Review 271: Jack The Theorist by Jon Hartless

Jack The Theorist
by Jon Hartless
Vagabondage Press LLC
Copyright © August 2011
ASIN: B005H82HG0
152 KB
$2.99 Kindle

Reviewed by Author C.V. Hunt

4 out of 5 Stars

ABOUT:

Only one man dares to confront the meaning behind the crimes. Only one man sees through the tangled skein to the truth. Only one man knows the answers.

Or, at least, only one man thinks he knows the answers… Follow Professor Wolf, the world’s first Ripperologist, on his delusional journey into the world of the Ripper. Follow his long-suffering friend, Sir Arthur Smythe, who suspects that it will all end in tears.

Gasp at the revelations. Tremble at the truth. Wonder at the sanity of a mind that leaps from conspiracy to conspiracy without ever touching reality.

REVIEW:

A district in London known as Whitechapel, lived in fear of a vicious serial killer know as Jack the Ripper in the year 1888. Those murders are a part of one of the biggest ‘who done it’ in history. The ledged of Jack the Ripper has spawned literally hundreds of theories as to whom and how they were committed. The people that study and research these theories are known as ‘Ripperologist’.

Jon Hartless explores many of these theories in his book Jack the Theorist, and does a great job of keeping the reader engaged. The theories run from a mad man, to a calculated killer, and even a group of people with a political agenda. In the end though, the killer took his secret to the grave.

In this book, Professor Wolf, a self-proclaimed Ripperologist, and his friend Sir Author, a paranormal researcher, originally start their research by fumbling upon the first slaying. The wild guessing and accusations that fall through the rest of the book give Sherlock Holmes a run for his money.

The whole town of London is terrified, but still people are morbidly captivated by the murders, and everyone has their own theory. The papers and the police only seem to encourage the hysteria that fuels the Ripperology, and everyone is becoming an expert.

Ripperology has become a game, but a serious game. New theories, the more outlandish the better, sell very well with the popular press and the paying public, but the game has bred envy and malice, and theories are appropriated by the unscrupulous.

Jack the Theorist is a quick read and a short history lesson. It’s sure to captivate any mystery lover. I’m certain that you will finish it with a mindful of your own theories.