Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper [Pulphouse Short Story Paperback #10]

by Robert Bloch

Short story paperback series, no. 10.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Comics, Mystery, Classics

40 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1943

About the author

Robert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer. He was the son of Raphael "Ray" Bloch (1884, Chicago-1952, Chicago), a bank cashier, and his wife Stella Loeb (1880, Attica, Indiana-1944, Milwaukee, WI), a social worker, both of German-Jewish descent.

Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over twenty novels, usually crime fiction, science fiction, and, perhaps most influentially, horror fiction (Psycho). He was one of the youngest members of the Lovecraft Circle; Lovecraft was Bloch's mentor and one of the first to seriously encourage his talent.

He was a contributor to pulp magazines such as Weird Tales in his early career, and was also a prolific screenwriter. He was the recipient of the Hugo Award (for his story "That Hell-Bound Train"), the Bram Stoker Award, and the World Fantasy Award. He served a term as president of the Mystery Writers of America.

Robert Bloch was also a major contributor to science fiction fanzines and fandom in general. In the 1940s, he created the humorous character Lefty Feep in a story for Fantastic Adventures. He also worked for a time in local vaudeville, and tried to break into writing for nationally-known performers. He was a good friend of the science fiction writer Stanley G. Weinbaum. In the 1960's, he wrote 3 stories for Star Trek.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did Jack the Ripper really vanish in 1888 or might be the possibility that he's hunting his victims down in the USA? Could Jack be a female? A British aristocrat is trying to catch the notorious killer in Chicago. Will he succeed? The book comes up with a fine twist at the end but is a bit dated at parts. An okay read with fine references to Jack the Ripper. But a bit predictable and not too compelling.

[Eloy Cryptkeeper · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Lo único que se sabía era que el asesino usaba diestramente su cuchillo, para rebanar y extirpar trofeos, y que sus víctimas eran cuidadosamente elegidas. Nadie lo haba visto ni tenía la más mínima idea sobre su identidad, pero los vigilantes nocturnos tropezaban de continuo con los sangrientos despojos de su satánica obra"

"Se ha dicho que si se ofrecen sacrificios a los espíritus de las tinieblas, éstos otorgan favores, cuando el momento es el adecuado, por cierto, cuando la luna y las estrellas están en conveniente posición, y con las debidas ceremonias, esos espíritus conceden grandes favores, por ejemplo, el don de la juventud"


Robert Bloch le da un giro a la historia de Jack el Destripador...
Supongamos que Jack no matara por el simple placer de matar, sino que lo impulsara el deseo y la necesidad de hacer sacrificios y esto lo mantendría vivo a través del tiempo y cometiendo sus actos al rededor del mundo. En esta oportunidad merodeando en la ciudad de Chicago en el presente(1943)

Sin llegar a deslumbrar, pero con una muy buena construcción, desarrollo y desenlace. Muy disfrutable

[Robin Hobb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Bloch. Much more than just the author of Psycho. Master of the short story form.
When I was in high school, I tracked down every short story of his that I could find. Short stories are, I think, the most difficult form of story telling because you have to create the characters, paint the setting and advance the plot within just a few pages.
Robert Bloch stories do that, with grace and style.

[Federico DN · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good.

This was quite good, but not going to review it.

For the moment at least.

-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1943] [25p] [Horror] [3.5] [Conditional Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------

????????? The Dark Descent

-----------------------------------------------

Bien.

Esto estuvo bastante bien, pero no voy a reseñarlo.

Al menos por ahora.

-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1943] [25p] [Horror] [3.5] [Recomendable Condicional]
-----------------------------------------------

[Amy H. Sturgis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent collection of the Jack the Ripper-related writings (short stories, a novel, a television screenplay, and an essay) by Robert Bloch (also known as the author of Psycho and student of H.P. Lovecraft). As someone who's very interested in Ripper fiction and the Gothic in general, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The collection includes the following.

"Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" is a classic short story for good reason. It's wonderfully evocative, a great study in mood, and it accomplishes a great deal in a very few pages.

