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The Ripper Secret
August 1888. Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Charles Warren has a precious artefact, a relic of incalculable value that dates back to the very earliest days of human history, in his possession. Previously sent to Jerusalem to survey and explore the ancient religious sites there, he found the solid gold object while excavating a hidden chamber under the Temple Mount, and smuggled it back to England.
When a mysterious stranger pays Warren a visit, he's terrified to discover that the man is on the trail of the ancient relic but, with Warren's entire career and reputation at stake, he denies all knowledge of the object, little knowing just how far the stranger is prepared to go to destroy him and recover the artefact.
But when the first murder takes place, and Martha Tabram is found stabbed to death in Whitechapel, Warren realizes the callous determination and disregard for human life of his ruthless enemy. And then the Ripper strikes again. And again. As the body count rises, and the Metropolitan Police scour the streets of Whitechapel in a vain attempt to apprehend the murderer, Warren knows that his reputation - and perhaps even his life - hangs in the balance.
When a mysterious stranger pays Warren a visit, he's terrified to discover that the man is on the trail of the ancient relic but, with Warren's entire career and reputation at stake, he denies all knowledge of the object, little knowing just how far the stranger is prepared to go to destroy him and recover the artefact.
But when the first murder takes place, and Martha Tabram is found stabbed to death in Whitechapel, Warren realizes the callous determination and disregard for human life of his ruthless enemy. And then the Ripper strikes again. And again. As the body count rises, and the Metropolitan Police scour the streets of Whitechapel in a vain attempt to apprehend the murderer, Warren knows that his reputation - and perhaps even his life - hangs in the balance.
496 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
5 people are currently reading
232 people want to read
About the author
Jack Steel
2 books2 followersJack Steel is a pen name of Peter Stuart Smith.
Jack^^^Steel
Jack^^^Steel
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 11, 2021
Steel attempts to weave an exciting historical fiction tale by meshing together a story about a precious historical artifact secretly excavated from beneath Jerusalem's Temple Mount and smuggled back to England with what reads like a very dry nonfiction account of the Jack the Ripper killings - suffice it to say, he doesn't succeed. The entire premise is simply preposterous (Really, this is the best way the supposedly oh-so-smart and entirely onedimensional villain can come up with to blackmail his victim?! Colour me incredulous.), and both characters and writing remain flat throughout. It'll do to pass the time if you have nothing else on hand, but that's about all.
October 3, 2017
*DNF*
Intriguing and promising idea overall, but too many facts and figures for me. I understand that some were there to add detail etc, but as a work of fiction, all the facts didn't really seem to fit. Plus I'm pretty sure a lot of them were simply taken straight from the internet, with no attempt to integrate or weave them nicely into the story. Quite disappointed really
Intriguing and promising idea overall, but too many facts and figures for me. I understand that some were there to add detail etc, but as a work of fiction, all the facts didn't really seem to fit. Plus I'm pretty sure a lot of them were simply taken straight from the internet, with no attempt to integrate or weave them nicely into the story. Quite disappointed really
February 12, 2025
August 1888. Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Charles Warren has a precious artefact, a relic of incalculable value that dates back to the very earliest days of human history, in his possession. Previously sent to Jerusalem to survey and explore the ancient religious sites there, he found the solid gold object while excavating a hidden chamber under the Temple Mount, and smuggled it back to England. When a mysterious stranger pays Warren a visit, he's terrified to discover that the man is on the trail of the ancient relic but, with Warren's entire career and reputation at stake, he denies all knowledge of the object, little knowing just how far the stranger is prepared to go to destroy him and recover the artefact. But when the first murder takes place, and Martha Tabram is found stabbed to death in Whitechapel, Warren realizes the callous determination and disregard for human life of his ruthless enemy. And then the Ripper strikes again.
My Thoughts:
I picked this book up mainly because it was about ‘Jack the Ripper’. At first I didn’t know here this book was going to go. It starts in Jerusalem I felt I was reading an ‘Indiana Jones’ type book, then I found myself in Whitechapel in 1888 and following around ‘Jack the Ripper’.
I think the author lost what he trying to achieve. The book starts off a fiction read that is going to have the ripper killings as it main backdrop. This is ok but what the author did was change his style and for the main section of the book I felt I was reading a text book, or a non fiction book all about Jack and the murders.
