Title: Hunting Prince Dracula
Series: Stalking Jack the Ripper #2
Previous book in this series: Stalking Jack the Ripper
Author: Kerri Maniscalco
Genre: YA, mystery, historical
Publication date: September 2019
Published by: jimmy patterson
Source: Purchased paperback
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Synopsis: Following the grief and horror of her discovery of Jack the Ripper's true identity, Audrey Rose Wadsworth has no choice but to flee London and its memories. Together with the arrogant yet charming Thomas Cresswell, she journeys to the dark heart of Romania, home to one of Europe's best schools of forensic medicine... and to another notorious killer, Vlad the Impaler, whose thirst for blood became legend.But her life's dream is soon tainted by blood-soaked discoveries in the halls of the school's forbidding castle, and Audrey Rose is compelled to investigate the strangely familiar murders. What she finds brings all her terrifying fears to life once again.In this New York Times bestselling sequel to Kerri Maniscalco's haunting #1 debut Stalking Jack the Ripper, bizarre murders are discovered in the castle of Prince Vlad the Impaler, otherwise known as Dracula. Could it be a copycat killer... or has the depraved prince been brought back to life?
Before I even started this book, I had left myself the following note:
“Here we go. Hope I like this one better. Other one left much to be desired.” 😬
Yeah, me and book one did not get along too well 😅 One of the reasons is the characters. Thomas is the type of character I should be falling in love with, but it just hasn't happened yet. I was not enjoying Thomas’s quips and arrogance. He’s no Jace or Will Herondale, I’m sorry. However, I did start to come around to his quips in this one... but only when they’re not overdone. Idk, sometimes they just seemed forced. And okay, I’m not gonna lie, he totally grew on me in this book. He was much less emotional in the last book, and that was my issue with him. He was more lively in this and showed more emotion. In fact I might have felt a little protective of him. But only a little 😆 There was this one part where Audrey got mad at Thomas because he was, idk, coddling her, and honestly I thought she was overreacting. I’m all about autonomy/independence and doing your own thing, but Thomas doesn’t seem to be that type of guy. Audrey should know this! And I haven’t been overly fond of him until well into this book, so that’s saying something. Lol.
One thing I enjoyed in this book that was severely lacking in the last one was all the female characters! For being such an independent woman who don’t need no man, Audrey sure has no female friends 😅 But I really liked Anastasia. And Daciana and Ilena. It was really cool to meet Thomas‘s sister.
And one thing about this series that I just do not understand is the lack of action. At 100 pages in there was just nothing! 200 pages in and the only thing they're in danger of is getting rabies from a bunch of bats. How thrilling 😆 Bats, wolves, and the risk of expulsion was literally all the danger they were really in 🙄 It is so surprising to me that a book centered around murder mysteries has so little action and thrills. Like... what? How? All the murders happen off screen err, page! Audrey Rose has been in no real danger this whole time! Although I suppose you could have a mystery without the thrills... but that’s just not for me, I guess 🤷♀️There have been some moments of tension, but they always turn out to be nothing. For example, the intruder on the roof of Audrey’s rooms? Just Thomas scaling the castle walls AS HE SAID HE WOULD BE DOING. I understand that she was freaking out, but he did warn her. I knew it was him as soon as the noises started. It was just so dumb.
But I will give the book this: that scene with the spiders... I admit, that’s pretty horrifying. Eeek! And at the end with the creepy chambers and booby-trapped rooms, that was pretty fun. And exciting! Loved that!
As for the mystery itself, I actually liked it, even though I had literally guessed the killer less than 200 pages into the book 😆 It was just obvious. But honestly it was pretty cool so I didn’t even mind having guessed correctly. Lol.
HOWEVER, the whole taking down of the villain was kinda anticlimactic. While I enjoyed learning about the killer’s motive, there was just SO much talking! Good grief! And then the wrap up just took so long and dragged out forever! I just wanted the book to end😅
But having said all that, I definitely enjoyed this book more than the previous one. The mystery was interesting though I knew who was behind the killings as soon as we met the person. I liked their motive though. It was cool, even though what the was messed up 😆 I’m also a lot more fond of the characters when I was pretty meh about them in the last book. I really enjoyed their interaction and the blossoming relationship between Audrey and Thomas. In fact, I may have thought they were pretty cute in some parts. Lol. I also loved the setting. Brasov sounded gorgeous! And my definite favorite thing about this series has been the science. I love science so I was always very engrossed when they were doing their dissections. I also really enjoyed learning more about Thomas and his history and his ties to a certain someone 👀 Did not see that coming! I could’ve done with more action and thrills though, but that might be just a me thing. But I am actually looking forward to the next book! Though I’m more excited for book four because I believe they’re gonna be hunting H. H. Holmes! Omg! Hopefully that hunt will be better than the hunt for good ol’ Jack 😆
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