Summer Reading Book Reviews: Jackaby by William Ritter

For the faculty and students of Souhegan, summer is just around the corner which means summer reading is also coming up soon. This year the Souhegan book list has a lot of amazing options and to help make your choice easier, I’ve read a few of the books and have some recommendations from the list and some others I wasn’t to fond of. The first review will be on the book Jackaby by William Ritter.

Jackaby is not a book I would usually pick up at a book shop. I actually received it as a present two Christmas’s ago because our family friend published it. I usually enjoy books with romance and steer clear of murder mysteries (apart from Sherlock) but the cover of Jackaby was one of the prettiest ones I’ve seen and I thought I could handle a book that pretty even if it wasn’t what I would normally read.

Jackaby takes place in New England during the late 1800’s. The main character, Abigail Rook, is looking for work after leaving her family and previous job, when she finds out about a detective job working for R.F. Jackaby. When she began working for Jackaby, Abigail realized that this was no ordinary investigator. Jackaby is able to see an entire world of creatures invisible to the human eye. A new world full of magical creatures and a murder they have to solve before the killer comes after them.

One of my favorite parts of Jackaby is the Abigail Rooks character. Before she worked with Jackaby she was an architect which is pretty impressive considering the time period. She also has a strong personality and is very independent. The humor between Jackaby and Abigail is always clever and it was another one of my favorite parts of the book. Jackaby is not the kind of book that you won’t be able to put own but I would definitely recommend it because after reading the book you’ll feel like you’ve learned more. The element of adventure and the humor makes up for the lack of a romantic relationship. I also loved the way Ritter wrote when chaos was happening. Theres one specific part in the book were Jackaby and Abigail are in a prison cell and come to this terrifying realization.  that I can’t write because it would spoil too much of the book. But during this period of time I was so scared for the characters that I had to finish the book that night.

This book was different than any other book I’ve read and in conclusion it would be a great book to read for the summer especially if you enjoy books with a lot of suspense and dry humor.