Shadowplay

 

Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor    400 pages

Seems I’m zero-for-two in the last several weeks. Books that I thought were going to be page turners turned out to be total duds. First, Kate Morton’s “The Clockmaker’s Daughter,” then this one.

 Have you ever not given up on a book because you are positive it’s going to get better?  I’ve done this on several occasions, but I must admit that I was too pig-headed to give up on this one.  Turns out, after I turned the last page, I could not tell anyone what this book was about. Oh, there were glimpses of that “it’s gonna turn around here,” but they never came to fruition. Basically the best I can do it a say it is an epistolary novel involving real-life theater folk and literary figures. 

Now if I was in y’all’s shoes, I’d be headed to Amazon to read the synopsis, so I’ll save y’all the trouble:

“…set during the golden age of West End theater in a London shaken by the crimes of Jack the Ripper.

Henry Irving is Victorian London’s most celebrated actor and theater impresario. He has introduced groundbreaking ideas to the theater, bringing to the stage performances that are spectacular, shocking, and always entertaining. When Irving decides to open his own London theater with the goal of making it the greatest playhouse on earth, he hires a young Dublin clerk harboring literary ambitions by the name of Bram Stoker to manage it. As Irving’s theater grows in reputation and financial solvency, he lures to his company of mummers the century’s most beloved actress, the dazzlingly talented leading lady Ellen Terry, who nightly casts a spell not only on her audiences but also on Stoker and Irving both.

Bram Stoker’s extraordinary experiences at the Lyceum Theatre, his early morning walks on the streets of a London terrorized by a serial killer, his long, tempestuous relationship with Irving, and the closeness he finds with Ellen Terry, inspire him to write DRACULA, the most iconic and best-selling supernatural tale ever published.

A magnificent portrait both of lamp-lit London and of lives and loves enacted on the stage, Shadowplay’s rich prose, incomparable storytelling, and vivid characters will linger in readers’ hearts and minds for many years.”

 “Shadowplay” receives 1 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

The Ripper's Shadow

The Ripper's Shadow by Laura Joh Rowland    384 pages  

The Whitechapell Murders revisited.   Photographer Sarah Bain, to make rent money starts taking provocative photos of several of the local ladies of the evening.   Seems lewd photographs was a booming business back then, the ladies were willing to make the extra money for posing although if caught it would be jail time for both the model and the photographer.  Sarah notices an odd coincidence, the murder victims turn out to be the ladies who posed for her photographs!  Sarah begins her own sleuthing to try to save the remaining live women from the killer or killers being joined by a small group of friends introduced throughout the story.   The police think it is of interest that Sarah seems to turn up no matter what the hour in the vivinity of the murders.   Which begins to make her look like a suspect.   Well told story, great take on the case with a bit of a Libba Bray flair for bringing unlikely characters together.   Well done, Laura Joh rowland   Yes, I recommend this to middle schoolers on up.   

- Shirley J.

Severed Streets

The Severed Streets by Paul Cornell
401 Pages


This is the second book of a series where a investigative team who was exposed to the occult London continue to learn to use their new ability of second sight to investigate a series of murders that make it seem as if Jack the Ripper has come back from the grave and is killing rich white men. 

While the story is interesting, I think since I hadn't read the first book, I lost some of the character building of the investigative team.  As a result I found the group dynamics to be lacking in this book.  Perhaps if I had the back story it would have been a better read. 

The Devil's Workshop

The Devil's Workshop by Alex Grecian
386 Pages

This mystery is a sort of mismash of police procedural/horror/historical fiction.  A group that has decided to punish prisoners on their own crashes a train into the prison in order to sneak out four murderers soon to die in order to torture these men themselves.  However, plans go awry and soon all have escaped to wreak havoc on London, including a fifth person, Jack the Ripper.  It is up to Inspector Day and his allies to track down these men before they hurt others. 

Parts of the book were good and parts were slow going.  I think Grecian may have reached too far to include Jack the Ripper and the plot becomes convoluted.