However I did enjoy the accounts and they were full of detail and some of it was very gory, not for the faint hearted. I have always had an interest in the Whitechapel murders so I found this section of the book very interesting and quite page turning. I just felt that it lost it place in what started off a fiction tale but against the murders.
If I had to describe this book I would have to say the I felt it was like Indy Jones crossed with a little Dan Brown ( stress the word little ) and a running commentary Jack the Ripper.
Overall I can say I enjoyed the book, it was something different and would recommend to anybody who has an interest in Jack the Ripper. Not really a bad book for 50p !
My Thoughts:
I picked this book up mainly because it was about ‘Jack the Ripper’. At first I didn’t know here this book was going to go. It starts in Jerusalem I felt I was reading an ‘Indiana Jones’ type book, then I found myself in Whitechapel in 1888 and following around ‘Jack the Ripper’.
I think the author lost what he trying to achieve. The book starts off a fiction read that is going to have the ripper killings as it main backdrop. This is ok but what the author did was change his style and for the main section of the book I felt I was reading a text book, or a non fiction book all about Jack and the murders.
However I did enjoy the accounts and they were full of detail and some of it was very gory, not for the faint hearted. I have always had an interest in the Whitechapel murders so I found this section of the book very interesting and quite page turning. I just felt that it lost it place in what started off a fiction tale but against the murders.
If I had to describe this book I would have to say the I felt it was like Indy Jones crossed with a little Dan Brown ( stress the word little ) and a running commentary Jack the Ripper.
Overall I can say I enjoyed the book, it was something different and would recommend to anybody who has an interest in Jack the Ripper. Not really a bad book for 50p !
November 16, 2020
The reviews about this book don’t cast it in a very good light and I had doubts about it from the start. However, if you think of it more as a history book rather than a great work of fiction, it actually works. The beginning of the book in Jerusalem is very detailed in its description, but once you get past this it gets good. I wouldn’t say I couldn’t put it down, but I did enjoy picking it up. Overall a very description account of the Jack The Ripper murders and a great back story about who he could have possibly been.
May 26, 2017
I like reading crime fiction or mixture of both but this book at time was like reading a history book. it was almost like he did a cut and paste job. the information about the
each victims the statistics regarding life in London 1888 w a straight out of history books. he made no effort to incorporate them into the story even the main character were almost forgotten about and the fact that knew who did it from the very beginning took away the element of surprise.
each victims the statistics regarding life in London 1888 w a straight out of history books. he made no effort to incorporate them into the story even the main character were almost forgotten about and the fact that knew who did it from the very beginning took away the element of surprise.
June 25, 2018
I liked the facts and figures within this book. Not having a great knowledge of the Jack The Ripper crimes it helped explain the thinking behind this theory as to who this man actually was and his motives. I tend to read before going to sleep, so perhaps not the best book for a peaceful night!
April 6, 2021
It might be one of those stories that is better as a script of a TV movie, not a page turner but okay to pass the time - similarly I feel the same about the other book I picked up by this author entitled The Titanic Secret.
April 13, 2019
Interesting story which contains a lot of the actual facts of the murders. Well worth a read if, like me, you are fascinated by Jack the Ripper but this is only a story!
June 3, 2020
A bit like wikipedia was spewed onto the pages, very predictable and not what I was expecting. Unfortunately I have read better Jack The Ripper based stories.
November 30, 2020
It was rather interesting. The only thing I had an issue with was the tagline on the cover. What f one man could have stopped the killings? Well yeah the man doing them could have stopped them.
May 31, 2021
very slow read. kinda boring(?)
September 2, 2024
Loved it, great twist on the old Jack the Ripper story
June 28, 2019
There's a lot to enjoy about this book, but there's also a large chunk of disappointment to swallow with it.
Firstly, the thing I most enjoyed was the fact that the main character is Sir Charles Warren, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police during the Autumn of Terror. I received the book as a Christmas gift and was expecting Abberline front and centre, since he was the man in charge of the case, so it was a pleasant surprise to find myself getting to know this fictionalised version of Warren.
The identity of the Ripper himself is known from the beginning, so there's no detective work for the reader to do here. Alexander Pedachenko is one of the more unlikely suspects in the vast line up of possible Jacks due to the fact that it is very likely that he never existed in the first place. Said to be a Russian spy sent over to London to discredit the Met and later thrown into a Russian lunatic asylum, the only source we have for his existence is one William le Queux, a journalist, diplomat, flying buff and wireless pioneer. He claimed in his 1928 memoirs, 'Things I Know', to have seen papers written by Rasputin that stated the "facts" about Pedachenko but he was known during his lifetime as a teller of tall tails and there has been no corroborating evidence found.
