Sherlock Holmes in New York: The Adventure of the New York Ripper

by Philip J. Carraher

Terror is walking the streets of 1893 New York City at night, taking the lives of women in a horrible fashion reminiscent of the heinous murders of Jack the Ripper in London five years earlier. A copycat “Jack the Ripper”? Or is it possible that the infamous killer himself, never captured by the London police, has made his way to the streets of New York City? In The Adventure of The New York Ripper, we are, in addition to an outstanding mystery, presented with a history of the horrific Jack the Ripper crimes and with a brand-new theory regarding the commission of those terrible murders.

Genres: Mystery

212 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2005

Reviews

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sherlock Holmes taking on the fiend of Whitechapel-Spittalfield has been the theme of several novels, some of them shockingly brilliant (LAST SHERLOCK HOLMES STORY), some of them yawn-inducing. This book takes Holmes/Hawkes to New York and sets up a confrontation between him and a Ripper-clone. Best part of the story involves the analysis of the Ripper-murders by Hawkes and the logical series of conclusions, but the weak parts are: -
1. The natures of Hawkes and Holmes are substantially different; the author also strengthens this impression by naming the detective Hawkes (and throwing the name of Holmes time & again).
2. The writing style is rather cramped. Even the "notes" of John.H. Watson are stylistically & qualitatively different from the canonical works.
3. Repeating the same words & paragraphs across the pages really hasn't helped the story.
4. Compared to the canon, the writing is definitely inferior in terms of asceticism, pace, setting, language, and (worst of all) the traits of Holmes as well as Watson.