Book Review: The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago. 

Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

**

I've seen this book on goodreads a couple of times, and honestly I didn't quite know what to make of it from the synopsis. I think I've spent so much of my time reading dystopian and fantasy books that contemporaries kind of lost their appeal for me, so I'm trying desperately to change that!

My friend Stacey actually recommended I read this book after I told her to check out Crow's Row by Julie Hockley, and I have to admit it was a little hard for me to get into first of all (but to be honest I find it hard to get into a lot of books so this could be saying a great deal more about me than the book itself).

Let me just say, that I LOVE the whole idea of someone re-creating the Ripper murders. Not in real life, obviously. But in a story, it's something that I've never come across, strangely enough. The idea is completely unique - along with the ghost hunting squad. I loved the whole idea of a murderer no one could see, it's completely creepy. 

I'm kind of on the fence about the main character, Rory. I do like her a lot, but sometimes she could say the most idiotic things. Like when someone was murdered near her school so classes were cancelled, she wasn't scared or upset or anything, the only thing she could think of was that she could miss her hockey lesson. 

"There was nothing I could do. Jazza just didn't see the positive side of this. So I continued eating my sausages and let her have her moment. I was already thinking about the joy I'd feel in not walking to the hockey field and not standing in the goal and not getting hit with hockey balls."

Like, really Rory? REALLY? Someone just DIED. And you want people to see the 'positive side' of it? This just irritated me to no end and I kind of hated Rory for a few chapters. There were also a couple of moments when I rolled my eyes at Rory for fretting about the most annoying things. Like what to wear to a pub. I guess because I'm English I've never had to worry about anything like that, but even if I was in another country, I wouldn't have a meltdown over something stupid like what to wear. 

I really, really loved how much Johnson knew about English culture and how we tend to talk. I cannot tell you how many times I have read a book written by (sorry to generalise) an American author with an 'Enlgish' character in it, and said character sound like they've jumped straight out of a Monty Python sketch.  It really does make me cringe and just go, "No, no, no, no, no, no, EVERYTHING YOU'RE DOING IS WRONG."
I definitely did not have this problem with TNOTS, everything was very well researched and I did not suffer from second hand embarrassment - so thank you Maureen!

Also this made me laugh:

"England and Britain and the United Kingdom are not the same thing. England is the country. Britain is the island containing England, Scotland, and Wales. The United Kingdom is the formal designation of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as a political entity. If you mess this up, you will be corrected. Repeatedly."

I HAD TO LAUGH AT THIS BECAUSE IT'S SO TRUE. Same as when call an English 'British'. No, no, no technically no one can have a British accent because it would have to be some sort of mutated mix of an English, Scottish and Welsh accent and you'd have a very hard time of finding anyone who could understand you with an accent like that.
Anyway, I'm just a snob about these things but it was funny that Maureen chose to put it in there. Like I say, she's very true to how English people and how England really is. 

Other characters I liked were Boo, Jazza and Callum. I also adore Stephen after he told Rory about himself and how he has 'the sight'. It really made my heart go out to him and I can't wait to see him more in the second book (which I'm currently reading). I really loved and felt for Alistair, not a lot of authors really go into a lot of depth with secondary characters, and when they do I find myself not really caring a bit. But Maureen does it so well and captured my interest that he really did become one of my favourites. One thing that (again) annoyed me about Rory was how she just started getting it on with Jerome right next to Alistair, just after he told her how much he wanted to leave Wexford. Like this girls selfishness really, really got to me. Again, I hated her for a little while afterward. Speaking of Jerome, I feel kinda... Ehh towards him. I don't know if this was done on purpose, but I didn't really get much from his character, other than that he has some weird obsession with the Ripper murders, past and present. I just didn't like him much really. He wasn't in it a whole lot so I didn't feel anything when he and Rory were together.

The Ripper guy - Alexander Newman - was f-ing SCARY. I really loved this. I literally had to look around my room before I turned any pages because I was just so freaked out! When he came to the window while Rory was trying to get through, I just lost my shit. They way he was described was so creepy and I actually had to turn my light on while I was reading, so props to Maureen for that. 

My only complaint about the writing is that some of the things I just... Didn't... Care about? Like when Rory would ramble on about her family and stuff. I know rambling is part of her character, but honestly I don't need to read 5,000 pages on your uncles freezers. Sorry.

Overall, I gave The Name of the Star 4/5 stars. I loved the plot and the secondary characters, but the protagonist really did irk me a bit. 

Once again, thank you for reading, and I'll see you soon!

The Name of the Star on
Amazon