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The Abyss: A Journey With Jack The Ripper
Perspectives on Jack The Ripper and his life. Perspectives on his victims and their ives and deaths. Perspectives.
- GenresNonfiction
100 pages, Paperback
First published December 9, 2013
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372 people want to read
About the author
David Ruffle
28 books285 followersDavid Ruffle was born in Northamptonshire in the UK at an early age in 1956,yes..a long time ago. The school years passed by in a blur, or was he the blur ? He managed to extricate himself from the education system at 15 years of age and embarked on the adventure of life.
Eventually, said adventure took him to Dorset and the beautiful town of Lyme Regis in July of 2004.He felt immediately at home here and surprised himself by starting to write...first, poetry and later ghost stories. All the time he felt that Lyme Regis would be a perfect place for Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson to have an adventure, any kind of adventure ! And so...Sherlock Holmes and the Lyme Regis Horror was born. The story continues.
David is now with the MX publishing team and further titles have appeared; Sherlock Holmes and The Lyme Regis Legacy, Tales From The Stranger's Room (as contributor and editor),and Holmes and Watson: End Peace. A children's illustrated book, Sherlock Holmes and the Missing Snowman (with illustrations by Rikey Austin, another Lyme Regis resident and hugely talented to boot)saw the light of day in November 2012. Two weeks later the third and final part of the Sherlock Holmes/Lyme Regis trilogy appeared: Sherlock Holmes and the Lyme Regis Trials. Also in the offing is an outing to Scarborough for Holmes and Watson, a proposed tale of thievery, murder and cricket!(A collaboration).Meanwhile, he is still to be found in Lyme Regis, working away and drinking the odd cider, diet permitting. The Abyss: A Journey With Jack The Ripper is set to be published in December 2013.
On a whim he decided to try his hand at comedy resulting in A Twist of Lyme and Another Twist of Lyme. These were published in 2014 along with the final book in the trilogy, A Further Twist of Lyme. New for 2015 will be, Holmes and Watson: An American Adventure. 2016 will see the publication of Holmes and Watson: An Evening in Baker Street followed by The Gondolier and the Russian Countess, a Holmes and Watson adventure set in 1902 Venice. And with any luck, Sherlock Holmes and the Scarborough Affair should surface by the end of the year!
Eventually, said adventure took him to Dorset and the beautiful town of Lyme Regis in July of 2004.He felt immediately at home here and surprised himself by starting to write...first, poetry and later ghost stories. All the time he felt that Lyme Regis would be a perfect place for Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson to have an adventure, any kind of adventure ! And so...Sherlock Holmes and the Lyme Regis Horror was born. The story continues.
David is now with the MX publishing team and further titles have appeared; Sherlock Holmes and The Lyme Regis Legacy, Tales From The Stranger's Room (as contributor and editor),and Holmes and Watson: End Peace. A children's illustrated book, Sherlock Holmes and the Missing Snowman (with illustrations by Rikey Austin, another Lyme Regis resident and hugely talented to boot)saw the light of day in November 2012. Two weeks later the third and final part of the Sherlock Holmes/Lyme Regis trilogy appeared: Sherlock Holmes and the Lyme Regis Trials. Also in the offing is an outing to Scarborough for Holmes and Watson, a proposed tale of thievery, murder and cricket!(A collaboration).Meanwhile, he is still to be found in Lyme Regis, working away and drinking the odd cider, diet permitting. The Abyss: A Journey With Jack The Ripper is set to be published in December 2013.
On a whim he decided to try his hand at comedy resulting in A Twist of Lyme and Another Twist of Lyme. These were published in 2014 along with the final book in the trilogy, A Further Twist of Lyme. New for 2015 will be, Holmes and Watson: An American Adventure. 2016 will see the publication of Holmes and Watson: An Evening in Baker Street followed by The Gondolier and the Russian Countess, a Holmes and Watson adventure set in 1902 Venice. And with any luck, Sherlock Holmes and the Scarborough Affair should surface by the end of the year!
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 5, 2014
Speculative Fiction for the Ripperology Set
(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review through Goodreads's First Reads program.)
A quirky little novella, The Abyss: A Journey with Jack the Ripper imagines the birth and development of infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper. Born into a staunchly religious household, only child James is routinely abused by his traveling lay-preacher father and arguably sadistic mother. When mum dies in her sleep (supposedly of natural circumstances - but what of her bloodshot eyes?), James is sent to live with his Uncle George and Aunt Katherine in Surrey. After several peaceful years in this household, a now sixteen-year-old James discovers that Katherine is cheating on her husband. His reaction? He blackmails her into buying his silence with sex, and then arranges for his uncle to accidentally walk in on one of her trysts anyhow. An enraged George murders Katherine, and James is unleashed on the world.
