Ripper - bookrastinating.com

No cover — Isabel Allende: Ripper (2014, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd)

478 pages

English language

Published Nov. 14, 2014 by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

ISBN:: 978-1-4434-2620-6
OCLC Number:: 861535121

Indiana Jackson is thirty-three years old and works in San Francisco at an alternative medicine clinic that attracts all sorts of characters, some of them skeptics, who fall for her candour and humility. Her teenage daughter, Amanda, likes noir literature and hopes to attend MIT, where she will be with Bradley, an old friend that she plans to marry, with or without his consent. In her free time, she plays Ripper, an online role playing game that involves solving real-life mysteries and crimes using information collected by Amanda's father, the Chief Inspector of the San Francisco police. Amanda plays the game via Skype with adolescents from all over the world and with her best friend, her grandfather Blake. Each player in the game has a virtual personality: Amanda is the game master, and Blake is her henchman; the others are Sherlock Holmes, Colonel Paddington, Esmeralda and the psychic Abatha. When …

Indiana Jackson is thirty-three years old and works in San Francisco at an alternative medicine clinic that attracts all sorts of characters, some of them skeptics, who fall for her candour and humility. Her teenage daughter, Amanda, likes noir literature and hopes to attend MIT, where she will be with Bradley, an old friend that she plans to marry, with or without his consent. In her free time, she plays Ripper, an online role playing game that involves solving real-life mysteries and crimes using information collected by Amanda's father, the Chief Inspector of the San Francisco police. Amanda plays the game via Skype with adolescents from all over the world and with her best friend, her grandfather Blake. Each player in the game has a virtual personality: Amanda is the game master, and Blake is her henchman; the others are Sherlock Holmes, Colonel Paddington, Esmeralda and the psychic Abatha. When Ripper's latest murder mystery -- the case of the misplaced bat -- begins to touch their real-world lives, Amanda and her friends know they must find the murderer before he can strike again.

21 editions

Acton reviewed Ripper by Isabel Allende

Review of 'Ripper' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

This was my first experience with Isabel Allende, and I realize, a bit late, that I started with a novel that is not at all typical of the author. This is a mystery. Actually, this long story took its time letting me know that; there are so many characters, so many quick character sketches, and so many background stories, that I could not tell what the central story would be, or where any of this was headed. In my opinion, there was nothing realistic or believable in the plot. And it was simply too long, partly because some of the character descriptions and background information seemed to be unnecessarily--reinforced. Also, almost every cast member was off-the-charts unusual.

Perhaps I don't get out enough.

So, I would not recommend this one to my friends, but I will pick up another Isabel Allende novel, in the future.

Subjects

Teenagers
Fiction
Serial murderers
Internet games

Places

California
San Francisco