Ripper by Stephan Petrucha

Reviewed by Lori
Title: Ripper

Author:  Stephan Petrucha

Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 69858

Description:  Adopted by Pinkerton Agency Detective Hawking in 1895 New York, fourteen-year-old Carver hopes to find his birth father, but he becomes involved in the pursuit of Jack the ripper, and discovers finding the truth may be worse than ignorance.

Rubric Rating:  Level 2 - Like It. 

Why I Read It:  A morbid fascination with Jack the Ripper and related crime writing. 

Notes:  I wanted to give this book a better rating.  I really liked the writing and found that the plot moved very quickly, probably because of the short chapters.  But there were aspects of the characters that I found too unbelievable or convenient. The main character Carver Young, is an orphan in New York’s Ellis orphanage.  Desperate to discover who he is, he breaks into the file room and steals a letter apparently written by his father. His counterparts Delia (the intelligent female love interest) and Finn (Carver’s brawny foil/friend) are also orphans.  The orphanage will soon be closing its doors and these three characters are all adopted into families – Delia by the Ribe’s - newspaper reporters with the Times, and Finn by the Echol’s - a prominent and extremely wealthy family. Carver, a budding detective himself, is adopted/mentored by a Mr. Albert Hawking a detective with the Pinkerton detective agency.  A crotchety, bent old man Hawking’s first assignment for Carver is to find his father. But Carver’s search turns out to be an even bigger assignment than he suspected, finding himself linked to the investigation for the killer currently menacing New York. A killer with eerily similar notes and crime scenes that match those of London’s Jack the Ripper. With the reluctant assistance of Septimus Tudd and the “New Pinkertons” Carver uses their secret crime lab, an assortment of steampunk gadgets, and the assistance of his friends, to help him solve the New York crimes and discover whether or not his father is Jack this Ripper.  While I liked the premise of this book and again the writing was very fast paced, the villain just seemed too super-human to be believed. He’s knocked about, stunned, hit by a car and still manages to escape again and again. It’s almost as if he’s invincible. (I can only suspend my disbelief for so long.) I found throughout the book that I was continually deducing who the criminal might be and while I was correct in my deductions it was such a Jekyll and Hyde turnabout I found it implausible. Although I do admit that I went back and forth a few times between thinking I was right or wrong. I also found Carver’s name a little over the top.  (Son of Jack the Ripper = Carver Young). The author’s character notes at the end of the book were a nice add on and character flaws aside I would read another book in this series simply for the pace of reading.

Recommended Readers: Mystery buffs grade 9 and up. 

Themes: Historical Crime, Orphans, Murder/Mystery, Paternity, Friendship, Historical Figures, Pinkerton Detective Agency, Deduction, Steampunk, Mind Games

Cross-Genre Links:
History: Jack the Ripper, Early Crime and Crime detection
History: Pinkerton Detective Agency
History: New York in the 1800s
Related Characters: Sherlock Holmes

Inquiries and Activities:

  • Who is Carver's father?  What happened to him?
  • Did you find the story believable?
  • Create a logo for the New Pinkerton's or create a new cover for this novel.
  • What is an alias?  How are names and games used?


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