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Takers Mad
A tantalizing drama pulled from New York’s gritty past, Takers Mad guides listeners down a shadowy path to explore a true crime that haunted the Gilded Age.
As newspapers reported in the 1890s, a woman dubbed "Shakespeare" was found dead in a seedy hotel along the waterfront by Manhattan’s South Street Seaport. The chilling scene recalled for press and police alike Jack the Ripper’s victims in London. Panicked New Yorkers worked feverishly to halt that maniac’s spree from expanding across the Atlantic. The city only sighed relief after detectives abruptly arrested a traveling Algerian ex-soldier for the crime.
In this reimagining, our narrator Flora - an aspiring pulp writer who grew up worlds away from Manhattan - arrives at the story over a decade later, after her dreams of a perfect wedding are dashed. It turns out Jacob Riis, the disapproving father of Flora’s new groom, and America’s most famous muckraker, played an unexpected role in this mystery earlier in his career.
As Flora digs into the case, more questions about what really happened in the hotel on that monstrous night begin to reveal themselves. Did the police scapegoat the man arrested for the crime? What about the blood that detectives found? Or did authorities actually let Jack the Ripper walk free? Flora hopes if she unlocks these puzzles, it might win over her father-in-law, plus grant the entrance to New York publishing she craves.
Based on historical research and fresh findings in a real-life case that dominated headlines before the turn of the century, Takers Mad is a ruminative, atmospheric, and sometimes morbidly funny work of literary suspense that follows one of the most memorable heroines in recent crime fiction as she stalks Gotham, confronts corruption, and delves into who really murdered "Shakespeare".
As newspapers reported in the 1890s, a woman dubbed "Shakespeare" was found dead in a seedy hotel along the waterfront by Manhattan’s South Street Seaport. The chilling scene recalled for press and police alike Jack the Ripper’s victims in London. Panicked New Yorkers worked feverishly to halt that maniac’s spree from expanding across the Atlantic. The city only sighed relief after detectives abruptly arrested a traveling Algerian ex-soldier for the crime.
In this reimagining, our narrator Flora - an aspiring pulp writer who grew up worlds away from Manhattan - arrives at the story over a decade later, after her dreams of a perfect wedding are dashed. It turns out Jacob Riis, the disapproving father of Flora’s new groom, and America’s most famous muckraker, played an unexpected role in this mystery earlier in his career.
As Flora digs into the case, more questions about what really happened in the hotel on that monstrous night begin to reveal themselves. Did the police scapegoat the man arrested for the crime? What about the blood that detectives found? Or did authorities actually let Jack the Ripper walk free? Flora hopes if she unlocks these puzzles, it might win over her father-in-law, plus grant the entrance to New York publishing she craves.
Based on historical research and fresh findings in a real-life case that dominated headlines before the turn of the century, Takers Mad is a ruminative, atmospheric, and sometimes morbidly funny work of literary suspense that follows one of the most memorable heroines in recent crime fiction as she stalks Gotham, confronts corruption, and delves into who really murdered "Shakespeare".
- GenresHistorical Fiction
Audible Audio
First published September 2, 2021
3 people are currently reading
26 people want to read
About the author
Luke Jerod Kummer
2 books44 followersLuke Jerod Kummer’s nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York, New Republic, The Washingtonian, and The Village Voice. Takers Mad, his new Audible Original, picks up the twisting trail of a real-life crime that transfixed New York during the Gilded Age. His 2019 novel, The Blue Period, depicted the tragic events that led a young Pablo Picasso to paint somber portraits in nocturnal shades, before Cubism turned the artist into a celebrity. Booklist called it “lush biographical fiction” and the debut was featured in American Way, Literary Hub, The Millions, Full Stop magazine and Marie Claire Greece.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 7, 2022
Cawpile score 6.54
Characters 8
Atmosphere 8
Writing Style 7
Plot 7
Intrigue 4
Logic / Relationships 5
Enjoyment 7
Free on Audible plus catalog. I enjoyed the main character Flora, and the 1900 New York setting. The Jack the Ripper connection did not interest me. And Flora’s relationships fell a little flat. Overall an enjoyable listen.
Characters 8
Atmosphere 8
Writing Style 7
Plot 7
Intrigue 4
Logic / Relationships 5
Enjoyment 7
Free on Audible plus catalog. I enjoyed the main character Flora, and the 1900 New York setting. The Jack the Ripper connection did not interest me. And Flora’s relationships fell a little flat. Overall an enjoyable listen.
October 28, 2021
Flora Jumped Off The Page
While not normally a genre that I read, historical fiction, when done right can absolutely knock your socks off. Takers Mad was one of those stories that had me barefoot from almost the beginning. I think it was Kummer’s writing style mixed with the fantastic performance by Khristine Hvam that really sold it for me. Hvam absolutely nails the time period, pacing, and overall feel that I think Kummer was going for.
Going into it, I didn’t have a ton of background on this period or this story. But I dove in headfirst and honestly felt like Kummer had me on the struggling for breath for the rest of the story. It’s not overly fast-paced but it’s perfectly paced, in that it kept me wondering what was next instead of living in the moment. But, I say all of that to say that the character development and the way that each place was talked about knock the pacing out cold. They all worked together so well to tell this interesting and unique story.
As I mentioned above, Hvam is the perfect narrator for this. She captured my attention from the opening lines. Mix that in with Kummer’s writing style and I was enamored. I think every scene that started to “fall off” Hvam would kick it up a notch and just blow me away.
