BOOK NEWS: The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

I read a lot of YA fiction. This could be described as arrested development, but I prefer to see it as a sign of a flexible, youthful mind. Stop sniggering at the back.

One of my favourite YA authors is Maureen Johnson. She’s funny, clever, inventive, and writes wonderful, quirky-but-always-real characters. Her latest book, The Name of the Star, is out at the end of the month and it sounds rather good. Here’s the blurb:

Sixteen-year-old American girl Rory has just arrived at boarding school in London when a Jack the Ripper copycat-killer begins terrorising the city. All the hallmarks of his infamous murders are frighteningly present, but there are few clues to the killer’s identity.

“Rippermania” grabs hold of modern-day London, and the police are stumped with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. In an unknown city with few friends to turn to, Rory makes a chilling discovery…

Could the copycat murderer really be Jack the Ripper back from the grave?

If that sounds like your kind of thing,  read the first 70 pages for free (legally) here.