Initiated to Kill

Title: Initiated to Kill by Sharlene Almond
Media Source: Ebook

Rating: 3 out of 5

Recommendation: I would recommend this novel to someone who enjoys a good mystery novel.

Initiated to Kill is a historical fiction which takes place in two different time periods following two different men.  One who causes trouble in Whitechapel district of London in the 19th century.  The other reeking havoc in Seville, Spain in the 21st century.  The latter is trying to get into the mind and motive behind the actions of one of history's most noted serial killer:  Jack The Ripper.

Young women are turning up missing, the only connection between them are their fondness for the party lifestyle and the habit of leaving with men they just met.  Not many think much of their disappearances as they have done this before.  Detectives Rivera and Valero are investigating these disappearances and have numerous suspects in mind.  When two hearts are mysteriously delivered to the police department, things begin to get messy.  The detectives now must race against time to discover who the killer is and how to stop him.

This novel jumps a little bit between different flashback so to speak.    The flashbacks are with different characters of the story, and sometimes it is hard to figure out who the past memories are for. Then there are Jack The Ripper chapters describing his murders and aspects of it.  Even well into the book (at least halfway through) the reader still doesn't know the purpose behind the Jack the Ripper references, they don't seem to fit with the storyline.  It isn't until the 77th chapter that a connection is made, and the connection doesn't make sense.  AS the detectives are talking with the medical examiner, he mentions seeing a case such as their a few years back.  When asked which case he says Jack The Ripper, now unless the ME was a live in the 1880's which is highly unlikely, he would not have seen or worked the case.  It would be different if it was stated that he STUDIED a case like theirs.  That creates a huge flaw already. 

As the story progresses the Jack the Ripper references aren't even needed.  They aren't used as much as I had suspected them to be.  I expected a lot of similarities not just a copy cat or relating the two killers to the Freemasons.  The story stands on it's own without Jack the Ripper being involved in the story at all. That aspect of the story was a little disappointing.  The idea of Freemason involvement was a little different and added a certain quality to the novel.  We tend to see the masons as trying to hide things, being secretive not so much killing and preforming rituals within the killings.  That element of the story helped elevate the disappointment in the Jack the Ripper aspect.

The main story was very interesting and well written.  The flashback of the different characters are not needed especially when it is hard to tell which character the flashback is for.  I found myself wanting to read the main story more than the flashbacks, and actually wanting to skip over them (which I didn't).  Would I suggest this book?  Yes.  I would recommend it to others with the disclaimer that  there are things that don't make sense.

**I was provided a copy of this book for an honest review**