That said, the very fact of his dubious status and there being so very little known about him makes him the perfect suspect to use in a fictional work, giving the writer carte blanche to mould the character to the story.
The motive behind the killings is pretty fantastical, even when taking into account some of the genuine theories about who the Whitechapel Fiend was and why he was "down on whores".
It sets up another conspiracy theory with Sir Charles being blackmailed by Pedachenko regarding a mysterious object that they were both hunting for around a decade before Autumn 1888. The item itself could be the star of a "Da Vinci Code" style detective thriller as it's pretty famous for being missing for centuries, but here it's simply used a plot device to facilitate the murders. It does fit in with one piece of Ripper-lore rather well, but I shan't go into it for fear of spoiling too much.
Sadly, all the interest and tension built up by the motive and the two adversaries is rather diluted by the authors jarring style. The character and plot stuff are all well handled if pulpy - and that is not a bad thing at all - but Steel falls into the trap of telling the reader what life was like for the Unfortunates and their neighbours in Whitechapel and Spitalfields in the late 1880s, and in a pretty textbook-like fashion at that. We go from an interesting character scene or plot development, to two or three pages of dry information and statistics.
Admittedly, a certain amount of informing needs to be done somehow as there is more to the case than just the killer and the women he killed, but there has to be a better way than an info dump. It felt a little like MTV's 'Pop-Up Video', just with the pop ups covering the screen while a voice shouts "I did me research!!" over the music.
It didn't stop me from finishing the book, but it did dampen the atmosphere and suspense an awful lot and that is a great shame.
The ending is rather neat and tidy, and a little too neatly for me, but it does mostly fit in with history and, to be fair, I think if Steel had pushed the boundaries of the fantastic even further than he had it would likely break the story, and that would have been a shame right at the end.
Final thoughts: if you find yourself in the terrible position of having nothing new to read and you fancy having a look at Ripper fiction, head on down to the library and grab hold of this. Just make sure to get 'From Hell' by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell at the same time, so you can see just how good Ripper fiction can be!
Firstly, the thing I most enjoyed was the fact that the main character is Sir Charles Warren, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police during the Autumn of Terror. I received the book as a Christmas gift and was expecting Abberline front and centre, since he was the man in charge of the case, so it was a pleasant surprise to find myself getting to know this fictionalised version of Warren.
The identity of the Ripper himself is known from the beginning, so there's no detective work for the reader to do here. Alexander Pedachenko is one of the more unlikely suspects in the vast line up of possible Jacks due to the fact that it is very likely that he never existed in the first place. Said to be a Russian spy sent over to London to discredit the Met and later thrown into a Russian lunatic asylum, the only source we have for his existence is one William le Queux, a journalist, diplomat, flying buff and wireless pioneer. He claimed in his 1928 memoirs, 'Things I Know', to have seen papers written by Rasputin that stated the "facts" about Pedachenko but he was known during his lifetime as a teller of tall tails and there has been no corroborating evidence found.
That said, the very fact of his dubious status and there being so very little known about him makes him the perfect suspect to use in a fictional work, giving the writer carte blanche to mould the character to the story.
The motive behind the killings is pretty fantastical, even when taking into account some of the genuine theories about who the Whitechapel Fiend was and why he was "down on whores".
It sets up another conspiracy theory with Sir Charles being blackmailed by Pedachenko regarding a mysterious object that they were both hunting for around a decade before Autumn 1888. The item itself could be the star of a "Da Vinci Code" style detective thriller as it's pretty famous for being missing for centuries, but here it's simply used a plot device to facilitate the murders. It does fit in with one piece of Ripper-lore rather well, but I shan't go into it for fear of spoiling too much.
Sadly, all the interest and tension built up by the motive and the two adversaries is rather diluted by the authors jarring style. The character and plot stuff are all well handled if pulpy - and that is not a bad thing at all - but Steel falls into the trap of telling the reader what life was like for the Unfortunates and their neighbours in Whitechapel and Spitalfields in the late 1880s, and in a pretty textbook-like fashion at that. We go from an interesting character scene or plot development, to two or three pages of dry information and statistics.
