Jack the Ripper? (Hardback)

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Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Thank you for providing a copy of Jack the Ripper? for me to review! I thought it did an excellent job of taking a new look at a world-famous mystery by finally giving a voice to Emma Elizabeth Smith and her testimony.

Here are a few highlights I liked:

Narrative: I appreciated the focus on Emma Smith, moving her story out of the shadows and showing how her experience challenges the standard "lone madman" theory.

Vivid Historical Context: The book provides a gritty, realistic look at the Whitechapel district, making the atmosphere of late Victorian London feel incredibly immersive and personal.

Compelling New Theory: The investigation into Edward Buckley offers a fresh and logical perspective on the identity of the Ripper that feels grounded in historical research. It is a perspective that I have never heard before and really changed my thinking about the entire murders.

Challenging the Legend: It was fascinating to see the author dismantle long-held assumptions about these crimes to offer a more cohesive look at the entire "Autumn of Terror."

I really appreciate the opportunity to read this book early and I will definitely be recommending it to all my friends and followers!

NetGalley, Joseph Bruce

I loved learning more about Jack Ripper. I love how historians and researchers as well as Criminologist are finding more information about him.

NetGalley, Carissa Miller

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I knew from the moment I seen the cover I was going to be obsessed. I was right this was perfect in every way!

NetGalley, Amber Jarman

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

A true crime nonfiction piece of propulsive writing about the elusive Jack, the Ripper. Highly readable and enjoyable.
The author did their research very well, and it is well presented.

NetGalley, Maggie Palner

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The research that went in to this book is massive. Hats of to the author.
Jack the Ripper is one of my favorite murder mysteries there is put there. This is a very good book about the topic.

NetGalley, Kajsa Milsten

Jack the Ripper? Edward Buckley: East End Thug and Gang Member by Jonathan Tye is a fascinating dive into crime history. The book is well-researched and gives a detailed look at Edward Buckley and the East End underworld.

The story is engaging and keeps you interested, showing both the gritty reality of the time and the complexity of the characters. The writing is clear, making it easy to follow the historical details without feeling heavy.

A very compelling read for anyone interested in true crime and Victorian London.

NetGalley, Paola Rivera

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

A topic that has always fascinated me as well as most of the whole world. I found this extremely digestible and full of information I wasn’t aware of.

NetGalley, Emily Ross

‘Jack the Ripper?’ is in effect the biography of Edward Buckley; an East End gang member who terrorised Whitechapel at the time of Jack the Ripper.
This book is not primarily about the murders, but the culture and gang land personalities prevalent at the time of the Whitechapel killings. The research and level of detail in the book is immense and highlights gang culture and why this is relevant to the Whitechapel murders. Indeed, the author has an intriguing theory that the police were initially on the right track (gang related crimes) but became distracted by unreliable witness accounts.
The majority of the book concerns the life of Edward Buckely, with a detailed history of his crimes; which include pickpocketing, intimidation, and convictions for brutal assaults on women. Indeed, the nature of the assaults and facial injuries sustained by his long-term female partner echo some of the injuries found on the Ripper victims.
If psychological profiling was a thing back then, then Edward would have been a good fit. He lived at the heart of Whitechapel and had an in-depth knowledge of local geography and habits of the local women. He would have been well acquainted with the police patrol routes and timings necessary to evade interruption. Another interesting aspect is how few witnesses to the horrific murders came forward. There is an argument that Edward Buckley was widely feared in the local community, and people preferred to keep silent rather than risk his revenge.
A fascinating book for anyone with a deep interest in the theories surrounding Jack the Ripper.

NetGalley, Pippa Elliott

Jonathan Tye adds a new possible perpetrator for who is Jack the Ripper. His name is Edward Buckley, and he is no stranger to crime, including knife attacks. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

If you are a fan of Jack the Ripper or unsolved crimes, you gotta add this to the tbr pile!

