Gideon Smith and the Mask of the Ripper
-
- $16.99
-
- $16.99
Publisher Description
Gideon Smith and the Mask of the Ripper is the latest in David Barnett's riproaring steampunk adventures about a Britain that never was...but should have been.
In an alternate nineteenth century where a technologically advanced Britain holds sway over most of the known world and the American Revolution never happened, young Gideon Smith is firmly established as the Hero of the Empire.
Back in London, Gideon and his colleagues: journalist Aloysius Bent, airship pilot Rowena Fanshawe, and Maria, the mechanical girl to whom Gideon has lost his heart, are dragged into a case that is confounding the Metropolitan Police. For the city is on the edge of mass rioting due to the continuing reign of terror by the serial killer known only as Jack the Ripper, who is rampaging though London's less salubrious quarters.
While chasing the madman, a villain from their past strips Gideon Smith of his memory and is cast adrift in the seedy underbelly of London, where life is tough and death lurks in every shadowy alley.
With mob rule threatening to engulf London, the Empire has never needed its hero more...but where is Gideon Smith?
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The third installment of Barnett's lively Victorian pulp/steampunk adventure series (after Gideon Smith and the Brass Dragon) finds "Hero of the Empire" Gideon Smith and friends chasing a murderer in gaslit London, where Jack the Ripper is "slicing off the tops of whores' heads as though he's looking for something." Spymaster Walsingham and intrepid reporter Aloysius Bent suspect the Ripper might be seeking a mysterious artifact used by the missing professor Hermann Einstein to bring Maria, a clockwork woman, to life. Capture the Ripper, Walsingham thinks, and they will find Einstein. But of course it's not that simple. Barnett cheerfully borrows from classic authors and a little actual history to weave his tangled plot, full of mistaken identity, hypnotism, romantic complications, a mysterious man in black, and a runaway dinosaur. While the plot drags in spots, Barnett creates some provocative and genuinely dark moments, and an intriguing cliffhanger sets up his next book. Fans of pulp adventure and steampunk settings will enjoy this strong series.