"A Most Unusual Murder" is a clever twist on the "too-good-to-be-true discovery in an antiques shop" idea with a lovely dose of the time traveler/collector trope thrown in. This may be my favorite story of the three.

"A Toy for Juliette" is a study in sadism that stays with you. It's no wonder it's mentioned among the stand-outs of Ripper (SF) fiction. It's wonderfully bleak and ironic.

The novel The Night of the Ripper is outstanding. Bloch works in so many of the suspects and other historical characters involved in the case. Told from the outsider perspective of an American doctor in London, the novel allows the reader to experience the sensationalism and fear of the events as they unfold, and to touch on the many real-life people who were separate from but caught up in the phenomenon (including Arthur Conan Doyle, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and John Merrick, the Elephant Man). In the end, Bloch chooses a perpetrator (well, two - one a traditional "usual suspect" and one of his own creation) and provides a compelling reason why the public never learned that the case was closed. I particularly like how much credit Bloch gives Inspector Abberline while underscoring the logistical nightmare that was the investigation, given the public mood and the political climate. Bloch is as true to the facts as he could be, given what was known when he wrote. A few of his premises no longer are accepted fully (such as Mary Jane Kelly's pregnancy, or the notion that the "Dear Boss" letter was penned by the Ripper himself), but that does little to diminish Bloch's accomplishment. He weaves together so many aspects of the case into a page-turner that left me guessing until the very end - and offered a larger and chilling commentary on the nature of humankind. Highly, highly recommended.

The original script of the Star Trek episode "Wolf in the Fold" is well worth reading even if you are, like I am, extremely familiar with the episode. The script differs in some key ways from the show as filmed, and I greatly appreciated the little nuances that gave added insight into the way Bloch views the Ripper. Great fun!

The brief essay "Two Victorian Gentlemen" made me wish for more, but even in a handful of pages, Bloch raises intriguing questions about sadism, sexuality, repression, and cultural norms while considering why Jack the Ripper and Dracula captured the popular imagination of the time and continue to fascinate us today.

I enjoyed every single page of this collection!

[Oleksandr Zholud · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a short story, which can become a Retro Hugo 1944 Award nominee. It was initially published in Weird Tales, July 1943. While it isn’t a pure SF/fantasy but more of supernatural horror, Bloch’s other short story, That Hell-Bound Train, won Hugo in 1958

To a psychiatrist in Chicago in the late 1930s comes a British man, Sir Guy Hollis, who states that he hunts Jack the Ripper. According to him, after murders in London in 1888, Jack moved across the globe, leaving the bloody trail. The murders are actually a part of a ritual, a bargain with supernatural, which allows Jack to remain ageless. And in a few days the new murder is expected nearby. Hollis asks the psychiatrist to introduce him to local intelligentsia because he thinks the Ripper is among them.

Possibly, I’m a jaded reader and it wasn’t so easy in the 1940s, but I predicted the outcome almost from the start, so the story hasn’t worked for me.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

#Binge Reviewing my previous Reads #Horror Short Stories #Anthologies

Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper, an anthology I first read in 2011, stands as a fascinating exploration of the mythos surrounding one of history’s most notorious and enigmatic figures. Bringing together a combination of short stories, novellas, scripts, and essays, the collection provides a kaleidoscopic view of the cultural, psychological, and literary fascination with Jack the Ripper. What makes this anthology memorable is not merely the chilling subject matter, but the interplay of historical imagination, narrative experimentation, and literary craft that its diverse contributors bring to the table. Reading it, one encounters a spectrum of approaches: from intimate psychological exploration to high-concept narrative experimentation, each story contributing a different shade to the enduring legend of the Whitechapel murderer.

The anthology opens with a foreword by Robert Bloch, originally taken from the anthology Ripper, which immediately sets the tone for the collection. Bloch’s foreword is both illuminating and cautionary, contextualizing the Ripper legend within literary and historical discourse. He highlights how the figure of Jack the Ripper has transcended mere historical fact to become a symbol of urban dread and the dark underside of human psychology. Bloch’s commentary is invaluable for readers encountering this anthology, as it frames the subsequent stories not merely as fictionalizations of crime, but as explorations of broader themes: the allure of mystery, the construction of narrative, and the intersection of history and imagination.

