Review: Jack the Theorist by Jon Hartless
First an admission. I like the whole Jack the Ripper thing. It's rather fascinating. A serial killer running loose in the Whitechapel district of London in 1888, preying on prostitutes, committing at least 5 murders and as many as 11, depending on the theory. And he was never found, but theories abound as to who he was.
Jack the Theorist by Jon Hartless starts with the first killing and follows two men, a ripperologist, Professor Wolf, and his friend Sir Arthur Smythe, a paranormal researcher, as the entire town follows the story, horrified and obsessed, and the media fuels the speculation.
"Your paper printing the lurid accounts again and again, and putting up huge billboards showing half-naked women being stalked by a madman with a knife, had no part to play in creating this climate of 'public hysteria'?"
"We cannot be held responsible for the credulous nature of the public," replied Sideways, disdainfully. (77 %)
Wolfe himself is making good money by writing articles...