This didn’t live up to the first book in the series, The Name of the Star which I thought was a cracker. I kept waiting for it to pick up, which it does towards the end and then BANG! Suddenly I’m invested again, and will have to read The Shadow Cabinet. I listened to this as an audio book and found it diverting enough for my long commutes. Fingers crossed that Book 3 picks up!

4.5* It was interesting reading other reviews of this book. Some were quite critical. However, I think Johnson wrote a cracking good yarn! Not quite sure what others were expecting from a YA novel set in a boarding school in London, where Jack the Ripper copy-cat murders are occurring - high end literature perhaps?
Seriously, what’s not to like here? Gutsy female protagonist Rory is an American fish-out-of-water in a London boarding school, who quickly discovers she has an unusual ‘gift’. Brutal murders that replicate Jack the Ripper’s modus operandi send all of London into a panic and Rory is the only eye witness.
I’ve been a fan of ‘urban fantasy’ since I discovered Charles de Lint in the ’80s. The idea that supernatural entities are all around us as we go about our usual business is, to my mind, kinda exciting! And the thought that there are secret agencies fighting the good fight against any dark entities rather comforting! If you’ve read O’Malley’s The Rook, this is not a original concept, but I feel Johnson’s excursion into this other world is worth the entry fee!
I can’t wait to read Book 2 ‘The Madness Underneath’.
I would recommend this to readers from Years 8+ (some descriptions of the Ripper’s ‘handiwork’ are not recommended for the younger reader.)