The titular story, Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper, exemplifies the anthology’s primary strength: the ability to merge historical realism with literary inventiveness. The story crafts an immersive, tense atmosphere, drawing the reader into a London simultaneously familiar and unsettling. The narrative succeeds in maintaining suspense without relying on gratuitous violence; the horror emerges from implication, the psychological subtlety of character, and the unsettling realization of human malevolence. This approach is reminiscent of the best historical crime fiction, in which atmosphere, historical verisimilitude, and character psychology take precedence over sensationalism. The story encourages readers to engage intellectually with the narrative, pondering motives, context, and consequence, rather than being merely titillated by explicit depiction.

The second story, A Toy for Juliette, shifts the anthology into a more speculative register, illustrating the versatility of the Ripper mythos. Here, the historical figure becomes a lens for broader imaginative exploration, engaging with themes of power, obsession, and the grotesque. The story maintains a careful balance between horror and reflection, offering an intellectual engagement alongside the chills of narrative suspense. In this sense, the anthology is not merely a collection of horror stories, but a meditation on the cultural resonance of Jack the Ripper as both historical and symbolic figure. Readers familiar with speculative crime narratives, such as those in The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper, will recognize a similar pattern: the historical figure becomes a narrative device through which authors interrogate morality, society, and human psychology.

The inclusion of a script, Wolf in the Fold, adds another dimension to the anthology, demonstrating the adaptability of the Ripper legend across narrative forms. Scripts demand economy of language and clarity of scene, and this piece effectively conveys tension and menace within the constraints of dialogue and stage directions. Reading the script alongside the more traditional prose pieces underscores the anthology’s exploration of narrative form, emphasizing that horror and suspense are not limited to descriptive narrative but can be achieved through performance, suggestion, and timing. In comparative terms, this approach aligns with collections that include multiple media or formats, such as Shadows Over London, where the legend of the Ripper is examined through essays, short stories, and dramatizations, providing a multi-faceted understanding of the myth.

A Most Unusual Murder continues the anthology’s focus on inventive engagement with crime, blending procedural attention to detail with literary imagination. The story thrives on meticulous characterization and an awareness of period detail, creating a convincing tableau of Victorian London while maintaining a sense of pervasive unease. Unlike more sensationalist crime fiction, which often prioritizes plot twists over psychological depth, this narrative takes its time, allowing tension to accumulate naturally. It echoes the structural approach of Sherlockian pastiches, where the interplay of deduction, observation, and human fallibility drives suspense, yet with a darker, more morally ambiguous undertone. The story demonstrates that the Ripper legend can be a vehicle for exploring the complexity of crime and human psychology, rather than simply a source of shock or horror.

The anthology also includes the novel The Night of the Ripper, which provides a sustained, immersive engagement with the historical setting and the psychology of fear. Novels offer the space to develop atmosphere, character, and thematic resonance in a way that short stories cannot, and this piece leverages that expansiveness effectively. The narrative’s strength lies in its balance of historical fidelity and imaginative interpretation: readers are transported into the gritty streets of Victorian London, experiencing the city’s fog, shadows, and social tensions, while being drawn into the minds of characters whose perceptions and fears shape the narrative. In this respect, the anthology mirrors the approach of classic historical crime fiction anthologies, where the past is both meticulously reconstructed and imaginatively refracted to explore the darker aspects of human nature.

Finally, the essay Two Victorian Gentlemen situates the literary and historical engagement with Jack the Ripper in a broader intellectual context. Essays in such collections provide the analytical frame through which fictional explorations gain added resonance. Here, the focus is on the cultural, social, and literary dimensions of Victorian crime and criminality, emphasizing the ways in which the Ripper legend has been constructed, perpetuated, and transformed. This essay functions as both commentary and companion piece, highlighting that understanding the allure of Jack the Ripper requires both imaginative and critical engagement. It is reminiscent of similar inclusions in anthologies like Jack the Ripper: The Complete Casebook, where scholarly essays complement fictional narratives, enriching the reader’s appreciation of both historical fact and literary invention.

