The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

If you’re looking for a great mystery read, The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson would definitely be a good option. This book kept me guessing the whole entire time, and was constantly making me ask questions. Who is the Ripper? Who are these weird people Rory sees? What is Rory? I could go on and on with the questions I asked myself while reading this book. I think it’s obvious that I really liked – no, I LOVED this book! 

I think the best part about this book, is while there was a little bit of romance going on, since the characters are mostly teenagers there’s bound to be a little bit of that, it was too overwhelming or mushy or anything super unrealistic. Nor did the story focus too much on it, it wasn’t even a main part of the story. I really liked the characters in this story, my personal favorites being Alistair and Rory, actually. Yes she’s the main character but I still really liked her. 

The book starts out with Rory, a southern girl from Louisiana who moves out to London to finish up high school and is just trying to adjust to education and how it works. But there is this serial murder named Jack the Ripper that caused a lot of panic back in the 1880s, and now an impersonator is out on the loose murdering the same amount of people, on the same exact dates the original Jack the Ripper did in the 1880s. People in London are fascinated by this, and somehow Rory is brought into all of it when she sees a strange man outside her school on one of the night of the murders. And when her new mysterious roommate Boo shows up, she finds out the truth that she can see ghosts, and there is a group of people who are basically the ghost police of London. She faces many dangers after finding this information, and almost becomes a victim of Jack the Ripper herself.

Although the book was mostly told from Rory’s point of view, there were also these little snippets of little side stories and perspectives of other people that added to the story. There were also little clues hidden in these little snippets as well, which did actually lead me to the idea that the killer could be a ghost. 

I liked the writing style of this book as well. I do tend to like a writing style that is more relaxed, rather than super formal, because it’s almost like an actual person is telling you the story. But I do enjoy a nice formal read too, but I just really enjoy when it’s more relaxed and humorous. Overall, a great book, which I will definitely read again. I think a good way to tell if you liked a book is if you would definitely read it again.