Allow me to paint a picture for you. The trees are dyed shades of red, brown, gold, and orange. In a sun room overlooking the mountain tops, you are curled up in a huge comfy chair with a good book and your favorite hot (or cold) drink, ready to relax. That is how I imagine paradise to be like. What better way to start this Fall 2018 season than to review one of my personal favorite author’s most recent release, Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco.
Escaping from Houdini, which I will refer to as “EFH” for the rest of this article, is the third book in Kerri Maniscalco’s debut Stalking Jack the Ripper series. For those who don’t know what or who this is, Stalking Jack the Ripper is Kerri Maniscalco’s debut novel and the namesake of the Young Adult mystery series. The story follows Audrey Rose Wadsworth, a seventeen-year-old girl living in Victorian London with an inkling to study forensic science. Her uncle, Dr. Jonathan Wadsworth, has taken her on as a secret apprentice to learn everything she can about the science of human anatomy, forensics, and overall anything having to do with dead bodies or solving mysteries. Through this apprenticeship, she meets Thomas Cresswell, an enigmatic yet interesting character who takes an instant liking to her. The first book tackles the infamous Jack the Ripper case, where the second book, Hunting Prince Dracula, is a retelling of the famous Bram Stoker story. As a self-proclaimed lover of all things spooky and mysterious, I immediately fell head over heels in love for this series! Kerri Maniscalco’s writing provides just enough suspense with a balance between the light and dark elements of her tales. The storylines are intriguing and- I guarantee -will keep you hooked until the very last word on the very last page.
Pertaining to EFH, I had already pre-ordered my copy the same day I finished Hunting Prince Dracula last year. I will admit, I was worried going into this book. Having such high expectations from the other two books in the series, I was anxious that the third would experience the terrible “middle book syndrome” and not live up to the hype I had formulated in my expectations. To a certain extent, I was right to be cautiously optimistic. For all the insane marketing that the publishing company did leading up to the release date, I found the book to be good. Not the best. Not the worst. Just good. Did it live up to my expectations? In certain ways, hell yes, it blew them out of the water. In other ways, no, it didn’t impress me.
For starters, the relationship between Thomas and Audrey Rose obtained a new dynamic in this book. For the sake of spoilers, I’ll hold myself from revealing exactly what that dynamic is, but I can say it took me off guard. I was not expecting another factor to be added to the relationship. I was happy to see it becoming more realistic, but at the same time, I wanted it to stay in fantasy land. I mean, isn’t the main reason anyone reads fiction to escape the real world? I would say that the new dynamic in their relationship was a blessing and a curse. I can see why Kerri Maniscalco wrote it and tied it into the story, but I also didn’t feel the same impact it had when I read Hunting Prince Dracula. My favorite book from the series will always be Stalking Jack the Ripper but Hunting Prince Dracula had an interesting kick to it as well. It had unique elements.
As someone who reads mystery novels all the time, I was shocked by how cliché the setting turned out to be. I was expecting something insane and creative, as Stalking Jack the Ripper and Hunting Prince Dracula had been. Both novels were interwoven with so many unique elements that I couldn’t comprehend what I was reading sometimes. It was amazing. The world was so immersive and fun and unlike anything I had read about before. Unfortunately, EFH did not live up to that expectation. Sure, the Moonlight Carnival was cool, but it was a bit on the cliché side. As I read the descriptions of the places the characters were visiting, I felt myself comparing them to The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I had seen these places before. This has never happened to me reading books one and two, so to have it happen during book three was a bit of a letdown.
Nonetheless, the book was good. The storyline was just as intriguing as the others, albeit a little slow at times. The killer was someone I never would have guessed. The new characters that were introduced were well fleshed out and had their own dynamics going on. Kerri Maniscalco’s writing was on par with the other novels, just as beautiful and just as smooth. Overall, I would give this book a 3.5 out of 5 stars. It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read (that spot will always belong to Fifty Shades of Grey. Ugh, talk about an abusive relationship).