A defining feature of Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper is its comparative approach to the figure of Jack the Ripper as both historical actor and literary symbol. Across the anthology, one observes a variety of narrative strategies: meticulous historical reconstruction, psychological insight, speculative reimagining, and even dramatization. This diversity mirrors other collections of historical crime fiction, where multiple authors or forms are used to interrogate a single historical event or figure from multiple perspectives. Such a structure encourages readers to recognize the Ripper not only as a person of historical infamy but as a narrative construct, one that can be adapted, interpreted, and reinterpreted according to authorial intent, genre conventions, and cultural moment.

The anthology’s careful balance of narrative styles—short story, script, novel, essay—also serves a comparative function. When read alongside similar anthologies, such as The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper or Shadows Over London, one appreciates how the interplay of form and content can deepen engagement with both history and narrative. Short stories deliver immediacy and concentrated suspense, scripts invite performative imagination, novels allow extended immersion, and essays provide reflective distance. Together, these forms create a multifaceted experience, demonstrating that the fascination with Jack the Ripper is as much literary and cultural as it is historical.

Another notable aspect of the anthology is its ethical and psychological subtlety. While the subject matter is inherently gruesome, the contributors avoid sensationalism; horror and suspense are achieved through implication, atmosphere, and the careful manipulation of reader expectation. This restraint enhances the enduring impact of the collection, distinguishing it from more lurid or exploitative accounts of historical crime. Readers are invited to confront the darkness of human nature, the persistence of fear, and the allure of mystery, without being subjected to gratuitous depiction. In comparative terms, this approach aligns with other high-quality historical crime anthologies, which privilege narrative craft and psychological resonance over shock value.

The anthology also illustrates the enduring power of the Ripper legend to inspire literary creativity. Each piece demonstrates a different aspect of narrative innovation: how a historical figure can be recast in multiple genres, how suspense can be constructed through suggestion rather than exposition, and how historical detail can serve both realism and thematic exploration. This adaptability is what has kept the Ripper mythos alive across decades of fiction, from the original press reports and early Gothic adaptations to modern speculative fiction, graphic novels, and interactive media. Reading this anthology reminds one of the Ripper’s dual role as historical figure and literary construct, highlighting the ways in which authors navigate fact and imagination to create compelling narrative tension.

Finally, Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper exemplifies the interplay between fascination and horror that is central to enduring crime fiction. Across its pages, one encounters not just the mechanics of crime but the psychological, social, and cultural ramifications of fear, curiosity, and human malevolence. The anthology encourages reflective engagement, prompting questions about morality, perception, and historical memory. This reflective quality situates it within a tradition of literary engagement with crime that includes both historical documentation and imaginative reconstruction, reminding readers that the most memorable stories are those that resonate intellectually as well as emotionally.

In conclusion, reading Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper in 2011 was a compelling experience that combined historical immersion, narrative diversity, and literary subtlety. The anthology succeeds not merely as a collection of tales about a notorious figure but as a sophisticated exploration of history, imagination, and human psychology. Its range of forms—short stories, scripts, a novel, and essay—offers multiple avenues for engagement, while its careful balance of suspense, atmosphere, and intellectual depth distinguishes it from more sensationalist treatments of the Ripper legend. Comparatively, the anthology stands alongside other notable collections of historical crime and speculative fiction, demonstrating how a single historical figure can inspire diverse narrative strategies and enduring literary fascination. Above all, the anthology is memorable for its restraint, its craft, and its capacity to haunt the reader intellectually and emotionally, a testament to the enduring allure of one of history’s most enigmatic criminals and the literary imagination that continues to bring him to life.

[Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quirky little tale that sees a presumably immortal Jack The Ripper being tracked down to Chicago.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This handsome volume from Subterranean Presses provides pleasure as well as pain (quite appropriate, considering the fact that it contains works of Robert Bloch, who had always combined these two emotions rather deftly in his works), or rather: smiles & groans. On one hand it finally brings everything written by Bloch concerning the killer of Whitechapel within two covers, on the other hand the lack of editorial details (something that we had got accustomed to, courtesy the ‘Lost Bloch” and ‘Readers’ Bloch” volumes) is rather jarring at times. The contents are:

 The Writer and the Ripper: a candid and sharp introduction by Norman Partridge, one of the sharpest wielders of pen of our times.
 Foreword: by Robert Bloch, taken from the anthology ‘Ripper’.
 Stories:
1. Yours Truly, Jack The Ripper
2. A Toy for Juliette
 Script: Wolf in the Fold
 Story:
3. A Most Unusual Murder
 Novel: The Night of the Ripper
 Essay: Two Victorian Gentleman

I should admit that I have taken the liberty of arranging Bloch’s works in the chronological order, rather than in the order they have been made available in the book (another thing an editor would have done had he been taken on-board, apart from providing more information concerning the “Star Trek” episode as well as Bloch’s changing perceptions concerning the killer). It is also a fact that among all this output, Bloch’s pulp-era effort (that provides this volume with its name as well) remains the most satisfyingly punching, while his work for the Harlan Ellison anthology “Dangerous Visions” remains the one with the best twist-in-the-tail. The third story seems tired in treading similar grounds. And the last effort (the novel) is definitely the most frustrating one: heavy on name-droppings, but very-very light on the pace & intelligence that we associate with Bloch’s more famous works. Although Bloch himself had considered this novel to exorcise himself (with respect to all his study into ‘Ripper’-iana), eventually it becomes a weak effort to vent a lot of ire about physicians (perhaps Bloch’s own protracted & painful treatment at the time of writing of the novel had something to do with it), and the perpetrators of the crime fail to shock us. But it is the essay that again illuminates the volume and dissipates some of the fog created by the novel, and lack of editorial effort means that nothing is mentioned about the source of it.

Overall, if you like to read fiction concerning Jack the Ripper, you should read this volume. If you admire Bloch then you must have already the best of this book, and the rest you can’t afford to miss, even if it lacks the finesse of the shorter works. Recommended.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack the Ripper has fascinated people from the time of the murders to the present and it is unlikely that he will be forgotten anytime soon. Authors of all kinds have incorporated his story into pretty much every genre of fiction and medium. I suspect if the murder had been solved (and convincingly so) Jack’s might have become a historical footnote as Neill Cream has. (There is a good Holmes pastiche involving the Doctor known as The Lambeth Poisoner.)

Robert Bloch is best remembered for being the author of Psycho but that is so limiting. The length of his writing career alone makes such simplification abhorrent! It would be like saying that Ray Bradbury wrote Farenheight 451 and forgetting everything else. True, Mr. Bloch wrote about the dark nature of the human psyche in much of his work, but like any master his themes were varied and self-standing.

In 1943 he wrote a powerful short story (the title piece). It was so memorable that over the years it became a “classic” read by aficionados and by general fiction readers in numerous collections. Editors and publishers requested that Bloch return to the Ripper time and time again and occasionally he did so.

This book is a gem of his work in this area: we have his own foreword, four shorts (a couple of which I had read elsewhere), his original screenplay for the “Redrum” episode of Star Trek (my take on the title, “Wolf In The Fold”), and a very interesting essay on the Ripper. Plus a nice introduction to this volume.

Since everything is Jack-related, you might lose some of the “wow” factor if you read the stories back-to-back. Spacing them out may enhance their impact and “freshness”, but don’t let me stop you from an evening of all Jack. Either way, Yours Truly, Jack The Ripper is a great collection. Four (4) Stars.

[Craig Childs · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 2010 graphic novel is Joe and John Lansdale’s loose (but fun) adaptation of Robert Bloch’s classic 1943 horror story.

