Book Review: The Name Of the Star by Maureen Johnson

So back in September I started a new meme for MM's called Flashback Friday, which was to be a series of posts that would contain a book review for a book that's already been out for awhile. I'm happy (heavy sarcasm) to report I failed miserably in this new meme of mine and only made about 6 posts for it. With the New Year comes new goals, and one of those is to be more diligent posting my Flashback Friday posts. With this year's FBF post, I'm going to be including the 2011 releases I've been wanting to read, but never got a chance to.

Today's flashback isn't a "old" release, but it's one that was released last year and sadly one I wasn't able to read before the year ended. Today's feature: The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson.

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By: Maureen Johnson

Published by: Putnam Juvenile (Penguin)

Released on: September 29th, 2011

Source: Bought at the Austin Teen Book Festival

5 stars: A Thrilling Read

Purchase from: Penguin Teen | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

Read the first 78 pages here

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. -quoted from Goodreads

If you're looking for a hauntingly suspenseful read with the right amount of humor, a touch of romance and plenty of mystery than you need to go pick this book up!

The thing that I loved the most about this book is the way it's written. What Maureen does with her story line, the way she introduces her characters, and her ability to hold my attention from the moment I opened her book made me fall in love with the YA paranormal genre all over again. Maureen Johnson's writing is brilliant! She flawlessly brings her story's setting to life by not only vividly describing London, but I loved the way she merged together both modern day London with it's historical history. This not only adds an engaging element to the already thrilling murder mystery, but it makes me want to drop everything I'm doing and catch the new flight out there. Not that I would need much convincing to do that, but that's beside the point.

If I hadn't already fallen in love with the cover, I would have been sold on the synopsis. It's not hard to entice me with words like London, ghosts, romance, mystery, humor and Jack the Ripper. What's fascinating about this story is the way Maureen is able to paint the picture of how Jack the Ripper goes about terrorizing London all over again. Is he a wanna be Jack the Ripper or is he the ghost of Jack. Just who is Jack the Ripper really? As the plot thickens Maureen provides small glimpses of every angle from the historical references from back in the 1888 when these horrible crimes were first committed, to modern day news outlet, to the cops, the Ghosts, and the story's protagonist, Rory. I adored Rory! This southern girl finds herself not only in a new country learning new customs, but she finds herself at the heart of a terrorizing murder mystery. Boy does this girl hold her own, because if I had to deal with some of the things she does I would have ran away screaming, but instead Rory faces everything head on.

The Name of the Star is a book that's rich in historical references, refreshing with it's detailed story telling, enjoyable because of the characters and brilliant, because well, it's written by Maureen. Being that this is my first Maureen Johnson boo, I now understand why so many YA readers love her. She has the talent for mixing suspense, humor, and a tiny bit of romance together perfectly. There's plenty of nail bitting suspense, laugh out loud moments, and hauntingly good scenes. I highly recommend picking this book up! There are some vivid descriptions from the 1888 crime scenes in London mentioned in the story.