The man who would eventually come to be known variously as "Jack the Ripper," "the Whitechapel Murderer," and "Leather Apron" finds his way to the East End of London, where he takes on a series of menial jobs, many of them involving the slaughter and butchering of animals. Unhappy, poor, and a perpetual underachiever, he begins to take out his aggression and low self-esteem (to say nothing of his misogyny) on the local population of sex workers.
Told in the third person, James's story is interspersed with chapters written from the viewpoints of his "canon" victims: Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Kelly. I appreciate this approach, since it helps to humanize and give voice to women who are so often overlooked (or worse, objectified and demonized). This is somewhat undercut, though, but the chapter titles, which refer to the women by number: one through five, corresponding to her sequence in Jack the Ripper's killing spree.
Readers should be aware that the text is filled with the sexism and anti-Semitism of the day; I lost count of how many times the slur "whore" was employed.
The Abyss is likely to appeal to hardcore Ripperologists, who might enjoy it as a intellectual exercise. If you don't know much about the Whitechapel murders, I suspect that your attention may wander a bit. There are a few editing errors here and there - missing punctuation, mostly - but overall the book is professional and polished. Maaaaybe 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 on Amazon.
http://www.easyvegan.info/2014/03/14/...
(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review through Goodreads's First Reads program.)
A quirky little novella, The Abyss: A Journey with Jack the Ripper imagines the birth and development of infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper. Born into a staunchly religious household, only child James is routinely abused by his traveling lay-preacher father and arguably sadistic mother. When mum dies in her sleep (supposedly of natural circumstances - but what of her bloodshot eyes?), James is sent to live with his Uncle George and Aunt Katherine in Surrey. After several peaceful years in this household, a now sixteen-year-old James discovers that Katherine is cheating on her husband. His reaction? He blackmails her into buying his silence with sex, and then arranges for his uncle to accidentally walk in on one of her trysts anyhow. An enraged George murders Katherine, and James is unleashed on the world.
The man who would eventually come to be known variously as "Jack the Ripper," "the Whitechapel Murderer," and "Leather Apron" finds his way to the East End of London, where he takes on a series of menial jobs, many of them involving the slaughter and butchering of animals. Unhappy, poor, and a perpetual underachiever, he begins to take out his aggression and low self-esteem (to say nothing of his misogyny) on the local population of sex workers.
Told in the third person, James's story is interspersed with chapters written from the viewpoints of his "canon" victims: Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Kelly. I appreciate this approach, since it helps to humanize and give voice to women who are so often overlooked (or worse, objectified and demonized). This is somewhat undercut, though, but the chapter titles, which refer to the women by number: one through five, corresponding to her sequence in Jack the Ripper's killing spree.
Readers should be aware that the text is filled with the sexism and anti-Semitism of the day; I lost count of how many times the slur "whore" was employed.
The Abyss is likely to appeal to hardcore Ripperologists, who might enjoy it as a intellectual exercise. If you don't know much about the Whitechapel murders, I suspect that your attention may wander a bit. There are a few editing errors here and there - missing punctuation, mostly - but overall the book is professional and polished. Maaaaybe 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 on Amazon.
http://www.easyvegan.info/2014/03/14/...
July 30, 2016
If you have an interest in Jack the Ripper, then read this book. If you like reading Victorian fiction, then read this book. Hell, if you enjoy reading, then read this book!
The story lays out the early life of the Whitechapel murderer, highlighting the events that would one day lead him to become the most infamous killer of them all. The narrative is expertly handled from start to finish and the author shows how well he can cope when placed out of his comfort zone (Sherlock Holmes). It is a very well researched piece that deserves all the praise and attention that it will undoubtedly receive.
The story lays out the early life of the Whitechapel murderer, highlighting the events that would one day lead him to become the most infamous killer of them all. The narrative is expertly handled from start to finish and the author shows how well he can cope when placed out of his comfort zone (Sherlock Holmes). It is a very well researched piece that deserves all the praise and attention that it will undoubtedly receive.
October 29, 2013
FICTION ??? NOT SO MUCH.
GREAT BOOK.
GREAT BOOK.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews