Word Out 2012

I'm pretty wimpy when it comes to blood. And I definitely don't like books where characters meet gruesome deaths. But who isn't fascinated by the Jack the Ripper case? By the sheer number of articles, books and TV movies of the 1888 murders, it's obvious the story never gets old.

Maureen Johnson's The Name of the Star makes the Ripper tale fresh and fun again.  Rory Deveaux, a Louisiana teenager, goes to study in a London boarding school located near the site of the original Ripper murders. When someone brutally mutilates a woman on August 31, the anniversary of the first Ripper murder, the hunt begins for a serial killer who can murder in plain sight of security cameras and not be seen.

Rory isn't interested in all the hype surrounding the murders, but is soon pulled into the investigation when she spots a man at the place of the third murder – a man no one can see but her. The police promise to protect her, but how can anyone stop her from being the fourth and final victim of this Ripper copycat.

This fast paced, fun read is made all the more enjoyable by the quirkiness of the main character who like all real Southerners, knows how to tell a good story.