Admittedly, a certain amount of informing needs to be done somehow as there is more to the case than just the killer and the women he killed, but there has to be a better way than an info dump. It felt a little like MTV's 'Pop-Up Video', just with the pop ups covering the screen while a voice shouts "I did me research!!" over the music.
It didn't stop me from finishing the book, but it did dampen the atmosphere and suspense an awful lot and that is a great shame.
The ending is rather neat and tidy, and a little too neatly for me, but it does mostly fit in with history and, to be fair, I think if Steel had pushed the boundaries of the fantastic even further than he had it would likely break the story, and that would have been a shame right at the end.
Final thoughts: if you find yourself in the terrible position of having nothing new to read and you fancy having a look at Ripper fiction, head on down to the library and grab hold of this. Just make sure to get 'From Hell' by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell at the same time, so you can see just how good Ripper fiction can be!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 4, 2013
This novel was based upon a theory about the Jack the Ripper Murders that I had not encountered before: that they were not a ritual per se but a message to a man who was familiar with the trappings of ritual.
Prior to his appointment as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Charles Warren undertook a series of archaeological excavations in Jerusalem. In the novel he discovers the Menorah of the Temple and moves it in secret to London. A Russian spy discovers Warren's act and attempts to force him to hand over the Menorah. Knowing Warren is a Freemason he carries out murders which hint at Masonic symbols. With London succumbing to panic Warren must end the murders without his secret being revealed.
The telling of both conspiracies, that of the Jack the Ripper itself and the fate of the Menorah, holds together well and fits the evidence without stretching. Even the choice of a spy (a man well skilled in covert action) is plausible; indeed all of the characters are developed well.
Unfortunately both the author's background as a lecturer on the period and the detailed research he has done on the Ripper come to the forefront in many places to the detriment of the novel. Character-driven scenes dealing with the impact of the Ripper Murders are interspersed with long sections describing the conditions in London and the socio-economic forces behind prostitution that could have been taken straight from a text-book destroying much of the tension.
There is no question that Steel's concept and research are sound; however the book tries to be both a novel and a proof of the theory and so does not fully achieve either.
Overall I liked this book and would recommend it to those who are interested in historical conspiracy theories.
Prior to his appointment as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Charles Warren undertook a series of archaeological excavations in Jerusalem. In the novel he discovers the Menorah of the Temple and moves it in secret to London. A Russian spy discovers Warren's act and attempts to force him to hand over the Menorah. Knowing Warren is a Freemason he carries out murders which hint at Masonic symbols. With London succumbing to panic Warren must end the murders without his secret being revealed.
The telling of both conspiracies, that of the Jack the Ripper itself and the fate of the Menorah, holds together well and fits the evidence without stretching. Even the choice of a spy (a man well skilled in covert action) is plausible; indeed all of the characters are developed well.
Unfortunately both the author's background as a lecturer on the period and the detailed research he has done on the Ripper come to the forefront in many places to the detriment of the novel. Character-driven scenes dealing with the impact of the Ripper Murders are interspersed with long sections describing the conditions in London and the socio-economic forces behind prostitution that could have been taken straight from a text-book destroying much of the tension.
There is no question that Steel's concept and research are sound; however the book tries to be both a novel and a proof of the theory and so does not fully achieve either.
Overall I liked this book and would recommend it to those who are interested in historical conspiracy theories.
July 14, 2015
About halfway through I had enough and skipped everything except the last chapter as the only thing I was still interested in was how Steel was going to tie in the ripper story with the so-called incredible archeological find of the first pages. Huge letdown! All the elements were present to turn it into a good story, but it still read like an encyclopedia of the facts.
It's obvious that the author did a lot of research, but the parts were he writes about the murders and the investigation into the murders, are very stilted and feel as if they were copied from an essay.
It's obvious that the author did a lot of research, but the parts were he writes about the murders and the investigation into the murders, are very stilted and feel as if they were copied from an essay.
November 15, 2012
Absolutely brilliant book, kept me on edge all the way through. The ending was really good. Looking forward to reading the titanic book :)
Great book, I would recommend anyone into history and The Ripper read this book :)
Great book, I would recommend anyone into history and The Ripper read this book :)
October 12, 2015
pretty good adaptation of jack the ripper with a twist
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews