Jaclyn the Ripper [Mass Market Paperback]

Karl Alexander (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2011

In Time After Time, H.G. Wells used his time machine to chase after Jack the Ripper who was on a killing spree in 1979 San Francisco. After H.G. met Amy Catherine Robbins, the love of his life, and banished the serial killer to the indefinite future, H.G. and Amy returned to 1893 London, believing they could live happily ever after.

But that wasn’t the end of the story. In Jaclyn the Ripper, Amy returns to the present to tell her parents what happened to their missing daughter, accidentally freeing Jack from his prison in the far future while also transforming Jack into a woman. Jaclyn the Ripper sets out on a new killing spree in 2010 Los Angeles, vowing revenge on H.G. and Amy.

H.G. follows Amy to modern L.A., but neither he nor Amy knows Jaclyn is on their trail. In the brave new world of the new millennium, H.G. must navigate a world of cell phones, the internet, and identity theft and find his wayward wife . . . before the Ripper slays her. With the panache, excitement, and thrills that made Time After Time so popular, Karl Alexander has penned another winning tale of Wells: author, inventor, and unlikely hero.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Alexander's 1979 novel, Time After Time, and the movie based on it offered an intriguing concept—Jack the Ripper steals a working model of H.G. Wells's time machine in the 1890s and uses it to travel to the late 20th century. In this pallid sequel, the Ripper has traveled from the year 2353 to 2010, and has in the process somehow transformed into a woman. Wells's beloved wife, Amy Catherine Robbins, who accompanied him from 1979 to 1893 at the end of the first book, has disappeared. Wells follows Amy's trail to 2010, ending up in Los Angeles at the same time as the Ripper, who resumes slaughtering and mutilating multiple victims. Subsequent events quickly vitiate the one shocking plot twist. Neither the Whitechapel murderer's gender change nor Wells's new role as a bohemian married man adds enough to make this a distinctive story in its own right. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Alexander’s novel is everything you’d expect in a sequel to Time After Time. The sweep of history through time travel is dazzling, the characters are beautifully rendered, and the story has twists and turns that only Karl Alexander can muster. He’s a deft and observant writer. This book is a delight to read.” —T. Jefferson Parker, author of The Renegades and L.A. Outlaws

Praise for Time After Time:
 “The use of historical personalities is neatly interlocked.”— Kirkus Reviews 
"Alexander has produced a nifty, fresh and clever combination of romance, humor, suspense and a touch of science fiction. And it’s just his first novel.”—Santa Barbara News-Press

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (March 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765358581
• ISBN-13: 978-0765358585
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,730,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Karl Alexander, a fifth-generation Angeleno, is the author of six novels, including "Papa and Fidel," a novel of Hemingway, Castro and Cuba. His bestselling novel "Time After Time" was made into a hit film starring Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen, for which he was dubbed a Knight of Mark Twain for his contribution to American Literature.

His second novel, "Missing Pieces," was made into a CBS World Premiere movie starring Elizabeth Montgomery. He also produced and co-wrote the horror film, "Rattlers."

He received an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and served as a Marine Corps officer in the Vietnam War. He has been a college professor, and has also worked as a lighting director in Hollywood, creating the "look" for Robert tack in "Unsolved Mysteries."

His fifth novel, "Jaclyn the Ripper," the long awaited sequel to "Time After Time," was published in hardcover in 2009 and paperback in 2011. "Time After Time" and "Papa & Fidel" came out in trade editions in 2010. All are available as ebooks.

"Time-Crossed Lovers," (July, 2011) is already receiving rave reviews. If you like thriller love stories, this book is for you.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better than Expected, June 10, 2010

By 

Tim Janson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Jaclyn the Ripper (Hardcover)

I'm not normally one for complex time-traveling adventures but there was something intriguing about this book that made me decide to read it. As a buff of Jack the Ripper lore it had that appeal not to mention being a play on The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. This story is a sequel to Time After Time, both the book and the 1979 film. In that story, Jack the Ripper used Wells' time machine to escape to 1979 with Well in eventual pursuit. Well uses the machine to transport the killer far into the future. Wells returns to 1893 with Amy Robbins to live happily ever after...or so they thought...

In the sequel, Amy returns to the present to let her parents know that she is safe and living in the past but her trip accidentally frees Jack the Ripper from the future. Using the technology of the future, Jack transforms himself into a female, hence the name "Jaclyn" and travels back to 2010 to begin a new killing spree in Los Angeles, and vows revenge on Wells and Amy. Now in modern day, Wells must somehow track Jack down in a complicated new world of computers and cell phones.

Thirty years is a LONG time between stories and I'm not sure that Alexander is going to recapture the audience he had with that story that relied a great deal on the romantic relationship between Wells and Amy. The sequel is more of a thriller and largely succeeds although Jaclyn is somewhat less sinister than Jack.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars exciting fast-paced thriller, November 17, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jaclyn the Ripper (Hardcover)

After dispatching Jack the Ripper from 1979 to a far future, H.G. Wells and Amy Catherine Robbins travel to his time 1893 (see Time After Time) where they marry. However, so her beloved parents would not worry she returned to tell them what became of their prodigal daughter. In 1906 Wells is worried about his wife who failed to come home, Wells traces her to 2010 Los Angeles.

Meanwhile Jack managed to anchor in 2353 before returning back to 2010 Los Angeles as a woman. While Wells searches for his Amy, he notices an alarming pattern that reminds him of Victorian Whitechapel and San Francisco circa 1979; Jack is back and he obsessively believes he must stop the killer for all eternity.

With two fascinating twists since the events of Time After Time, Jaclyn the Ripper is an exciting fast-paced thriller that never quite gels as the key two antagonists never quite come across as the naïve good vs. the sinister evil of the first book. Still fans of Time After Time, book or movie, will enjoy the return engagement as Jaclyn the Ripper still enjoys the kill.

Harriet Klausner