For a series about Jack the Ripper this was boring. I didn't enjoy much of anything from this Maureen Johnson book (I usually do enjoy her). But the plot was lacking and things felt a bit out of place. Easily just a set up for book three. 

Rory is getting over the trauma she faced with Jack the Ripper previously. With a new threat on board that doesn't come easily. Plus she's faced with being kicked out of school after not being able to catch up. Things are failing quickly for Rory and its up to her to fix it. 

Rory annoyed me so much. Most of this book was her complaining about not being able to catch up but then not doing any work the entire time. If this book had actually ended up being a thriller/mystery about another Jack the Ripper case I would have enjoyed it more.

I finally got an arc for book 3 (Yippee and thanks to Kathy!)  But reading for a whole bus and train ride to work was enough to convince me I had no idea what was going on and I had to go back to the beginning of the series and start all over again from book one.  So here's to hoping book two is as good as book one was.  I really enjoyed it the first time through and I'm super excited to finish the rest of the series!

tl;dr this is how i felt reading this book:  

[[MORE]]

Description Rory is in therapy over in Bristol with her parents after the Ripper incident. She hasn't heard anything from her other ghost-seeing friends, though she has talked to her Wexford friends a bit. But Rory is unhappy having to lie to everyone. But then the unexpected happens: Rory's therapist suggests she goes back to Wexford, and Rory jumps at the chance to go. But things are changing, and with Rory being the only remaining terminus left, she has to decide how comfortable she is with destroying ghosts that are causing troubles. 

So this book is shorter than the first, which makes me wonder why it is even its own book. Because in all honestly, it wasn't a strong enough story to be a stand alone book in my opinion. The first one was pretty good, but this was rather disappointing. 

So yeah. This book went in an interesting direction, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. We've now got a crazy religious cult that wants Rory for their master plan of - well, you'll see f you read it. We still have very little of Jazza, which again is disappointing. I like her character a lot, I wish she was more than just another friend Rory has to feel guilty about lying to. 

Also, the romantic interest. I don't like the way madam author writes them. Its like she throws them in because she feels like Rory has to have someone she's attracted to. Like there has to be a love interest or else the book won't be ok. But really, the way the love interest are written, you could do without them at all Ms Johnson. I mean, here is how they all go down: [Rory and boy are talking about something scary/something traumatic just happened.] [Rory snuggles in closer as they talk] [They kiss] [Rory feels all wobbly inside because she's turned on but can't say that right out because its a YA book]. There's no chemistry between her and her love interests, and I know that one instance its supposed to be that way. The other I'm not so sure about.

Anyways, overall I was pretty disappointed with this book. It could've been the beginning part of the next book that comes out, it really didn't need to be its own book. So i mean its up to you if you want to read this book. 

This book was OK....but I don't think I'll be reading the next one to follow. I've given it a 3/5 because it was simply OK. It wasn't horrendous, but I did not enjoy reading it as much as the first instalment.

*SPOILER ALERT*