be adopted, and he very much hopes to be adopted by the master sleuth and police commissioner, Teddy Roosevelt. Unfortunately, at the meeting that is set up for the orphans to meet with possible parents, Carver loses his nerve and is unable to speak to the charismatic Roosevelt. However, Carver by chance meets Albert Hawking, a visionary inventor, who agrees to take him in and teach to him to be a professional detective so he can track down his missing father. Meanwhile, a murderer is loose in New York city, one whose brutal and bloody killing patterns much resemble the not long inactive Jack the Ripper. Teddy Roosevelt is quick to take on the case, but Carver and Albert Hawking are also following the bloody trail, coming closer and closer to possibly one of the most famous serial killers in history, as well as to the truth about who Carver's father is...

This book, set in the 1890's, is full of steampunk themed inventions, disturbing murders, historical figures, and a fast-paced mystery for the reader to enjoy!

I picked this book up because I was interested in the title.

I finished this book because I had to know how it ended.

I'd give this book to any Mystery or young Sherlock Holmes fan.

My rating: ****