NetGalley, Tasha Schiedel

A great intriguing read. Gives another perspective on the case.
A brilliant book for any true crime fan.

NetGalley, Michelle Griffiths

If you—like me—tend to think of Jack the Ripper as more of a storybook or movie figure, I would encourage you to read this and absorb the sobering reality of what happened. Whoever the Ripper was, the terror he brought to Whitechapel was very real, and this book brings that sharply into focus.

NetGalley, Molly H

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars


I have always been interested in Jack the Ripper books since I was a teenager, so when I saw "Jack the Ripper?" by Jonathan Tye, I had to read it, especially as I have read so many of these books. This book Jack the Ripper? was another interesting read and it was packed with so much information from the very first page.

This book is based on someone called Emma Elizabeth Smith who was a middle-aged woman, who was living in unfortunate circumstances, she was brutally attacked in a side street off Whitechapel Road. East End of late Victorian London, such violence was tragically common. This happened in the early hours of Tuesday, 3 April 1888, and just after the Easter Bank Holiday, Where violence was tragically common. Yet this particular attack marked the beginning of a mystery that would achieve worldwide notoriety: the Whitechapel murders, otherwise known as the Jack the Ripper murders.

Now, Emma Elizabeth Smith survived long enough to recount her ordeal, telling the local Police about her attack and that her attack was not at the hands of a lone madman, but of three men, and one them was possibly as young as 19. Her testimony has often been dismissed, as it does not fit the long-held narrative surrounding the Ripper's crimes.

Emma’s story has been overlooked, so many times and was put down to Jack the Ripper has stuck again!

This book Jack The Ripper? seeks to reconcile all the Whitechapel murders of 1888 and beyond, and it has critical context about the streets where these crimes occurred and the shadowy figure who haunted them.

Now, Could Edward Buckley, a violent local thug with a history of knife attacks as early as 1884, hold the key to understanding the 'Autumn of Terror'?

Now, It's time to finally listen to the voice of Emma Smith, the first victim of Jack the Ripper.

I found this book very good and an excellent quick read about Emma Elizabeth Smith life leading up to this dreadful night!

NetGalley, Nessa Thompson

As stated in the acknowledgements section of this book an author in the field of Ripperology is standing on the shoulders of giants. In this new book the writing style of Jonathan Tye reminds me in places of the late, great Martin Fido. It evokes a feeling that you are back in Victorian London in the seedy, squalid and violent East End. I think that’s what stood out to me when reading this excellent book, the sheer bloody mindedness it would have taken just to survive. Whether your survival was through selling your body in the way the poor unfortunates and Ripper victims were forced to or by becoming a violent street thug such as Buckley the press reports unearthed by the author are beautifully woven into the fabric of this book. You can feel the murderous undertones of the area in the evocative writing style so passionately displayed through the author’s words. He has obviously immersed himself completely in his research. The fine detail reminds me of another top researcher the late Christopher Scott. I can give no higher praise than to compare the two authors in their quest for the truth .

This is without doubt one of the best suspect books of the modern era. The author has approached this in the proper way. It is a root and branch assessment of his suspect Edward Buckley. It combines painstaking genealogical research with trawls of the newspaper archives. It disseminates the fiction that has been perpetuated of the Jack the Ripper myths handed down erroneously through history and disproving them. It then adds new and unknown evidence and factors that may have been overlooked or ignored.

Unlike other Ripper books out there this one is fact heavy and fiction light. This isn’t a Hollywood version of a romanticized East End. This is a violence driven truth telling of the REAL Whitechapel. Knives, guns, brutality and murder. This book is reality and not a modern concoction trying to gloss over the horrors the unfortunate women endured not just on the night they fell victim to Jack but the horrors that they knew from the moment they entered the abyss that was their daily existence…

Personally I have no doubt the Whitechapel murderer, the fiend given the name Jack the Ripper by the press at the time was a local man. A man of violence who knew the area like the back of his hand and Edward Buckley was such a man.

Add in some excellent photos and this book has it all. Reality is so much better to read.

Well done Jonathan Tye…more please?

Jon Horlor

Jonathan Tye’s Jack the Ripper? offers a fresh and intriguing take on one of history’s most debated mysteries. Having read plenty about Jack the Ripper myself, I found this book very interesting—Tye really brings the gritty reality of London’s East End to life. His detailed look at the social conditions, crime, and daily struggles of the time gives the story a vivid backdrop that makes his theory feel surprisingly grounded.
The idea that the Ripper could have been a local thug or gang member—and not a doctor, aristocrat, or outsider—actually makes a lot of sense. Tye’s argument that Buckley may have had a lookout or someone helping to cover his tracks adds a layer of plausibility I hadn’t considered before. He presents several compelling theories and viewpoints that challenge the more traditional suspects without feeling far-fetched.
Overall, it’s a fascinating, thought-provoking read and a somewhat different angle on a case that’s been examined to death. A must-read for Ripperologists or anyone who loves a new twist on an old mystery.

NetGalley, Rachael Fryman

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This was an interesting compilation of information about Jack the Ripper. I’ve always found this case fascinating. This book was a good viewpoint which helped inform the reader about facts and theories. Granted this was the first thing I’ve read about Jack the Ripper, but I feel like I understand the case than I better have. It was well paced and gave you little nuggets of information to keep you interested. If you’re curious about this topic then I highly recommend you give this a try.

NetGalley, Kristy Langley

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This was a truly fascinating read! The unsolved mystery behind the Jack the Ripper murders of Whitechapel have always intrigued me and had sent me down many conspiracy rabbit holes as to whom it could be. I've heard many people mentioned including HH Holmes but I hadn't heard of Edward Buckley. Victorian era history is one of my favorite subjects to read and learn about and this hit every note for me and checked every box in my historical mental notebook.

I highly recommend this book to anyone else who is interested in the Jack the Ripper case and looking for a new mystery to unravel.

NetGalley, Megan Beech

As stated in the acknowledgements section of this book any author in the field of Ripperology is standing on the shoulders of giants. In this new book the writing style of Jonathan Tye reminds me in places of the late, great Martin Fido. It evokes a feeling that you are back in Victorian London in the seedy, squalid and violent East End. I think that’s what stood out to me when reading this excellent book, the sheer bloody mindedness it would have taken just to survive. Whether your survival was through selling your body in the way the poor unfortunates and Ripper victims were forced to or by becoming a violent street thug such as Buckley the press reports unearthed by the author are beautifully woven into the fabric of this book. You can feel the murderous undertones of the area in the evocative writing style so passionately displayed through the author’s words. He has obviously immersed himself completely in his research. The fine detail reminds me of another top researcher the late Christopher Scott. I can give no higher praise than to compare the two authors in their quest for the truth .
This is without doubt one of the best suspect books of the modern era. The author has approached this in the proper way. It is a root and branch assessment of his suspect Edward Buckley. It combines painstaking genealogical research with trawls of the newspaper archives. It disseminates the fiction that has been perpetuated of the Jack the Ripper myths handed down erroneously through history and disproving them. It then adds new and unknown evidence and factors that may have been overlooked or ignored.
Unlike other Ripper books out there this one is fact heavy and fiction light. This isn’t a Hollywood version of a romanticized East End. This is a violence driven truth telling of the REAL Whitechapel. Knives, guns, brutality and murder. This book is reality and not a modern concoction trying to gloss over the horrors the unfortunate women endured not just on the night they fell victim to Jack but the horrors that they knew from the moment they entered the abyss that was their daily existence…
Personally I have no doubt the Whitechapel murderer, the fiend given the name Jack the Ripper by the press at the time was a local man. A man of violence who knew the area like the back of his hand and Edward Buckley was such a man.
Add in some excellent photos and this book has it all. Reality is so much better to read.
Well done Jonathan Tye…more please?

Mervyn Horlor