Jack the Ripper's Streets of Terror

Life During the Reign of Victorian London's Most Brutal Killer

By: Rupert Matthews

Narrated by: Phil Fox

The shocking murders carried out by an unknown serial killer in London's East End during the autumn of 1888, haunted the public imagination at the time and have continued to exert a baleful influence ever since. But what was it like to live through those terrifying weeks?

This audiobook looks at the crimes of Jack the Ripper through the eyes of Londoners, including the rumors that swept through the capital city, the alarms, the riots, the persecutions, the suspicions, and the sheer naked terror of the awful autumn when a killer stalked the streets.

©2013 Arcturus Publishing Limited (P)2017 Arcturus Digital Limited

Good, evidence-based, effort

This first part of the audiobook provides a "snapshot" of the time period via news stories and a quick history to give the idea of 1888 life in east London. I enjoyed this section and learned a lot.
The rest of the audio concentrates on the killings and, while not as good as the history section, is succint and well-done.
The author does make some mistakes but those aren't unusual where "JTR" is concerned. eg, The killer wrote a letter to a witness saying, among other things, "now I know you know me." The letter was sent to fruit seller, Matthew Packer. The author incorrectly states this was sent to Joseph Lavenda.
(Packer's evidence was reported in print, but the police weren't interested. Makes you wonder exactly what the police were investigating? An actual eyewitness and he isn't even allowed to testify? Was it bc he described "Jack" as "an educated man"? Certainly, those who ran London wanted a "deranged Jew" or "viscious Irishman" and not a member of their class.)
I find it strange that authors (ie, not just this one) dismiss evidence bc the police did. Jack was playing his "little game" with the police - and winning - so why couldn't he send in a bunch of letters with disguised handwriting?
The narrator, IMO, is among the best on audible even though he's performed only 2 books. His other narration, "They All Love Jack", is the best performance I've ever heard (and I've heard more than I'm willing to admit).

re: a rousing good yarn

Told more than I wanted to know about a man or woman in Victorian England. It gave me a model 5 years back or so of a mysterious killer known as Iron Range Ripper, Jack 2, some of the grotesqueries I didn't know like the perverted sexual angle, the mutilation of the genitals. Iron Range Jack 2 uses an X-Acto knife and gardener's weed claw honed to razor points. Clitoridectomy...

How can Jack the Ripper be uninteresting?

Rambling, yet totally unfocused,
story ending at a brick wall. Shallow, while providing too much mind numbing detail.