I picked up A Study in Red: The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper, the cover hinting at the dark secrets contained between the covers. But, the cover didn’t warn of the depth of travel into the mind of a madman.

Brian L. Porter’s words grab the reader and won’t let go as he describes Robert Cavendish’s reading of the secret journal of the notorious Jack the Ripper. The man’s life changed as he discovered an ancestor’s place in Jack’s life, the workings of The Ripper’s mind, and the terror the mad man invoked.

This book is not one I could sit and read at one time. I would read a section, shiver, and lay the book aside. I had to return to its pages, though. I could not stay away. Part by part I delved into the horror that Porter portrayed in his novel. I can’t say I enjoyed the book, because the uneasy feelings it left in my mind were not enjoyable, but the book held my attention.

For a work of fiction, A Study in Red: The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper left me wondering how anything of fiction could seem so real.

Reviewed by Vivian Zabel
© March 2008