An Advance Review of 'A Study in Red - The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper'

[Brian L Porter]

Here's an early review of my novel 'A Study in Red - The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper' soon to be released by Double Dragon Publishing.

REVIEW

A Study in Red (The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper.) By Brian L. Porter

1888 and London is a grand metropolis of dark alleys and grim tenements, cut off from the sun by thick clouds of smog which also paint the buildings black. It's the screams, so near, so common, that sends the shivers up your spine. Hardly anyone bothers with those screams as they echo through the streets. Night by night the helpless citizens must walk so very fearfully though these streets. They live in this brutal society where even the police are unable to do anything against a foe as illusive as the shadows. Jack the Ripper stalks the streets, his name on everybody's lips. He is the terrible evil that lurks in the shadows, attacking the women of Whitechapel so brutally, so callously, so viciously. Cries of Murder are uttered, drifting on the icy breeze, and everyone knows that he has struck again...

Over a century has passed. With the death of his father Robert receives a mysterious old package from his solicitor, full of letters and the request that they be read in sequence along with an ancient journal. This small pile of aged papers seems so innocuous and yet the weight of the words written within can be felt, if you give pause and wonder where that feeling of dread is coming from. His family have been harbouring a secret, a dark secret, a terrible secret – one that might destroy the very soul of the man who must bear this burden.

Brian L. Porter has approached the writing of a Jack the Ripper novel from a new and exciting angle, dispensing with the most obvious routes, he has found the path less travelled and in doing so has found the breathtaking scenery that makes the story work. He has written a story that has more humanity and depth of feeling than one could ever imagine possible given the subject. He has crafted a tale bound to move even the most stoical of hearts.

A Study in Red is seductive; it pulls you in, it draws you closer, it whispers in your ear. You cannot leave it, you cannot put it down – not until the very end – and by then it is far too late; it has you, mind, body and soul.

--Graeme S. Houston, Publisher: Balderdash International Literary Journal.