The original short story is a simple affair built on the then-novel premise that Jack the Ripper is immortal and still at work mutilating victims. In the first act, Sir Guy Hollis introduces his theory about the Ripper to psychiatrist John Cormody. The psychiatrist thinks he is probably crazy, but agrees to help Sir Guy investigate. The second act revolves around a Chicago dinner party in which Hollis scrutinizes the guests. In the third act, the identity of the Ripper is revealed.

A strict interpretation would not adapt well to the comic medium, so the Lansdales make two significant changes to the plot. One, they introduce a third viewpoint character, a newspaperwoman named Jenny. Instead of going to dinner parties to find suspects, she and Sir Guy chase the ripper around WWII-era Chicago as he commits his crimes.

Second, Jack the Ripper is depicted as a supernatural ghoul who climbs walls, leaps buildings, and is impervious to bullets. In order to maintain the integrity of Bloch’s original ending, it is eventually revealed the ghoul is in fact a golem that acts in accordance with the human Ripper’s wishes.

Kevin Colden’s artwork is effective here, with lots of thin-line ink drawings and interesting shadow effects created by use of dot patterns.

I appreciated the story changes necessary to re-imagine it as a noir crime tale. I did not like the use of the golem as a plot device; to me, it made the story less chilling and more B-movie cheesecake.

[Katie.dorny · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this comic up purely because I have an obsession with the Jack the Ripper case; i meant doesn't everyone who is interested in crime and mysteries? It was okay throughout; nothing spectacular and the ending actually quite upset me as just as it seemed like it was about to pick up it ended so abruptly and with not really making any sense.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic short story based on the idea that the Jack the Ripper murders were actually sacrifices, part of a black magic ritual... and that the Ripper is still alive. Few people really know how to scare you better than Robert Bloch, in my opinion.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Robert Bloch's take on Jack the Ripper.

Can't say any more or this will turn into a spoiler.

[Odd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good atmosphere, predictable ending.

[Lee Foust · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this US pocketbook from the '60s in a second-hand shop in London a couple of years ago. Lovely cover, wonderful old dime-store moldering pulp paper smell. The fact that there are stories in it is almost an unnecessary bonus to the nostalgic feeling of holding it.

"Sweets for the Sweet" Classic pithy Bloch. Economical to a tee, just on the creepy edge of gross. Perfect for the pre-1970s weird tale.

"The Dream-Makers" A lovely 5-part hard-boiled tale about the magical beauty of silent films and possibility that free will is an illusion. The very best of the pulps: outcast, common man philosophy.

"Yours Truly, Jack the Riper." Apparently Bloch's breakthrough, his first great success outside of his youthful Lovecraftian tales. It's a good one & features what will become his trademark: a melding of the macabre & the hard-boiled detective fiction of the era. The beatnik scene here is funny too. The eternal ripper trope became a staple in later years through Bloch reusing it & others ripping it off mostly for TV.

"The Eyes of the Mummy" Not a whole lot you can do with mummies except bring them back to life. VERY perfunctory set up without much atmosphere, but the denouement wasn't horrible although narratively-speaking a real stretch. Seems like younger, unseasoned Bloch.

"the Mannikin" This one is truly creepy. It's rather too Lovecraft, but without his leisurely approach to setting the eldritch scene--Bloch is so much better with a noir-ish, hard-boiled clipped tone. Here the style and plot are a tad at odds. Still, effective.

"The House of the Hatchet" A perfectly crafted gruesome little tale. It plays perfectly to Bloch's strengths--a hard boiled narrator, his ironic humor, and a grisly, ghostly, and reasonably unexpected ending. Nicely done.

"The Cloak" Perfect Bloch. the narrator here is Bloch's best cynical, hard-boiled voice who keeps on slipping into the forced purple prose of the romantic Gothic. And that is also what happens in the story. Excellent wedding of form and content."

"Beetles" Again with the mummies! I imagine another early tale: quite Lovecraftian. Doesn't play to Bloch's strong points--although certainly a gesture toward the psychological horror for which he's famous.

Sadly the last tale, "The Faceless God," is the most Lovecraftian and least original of the lot. While a couple of passages catch the Lovecraft tone, mostly Bloch is stuck in his much simpler diction and the silliness of the mythos peeks out. Lovecraft sells it with his wonderfully over the top prose, but, as I've said vis-a-vis several of the other tales here, that's not Bloch's strong point.

[Elizabeth Aguilera · Rating 2 out of 5]

Libro que consta de 9 cuentos de terror. Los más llamativos son
Suyo afectísimo... Jack el destripador, donde nos relata la búsqueda de Sir Guy Hollis, hasta toparse con este tan conocido asesino.
La casa del hacha, donde una pareja casada, para revivir su amor se embarcan a recorrer el mismo sendero de su luna de miel, pero en el camino se encuentran con una misteriosa casa y su horripilante historia.
Los escarabajos, narran los acontecimientos desde que Hartley regresa de Egipto, los cambios que sufrió éste obligan a uno de sus amigos a descubrir que fue lo que ocurrió realmente.

Si bien las historias son buenas, personalmente encuentro que son muy predecibles y sus finales apresurados y un poco débiles.

[Randy M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a review of the Subterranean Press volume titled Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper, which includes the short story of the same name with other Jack the Ripper stories penned by Robert Bloch. Some of the reviews here seem to be for a graphic novel interpretation of the namesake short story. To be clear, this is not a review of the graphic novel.

Subterranean has collected three short stories, a novel, a Star Trek screenplay, and a non-fiction essay from Bloch centered on the Ripper mythos. The novel, The Night of the Ripper, is a more-or-less accurate account of the Ripper murders, and their investigation, as witnessed through the eyes of some fictionalized characters. The short stories and the screenplay take the Ripper mythos into the realms of science fiction in uniquely disparate ways. The essay is an attempt at explaining the enduring interest in the Ripper murders in light of the fact of so many other forgotten serial atrocities with higher body counts.

I’m sure there are some “Ripperologists” who might take umbrage with my opinion of accuracy regarding The Night of the Ripper. I certainly can’t claim membership in their group and would have to defer to their arguments. My knowledge of the actual events is limited to partaking in a “Jack the Ripper Tour” while on holiday in London, but that was enough to recognize and appreciate the level of historical accuracy that is present in the novel. Whatever dramatic license the author took beyond that is fine with me. This is fiction after all, not evidence in a court of law.

The Jack the Ripper slayings were never solved, of course, and a killer never identified or brought to justice. Over the following decades, myriad suspects and plots have been attributed to the murders. The Night of the Ripper includes many of these suspects in its narrative and suggests reasons why they might make sense. Ultimately, the story resolves the Ripper murders with its own unique fictional twist; one that I didn’t see coming for most of the story, but did finally begin to suspect before it was brought to light.

The Night of the Ripper makes up the bulk of this book, and the story was entertaining throughout. The sense of being in Victorian England is well established, more so in the depiction of the squalor of the time than in the romanticism of it. The setting is Whitechapel after all, the slums of London at that time. The murders are presented in their graphic detail, but always after the fact. Anyone hoping for a present tense depiction of the killings will be disappointed. Jack the Ripper is not even an actual character in the story, only the aftermath of his presence is. This made sense to me as this is exactly how the public would have learned of events at that time.

The three short stories are very creative and enjoyable in their own right:

Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper brings Saucy Jack to 1940’s Chicago, with an investigator hot on his trail. Jack’s apparent immortality is explained via the occult, which I found a little blasé but nonetheless functional as a plot device. I have to admit I was already aware of the twist ending from having seen the episode of the Thriller television series that was based on this story.

A Most Unusual Murder creates a classic “time paradox” when a time traveler from the future interferes with the past. Jack the Ripper is only tangentially related to this story as an individual with an interest in the Ripper slayings thinks he may have come into possession of the Ripper’s blade at the time of his own unsolved murder.

