Escaping from Houdini (Stalking Jack the Ripper #3) by Kerri Maniscalco

🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

In this third installment in the #1 bestselling Stalking Jack the Ripper series, a luxurious ocean liner becomes a floating prison of scandal, madness, and horror when passengers are murdered one by one…with nowhere to run from the killer. . 

Audrey Rose Wadsworth and her partner-in-crime-investigation, Thomas Cresswell, are en route to New York to help solve another blood-soaked mystery. Embarking on a week-long voyage across the Atlantic on the opulent RMS Etruria, they’re delighted to discover a traveling troupe of circus performers, fortune tellers, and a certain charismatic young escape artist entertaining the first-class passengers nightly.

But then, privileged young women begin to go missing without explanation, and a series of brutal slayings shocks the entire ship. The strange and disturbing influence of the Moonlight Carnival pervades the decks as the murders grow ever more freakish, with nowhere to escape except the unforgiving sea. It’s up to Audrey Rose and Thomas to piece together the gruesome investigation as even more passengers die before reaching their destination. But with clues to the next victim pointing to someone she loves, can Audrey Rose unravel the mystery before the killer’s horrifying finale?

I think that this installment in the Jack the Ripper series is the most frustrating by far! I loved the first book and didn't think that I could love the sequel any more than I loved the first. I found out that I was dead wrong because I absolutely loved Hunting Prince Dracula. It was even more creepy and dark than the first book. I also loved the interaction between Thomas and Audrey Rose. That is where my issues began with Escaping From Houdini. I have come to expect fun, witty interaction between Thomas and Audrey Rose and I found that to be lacking in this installment. I was really upset by the direction that the author took their relationship in especially with how Hunting Prince Dracula ended. I can understand what the author was trying to do to a point but I hated it. 

I also didn't understand how the timing and flow of the story could be so off kilter. I'm not sure what happened but this installment felt drawn out in a way that I didn't appreciate. I felt like a hundred or so pages could have been cut out and the story would have been improved greatly. 

Honestly, both of my complaints are just annoyances that I was able to get over. I still thought that the story-line was interesting and different from the past two books. I thought that the author would stay with the horror point in each story but it didn't seem to be the case in this one. This is not a complaint but rather I was confused by it. I'm hoping that the last installment will have that element back in the story. That being said, I thought that the addition of the carnival in the story made for an interesting way to inject the creepy factor. I also enjoyed the pictures that were at the beginning of the chapters. It reminded me of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. It made the story feel more real.