Overall, Takers Mad, while not a story I expected to love… I ended up falling in love with it. Sometimes you need the right story to find a genre you enjoy. And this one was right for me. I think Flora as a character was perfect. She is someone I felt like I could transport into now, changing up the language a bit, and I’d read lots of stories about her. She was one of those “one of a kind” characters that I won’t soon forget.
While not normally a genre that I read, historical fiction, when done right can absolutely knock your socks off. Takers Mad was one of those stories that had me barefoot from almost the beginning. I think it was Kummer’s writing style mixed with the fantastic performance by Khristine Hvam that really sold it for me. Hvam absolutely nails the time period, pacing, and overall feel that I think Kummer was going for.
Going into it, I didn’t have a ton of background on this period or this story. But I dove in headfirst and honestly felt like Kummer had me on the struggling for breath for the rest of the story. It’s not overly fast-paced but it’s perfectly paced, in that it kept me wondering what was next instead of living in the moment. But, I say all of that to say that the character development and the way that each place was talked about knock the pacing out cold. They all worked together so well to tell this interesting and unique story.
As I mentioned above, Hvam is the perfect narrator for this. She captured my attention from the opening lines. Mix that in with Kummer’s writing style and I was enamored. I think every scene that started to “fall off” Hvam would kick it up a notch and just blow me away.
Overall, Takers Mad, while not a story I expected to love… I ended up falling in love with it. Sometimes you need the right story to find a genre you enjoy. And this one was right for me. I think Flora as a character was perfect. She is someone I felt like I could transport into now, changing up the language a bit, and I’d read lots of stories about her. She was one of those “one of a kind” characters that I won’t soon forget.
February 27, 2022
Audible freebie/work listen. I didn't hate it and it served the purpose.
The narration wasn't good. The narrator attempted various accents, and she kind of slipped in and out. Also, she didn't really bother to try to do different voices for the characters, only the accents, which, as mentioned, weren't accurate.
The story wasn't bad. A little slow, but engaging enough to keep you listening despite the narration. I think if you're someone who enjoys reading stories written in the first person, you'll enjoy it more than I did. I'm not a fan, because, in my mind, you really have to have an exceptionally well-written character telling the story for it to work. The lead here wasn't terrible (and, credit where it's due, she avoided a lot of the usually tropes of a female character written by a male author) but she wasn't the most compelling or three-dimensional, either. The same can be said of most of the characters. They were alright, but not as fleshed out as they might have been.
The mystery was pretty solid, and I liked the solution. It didn't come out of nowhere but it was still unexpected.
The last thing is, I'm not too sure about some of the historical elements. Some of the language was definitely off ("I'm coming with!") but that's not a huge thing. There was this one line, though, where the protagonist is explaining how she ended up living in the west, how her French ancestors came over and landed in Quebec, but they found it inhospitable to French people and moved south. I'm not sure if I missed that part in my Canadian history classes, but... no? Quebec was colonized by the French, period. What a weird statement. It was like the author had to find some way to explain the presence of a person of French heritage in an area with a very small population of French immigrants, and that's all he could come up with. The story heavily involves the French colonial empire, and the conclusion hinged on the protagonist's personal connection to said empire (through her uncle who fought with the North Africans). It was a throwaway line, but it annoyed me. Couldn't they have said her family landed in Massachusetts (which had a lot of French immigrants) and moved west in search of opportunity?
Anyway.
It wasn't bad.
The narration wasn't good. The narrator attempted various accents, and she kind of slipped in and out. Also, she didn't really bother to try to do different voices for the characters, only the accents, which, as mentioned, weren't accurate.
The story wasn't bad. A little slow, but engaging enough to keep you listening despite the narration. I think if you're someone who enjoys reading stories written in the first person, you'll enjoy it more than I did. I'm not a fan, because, in my mind, you really have to have an exceptionally well-written character telling the story for it to work. The lead here wasn't terrible (and, credit where it's due, she avoided a lot of the usually tropes of a female character written by a male author) but she wasn't the most compelling or three-dimensional, either. The same can be said of most of the characters. They were alright, but not as fleshed out as they might have been.
The mystery was pretty solid, and I liked the solution. It didn't come out of nowhere but it was still unexpected.
The last thing is, I'm not too sure about some of the historical elements. Some of the language was definitely off ("I'm coming with!") but that's not a huge thing. There was this one line, though, where the protagonist is explaining how she ended up living in the west, how her French ancestors came over and landed in Quebec, but they found it inhospitable to French people and moved south. I'm not sure if I missed that part in my Canadian history classes, but... no? Quebec was colonized by the French, period. What a weird statement. It was like the author had to find some way to explain the presence of a person of French heritage in an area with a very small population of French immigrants, and that's all he could come up with. The story heavily involves the French colonial empire, and the conclusion hinged on the protagonist's personal connection to said empire (through her uncle who fought with the North Africans). It was a throwaway line, but it annoyed me. Couldn't they have said her family landed in Massachusetts (which had a lot of French immigrants) and moved west in search of opportunity?
Anyway.
It wasn't bad.
December 28, 2023
This story had a lot of great potential. It was an interesting perspective, an unknown story and the chance to inform about a time in American/New York history that isn’t often highlighted. But it just didn’t work. The main character was so exaggerated and unbelievable as well as the coincidences that she found herself in. It was hard to follow the story because the author spent so much time filling it with “fluff” that could have been spent with better details or information.
June 2, 2023
1 I didn’t hate it but,sadly, did not think much of it. it’s an ok story although the murderer was a little Deus ex machina. Good sense of time though and a great narrator.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews