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Sinistrari
London, 1888. After Satanist Edward Sinistrari is condemned to hang for ritual murder of four girls, he escapes from the gallows at Newgate Prison, leaving a bloody trail in his wake. DCI Charles Collingwood is assigned to track Sinistrari down. But just as he is closing in on his quarry, Jack The Ripper begins his murderous rampage. In a London awash with blood, Collingwood is about to discover the full force of Sinistrari's diabolic powers and vengeance. But who is he, and can he be stopped? This is the large print edition of Sinistrari, with a larger font / typeface for easier reading.
592 pages, Paperback
First published June 18, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 25, 2013
I didn't think I was going to enjoy Sinistrari after the opening chapter. Black Magic isn't really my thing. So I was pleasantly surprised when I settled into the tale and found it quite gripping. Sinistrari has a splendid hero, an unbearably evil villain, some good chaps alongside the hero and some pompous, full of their own importance VIPs who do their best to thwart the pursuit of the very very bad guy at every turn.
The book has splendid portraits of late 19th. century London, especially the districts polulated by the poor who try to exist in the midst of violent crime, poverty, filth and disease. The dialogue is pretty accurate I'd guess and this all helps to create a murky, tense and threatening background. It reminded me, in a way, of those Dennis Wheatley black magic novels like The Devil Rides Out. They were all a little bit tamer in those days, of course, but quite exciting nonetheless. Sinistrari's way up to that standard.
David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil (www.thebluepencil.co.uk)]
davidlowtherblog.wordpress.com
The book has splendid portraits of late 19th. century London, especially the districts polulated by the poor who try to exist in the midst of violent crime, poverty, filth and disease. The dialogue is pretty accurate I'd guess and this all helps to create a murky, tense and threatening background. It reminded me, in a way, of those Dennis Wheatley black magic novels like The Devil Rides Out. They were all a little bit tamer in those days, of course, but quite exciting nonetheless. Sinistrari's way up to that standard.
David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil (www.thebluepencil.co.uk)]
davidlowtherblog.wordpress.com
March 1, 2012
The best book I have read in the recent times. Victorian crime thriller that seams around the satanic worshipped, who happens to be the handler of Jack The Ripper. The plot is interesting and the narration is breathtaking. Often, I see many books described as "racy". This narration runs at a break-neck speed.
December 9, 2012
Enjoyed the Collingwood character and the obvious attention to historical facts the author managed, but not blown away by the story. Nothing new here for me.
December 29, 2022
This was wholly uninspiring.
Structurally, the book followed a strange timeline - starting with Sinistrari's execution and escape, then jumping backward for a long chunk of time to go through what he had done to get arrested, then skipping forward to events after his escape. While the author did use date headings on the chapters, perhaps because I listened to it via audible I missed the time swaps, so the timeline felt jumbled/unexpected to me.
The writing could have benefited from another editing pass. The story was written in past tense, but had odd slips into present for random scenes which became distracting.
Credit where credit is due, omniscient narrration is difficult to do well. It requires the author to share many different characters' thoughts and feelings without slipping into the individual characters' voices. (Otherwise, you just get a mess of head hopping.) The author did an excellent job with this.
Conceptually, I love the idea of a gritty, historical novel that explores the mystery behind the Jack the Ripper legend. However, this narrative simply seemed a vehicle to describe, in unreasonable and sometimes gleeful detail, horrific violence against (mostly) women. While the Whitechapel murders were indeed horrific, there was so much opportunity for the author to delve into the mystery/investigation and the occult and the community fear, instead of just focusing on the slashing. On top of that, most of the characters were one-dimensional and stereotyped, especially the women.
The saving grace of this book was that I listened to it. The narrator - Paul Draper - had a lovely voice and a mellow, but engaging storytelling style. He was delightful to listen to and so I stuck it out, where if I had been reading it, I might have not finished it.
Structurally, the book followed a strange timeline - starting with Sinistrari's execution and escape, then jumping backward for a long chunk of time to go through what he had done to get arrested, then skipping forward to events after his escape. While the author did use date headings on the chapters, perhaps because I listened to it via audible I missed the time swaps, so the timeline felt jumbled/unexpected to me.
The writing could have benefited from another editing pass. The story was written in past tense, but had odd slips into present for random scenes which became distracting.
Credit where credit is due, omniscient narrration is difficult to do well. It requires the author to share many different characters' thoughts and feelings without slipping into the individual characters' voices. (Otherwise, you just get a mess of head hopping.) The author did an excellent job with this.
Conceptually, I love the idea of a gritty, historical novel that explores the mystery behind the Jack the Ripper legend. However, this narrative simply seemed a vehicle to describe, in unreasonable and sometimes gleeful detail, horrific violence against (mostly) women. While the Whitechapel murders were indeed horrific, there was so much opportunity for the author to delve into the mystery/investigation and the occult and the community fear, instead of just focusing on the slashing. On top of that, most of the characters were one-dimensional and stereotyped, especially the women.
The saving grace of this book was that I listened to it. The narrator - Paul Draper - had a lovely voice and a mellow, but engaging storytelling style. He was delightful to listen to and so I stuck it out, where if I had been reading it, I might have not finished it.
July 6, 2020
Lots of Jack the ripper mixed in with Satanism and a little bit of Dracula. A horror story with an abundance of florid prose.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews