The Devil's Workshop

March 24, 2014
Heavy-handed telegraphing of plot turns and contrived drama mar Grecian’s third Victorian thriller featuring Insp. Walter Day (after 2013’s The Black Country). When a deliberate train derailment outside a London prison destroys the prison’s wall, a few convicts (the number is uncertain) escape through the breach. Among them are some vicious murderers, including Geoffrey Cinderhouse, the first killer Day captured as a member of Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad. Day is worried because Cinderhouse, who visited Day’s wife, Claire, shortly before his apprehension, knows where Day lives and could pose a threat to the now pregnant Claire. Several retired inspectors, including Day’s mentor, Adrian March, join the manhunt, whose challenges are amplified by the reappearance of Jack the Ripper a year or so after the Whitechapel slayings. Readers who find the storyline a frustrating tease will hope that Grecian returns to form in the next installment. Agent: Seth Fishman, Gernert Company.

Starred review from April 15, 2014
A historical thriller that moves quickly and surely, bringing Jack the Ripper back from the realm of nightmare to the streets of London. Exitus probatur--the ends are justified--is the pass code into a secret society of avengers drawn from the cream of Victorian society. They, the Karstphanomen, don't think courts can deliver justice to the people of London and take matters into their own hands, treating the perpetrators of horrible crimes as they have treated their victims. Same devices, same wounds but in a state of perpetual agony. When a train derails and smashes open the wall of Bridewell Prison, four condemned murderers escape, each ready to kill again. DI Walter Day and his compatriots at Scotland Yard go on the hunt for the escapees. In the process, Jack the Ripper--Saucy Jack--is found in the catacombs near the prison, where the Karstphanomen have been treating him to their special brand of rehabilitation, and we are face to face with Grecian's most masterful character. He's released by Cinderhouse, one of the escaped prisoners, who doesn't realize who he is. Jack is evil incarnate, a haunting killer who proceeds to turn his underground cell into the Devil's Workshop, dishing out punishment to his former captors. The novel propels readers through a nonstop chase for the escaped murderers by the police of Scotland Yard, who have no idea that Jack the Ripper, their most famous adversary, is also on the loose. Jack is the real show here, written with chilling insight by Grecian: "Jack lowered himself slowly to his knees with a grunt and bent over the unconscious man. He brushed his hair out of his face and sniffed the man's face, squeezed his mouth open and smelled his breath, sucked in the air from his lungs." That cinematic scene is horrifying, and the shock of Jack's actions gains momentum page after page to the end. Grecian's novel is the third in his Scotland Yard's Murder Squad series (The Black Country, 2013, etc.). Justice and punishment are the deeper themes, and the characterization is superb. Saucy Jack may be one of the most disturbing characters ever written on the page--again.

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April 15, 2014
London, 1890. A train has just derailed into a prison, freeing a handful of its most dangerous inmates. Before the sun rises, the Scotland Yard has placed the Murder Squad on the case. As Walter Day, Nevil Hammersmith, and their colleagues race to round up the escapees, two questions arise: Exactly how many prisoners have escaped and was their release purely accidental? Soon, the manhunt becomes a fight for survival, especially for one detective and his family. VERDICT Grecian has penned the Murder Squad's ("The Yard; The Black Country") best outing yet! Devotees are sure to be delighted, but Grecian's latest would also make a satisfying introduction to the series. Recommended for historical thriller enthusiasts, crime buffs, Ripperologists, and Anglophiles; fans of Anthony Horowitz's "The House of Silk" and Alan Moore's "From Hell" should take special note. [See Prepub Alert, 11/10/13.]--Liv Hanson, Chicago

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2014
HM Prison Bridewell has an occupant named Jack buried alive deep within its bowels. Every few days, men visit him to reenact his crimes upon women on Jack's own fleshnot enough to kill, just enough to agonize. A locomotive smashes into the prison one day in 1890, and several prisoners, including Jack, escape. The Murder Squad, originally formed to find Jack the Ripper, is after another ripper named Jack. Or is it the same one? This third in Grecian's Murder Squad series again delivers a hard-hitting historical thriller bursting with deft characterizations (especially of series hero Detective Inspector Walter Day) and the author's knowledge of Victoriana. For example, part of the action here hinges on the tortures perpetrated by members of an actual Victorian secret society who believed in fitting the punishment to the crime. Tension builds as the escaped prisoners start a revenge murder spree and as Day's own pregnant wife becomes a possible Ripper victim. Grecian is also the author of the graphic-novel series, Proof, which was named one of NPR's best books of the year in 2009(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)