Jackaby

Jackaby

Author: William Ritter

Genres: mystery, supernatural, historical fiction

Rating: 2.5/10

S Y N O P S I S:

Newly arrived in New Fiddleham, New England, 1892, and in need of a job, Abigail Rook meets R. F Jackaby, an investigator of the unexpected with a keen eye for the extraordinary- including the ability to see supernatural beings. Abigail has a gift for noticing ordinary but important details, which makes her perfect for the position of Jackaby’s assistant. On her first day, Abigail finds herself in the midst of a thrilling case: A serial killer is on the loose. The police are convinced it’s an ordinary villain, but Jackaby is certain it’s a nonhuman creature, whose existence the police- with the exception of a handsome young detective named Charlie Cane- deny.

Doctor Who meets Sherlock in William Ritter’s debut novel, which features a detective of the paranormal as seen through the eyes of his adventurous and intelligent assistant

R E V I E W:

Okay, I’m going to start off by saying that I will lamely attempt to make this review slightly more critical than the rest. Possibly because I expected so much out of this novel but received so little. It would be an understatement to say that I am immensely disappointed with the entirety of this novel. I don’t know how else to word it.

There is a reason why I put the synopsis before the review this time, because I absolutely detest it. I hate it. Now this may sound strange and you may wonder why I even picked up, let alone purchased this novel if I didn’t like the synopsis, here’s my reason: I had never read a historical mystery, let alone any mystery novel until this one. I wanted to try something different. Bite me. Anyway, first off I’d like to mention the comparison between this novel with Doctor Who and Sherlock, which to me mean nothing to me considering I have never read either. And honestly, why compare your novel to another like that? What happened to originality? Why does something always have to me like something else? Like the whole popular novel meets some other popular novel ship has sailed and hopefully will soon be lost at sea or sunken because it’s just incredibly disappointing when an author feels the need to compare ones work to another authors existing work because it’s popular. Especially in the synopsis, however, it’s totally different if a review is comparing the novels as an example of sorts. Anyway, I don’t know if any of that made sense and it was sort of an irrelevant ramble considering many novels do this, most certainly not juts this one. 

So let’s start off with the main character of this novel, Miss Abigail Rooks. Now, the synopsis glorifies her as a wild, adventurous assistant with an important role in Jackaby’s cases. Honestly, she doesn’t even obtain a prevalent role in this novel, at all. Sure she narrated the novel and I read every word through her description but that was all. There is absolutely no connection with Abigail and the reader, for me anyway. I couldn’t find a way to really like her character, she was just so extremely bland an insignificant. I feel like the novel could have gone on just the same if narrated though R. F Jackaby’s eyes. Ritter attempts to make Miss Rook seem important by making mundane “observations” for Jackaby thought the novel, but they we’re typically the obvious and became annoying. She is literally just a damsel in distress whom makes a few incompetent remarks here and there. Honestly, no offence to William Ritter, but I enjoyed Douglas the duck’s character more than Miss Rooks.

Moving on from that monstrosity, let’s talk about the main attraction. The witty, alternate dimension seer himself R. F Jackaby. Jackaby was without a doubt a great character; his development in presence in this novel was superior to the rest. His charmingly witty and unintentionally rude remarks and banter is what got me though this novel. His character sets the uncanny, humorous aura to this novel.

The world of the historical New Fiddleham is also what made this novel bearable. The description of Jackaby’s labyrinth of a home on the cobblestone streets of New England were fun to imagine. I mean, who has an indoor pool/ pond on the third floor of their home? Or a ghoul named Jenny that cleans up all of your messes? Jackaby does. We also can’t forget about the lovely Douglas the duck. Poor Douglas. The settings in this novel stick to a historical point of view with a twisted supernatural edge, which was fun to read.

Sorry, I’m getting off topic yet again. Going into this novel I assumed there would be a bit of a romance between Jackaby and Miss Rooks, however there is absolutely no indication of a romance between either characters, which I actually respected greatly. I was happy Ritter kept their relationship strictly professional. I am getting bored of YA romance novels at the moment and I need a bit of a break, so yea, much appreciated.

I was slightly disappointed in how little suspense/ horror occurred in this Victorian novel. I was hoping for something heavier. But I suppose this is a young adult read? Another thing that I am disappointed about is the fact that the entirety of this novel took over the course of only a mere two days. Yes, two days. And let me tell you, for a novel that took course over a sort two days felt like the longest read of the century. I don’t know if it was the incredible description that made this a super slow read (not literally, it’s a short novel, it just felt slow.) or the fact that the main character was just so bland and unreatable. I couldn’t tell you.

Overall, I was pretty disappointed. Jackaby was really just a quick break from my normal reads. I can’t say I’ll pick it up again to read for fun. It was a little tasteless other than Jackaby himself. I however will definitely attempt to give the sequel a chance, partly because I already own it and now I feel slightly obligated to read it. However, William Ritter is really an exceptional writer, his style is very detailed and sophisticated for a young adult author and it’s very nice. I don’t normally say that if I didn’t like the character development, partly because in my opinion if you can develop a relatable main character for the reader to latch onto or take interest in, your novel is a flop. I like Jackaby and his historically paranormal world, but other than that this novel doesn’t really stand out as super unique or special. I’m not really sure who I’d recommend this to other than somebody who likes a witty character in a paranormal/ mystery setting.

So yea, hopefully that kind of gives you the idea of what this novel is really like (obviously this is completely from my perspective and entirely my opinion in which yours could differ.) Next time I’ll try not to be so disorganized with my thoughts, I feel like my mind is as much of a cluttered mess as Jackaby’s guest room, I need Jenny to come clear my brain for me. Or Douglas. Anyway, I don’t know if I was too harsh or not critical enough but these are just my quick thoughts. I’m no professional.

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