Mayhem by Sarah Pinborough

Mayhem (Dr. Bond Victorian Forensics Mystery, #1) (Mayhem and Murder)

by Sarah Pinborough

From the Number One bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes. Delve into a gaslit London, where Jack the Ripper is making headlines, but another, much more dangerous, madman is on the loose.

When a rotting torso is discovered in the vault of New Scotland Yard, it doesn't take Dr Thomas Bond, Police Surgeon, long to realise that there is a second killer at work in the city where, only a few days before, Jack the Ripper brutally murdered two women in one night.

This is the hand of a colder killer, one who lacks Jack's emotion.

And, as more headless and limbless torsos find their way into the Thames, Dr Bond becomes obsessed with finding the killer. As his investigations lead him into an unholy alliance, he starts to wonder:

Is it a man who has brought mayhem to the streets of London, or a monster?

'A compulsively readable story that starts as a conventional murder mystery and morphs, by degrees, into a horrifying supernatural thriller' Guardian

Reviewed by Beth C. on

3 of 5 stars

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Jack the Ripper is one of the most well-known serial killers ever. He was never caught, even after the brutality he evidenced in his killings. Many theories have been put forth about who he may have been and/or why he was killing prostitutes, but no definitive answer has ever been able to be given. Sarah Pinborough uses that fact to her advantage, crafting a novel around not only those killings, but another set of killings that haunted London around the same time.
What if Jack the Ripper was influenced by another killer? A killer so strong, and so old, that the entire city could feel its malevolence without truly understanding it? This is a part of the central core of Mayhem, and it's as plausible a "theory" as many others that have actually been put forth as reality.
I wasn't sure if this would be something I liked or not, but I have always been fascinated with Jack the Ripper (as so many have) and so I gave it a shot. I found myself truly engrossed and hating whenever I had to put it down for something else. The characters are well crafted (though I would have liked more information about the mysterious priest) and the storyline itself made for fascinating reading.
I don't spend a lot of time reading mysteries, but I am certainly pleased that I decided to read this one.

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  • Started reading
  • 4 March, 2014: Finished reading
  • 4 March, 2014: Reviewed