A Toy for Juliette is another time travel story that finds Red Jack in a dystopian future, brought there by the grandfather of a sadistic young woman. She has plans for her new toy that Jack isn’t necessarily agreeable to. Juliette and her grandfather are mysterious. We learn nothing of them except for their enjoyment of inflicting and/or watching the pain and torment of others. It’s no coincidence that the title character is named after a book written by the Marquis de Sade.

The screenplay for an episode of the original Star Trek television series was the least interesting part of this book for me, but only because I don’t really enjoy reading scripts. I vaguely recall having seen the episode previously, but have no recollection of how faithful it is the script presented here. This story presents Jack the Ripper as an immortal entity that feeds off of fear. It is capable of possessing other life forms and forcing them to carry out heinous acts to instill fear in others. This entity finds its way to a distant planet being visited by the Enterprise. Murders begin happening with Scotty being implicated as the culprit, and Kirk & Crew must discover what is going to clear Scotty of murder charges.

The essay on the enduring appeal of Jack the Ripper is interesting, but very short. Bloch also throws the fictional Dracula into this discussion; Jack embodying the socially inhibited male’s engagement in debauchery while Dracula “catered to the erotic dreams of frustrated females”. Both, Bloch argues, reveal the “primitive impulses of cruelty and lust” inherent in the human condition. I would be interested in a deeper discussion on the topic from Bloch.

A likely influence on the creation of legendary serial killer Norman Bates is on display in this book, with Robert Bloch’s varied portrayals of Jack the Ripper. Whether presenting historical fiction based on facts, or creative science fiction, this Subterranean Press volume of Bloch’s Ripper stories is a must read for anyone even marginally interested in the Whitechapel killer.

[Donald · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Only the dead knew what death is like.”

Three short stories begin this book, all entertaining, all Jack the Ripper themed.

"The Night of the Ripper” is novella length, and is the author’s take on the Jack the Ripper case. Beginning with chapter 4, and continuing through chapter 43, a short historical story of horrific death(s) tops the start of the text. They’re all pretty awful! The story is a decent read, with historic figures popping in and out of the narrative.

The Star Trek script was not for me at all. But the essay at the end was interesting! All-in-all, a good read, especially if you are interested in Saucy Jack!

[Kris Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an adaptation of Robert Bloch's story written Joe & John Lansdale with artwork by Kevin Colden. This is very well done stuff, and I like the fact that the coloring is so sparse. Kind of an off-blue/gray color with plenty of red thrown in for effect. This story has an interesting take on the Jack the Ripper mythos. Like the Kennedy assassin(s), the true identity of Jack the Ripper is likely lost to the mists of time. According to the biography in the back of the book, Robert Bloch also wrote the novel Psycho.

[Glen Engel-Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic twist on the idea of Jack the Ripper, excellently written by a master of both horror and the twist story. Basically, the protagonist John Carmody is a psychiatrist who is approached by a British man who swears he’s figured out the reason why Jack did his killings and believes that it’s been to prolong his life and that he is still killing. By his calculation, the next will be in this town in two days. And the story proceeds from there.

[Arka Chakraborty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Engaging...the only other story that I've read of Bloch, apart from "The Yougoslaves", that's worth mentioning. Ray Russell's "Sagittarius" has a similar vibe to it.

[Von · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gran antología de relatos cortos. En especial: "Los ojos de la momia", "El absceso" y "Los escarabajos"

[Julie Witchester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tiene algunos cuentos muy buenos, pero también otros que, francamente, me aburrieron.

[Abby]

Predictable ending but it probably was a twist when first published!

[Kathryn Grace Loves Horror · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful old story from 1943, which I haven’t read in decades, but I remembered it fondly. I went through a Jack the Ripper phase back in the late 80s, when it was the centennial of the murders.

[Macel Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't expect that ending.

[macintosh2000 · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting premise with an incredibly obvious ending. Nonetheless, the way Bloch develops the plot and fleshes out the characters makes it an entertaining read.

Grade: B
Recommended for: Short horror fans

[Kevin Bartolomucci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting tale. Bloch should have gotten a screen credit for the film 'Time After Time'.