From Booklist
*Starred Review* In her last novel, Maya’s Notebook (2013), Allende illuminated a criminal underworld. Now she nimbly joins her detective novelist husband, William C. Gordon, in writing crime fiction. Given her signature combination of bewitching imagination and social gravitas, Allende creates a compassionate and gripping mystery stoked by the paradoxes of family and community and the consequences of abuse. Super-smart high-school senior Amanda Martín is obsessed with an Internet role-playing game, Ripper (as in Jack), and oversees a group comprising four other brilliant misfit teens from around the world as well as her grandfather, who raised her after her very young parents divorced. Amanda’s father, Bob, is a deputy chief of homicide in the San Francisco police department. Her mother, Indiana, is a healer too kind for her own good who is romantically entangled with a former navy SEAL and a wealthy dilettante. As Amanda and her cyber-brigade investigate a series of ritualistic murders no one else believes are connected, Allende richly portrays a range of intriguing characters, from Ayani, a famous Ethiopian model and women’s rights activist, to Attila, a heroic war dog. Sensitive to inequality, injustice, and psychological complexity and touching on everything from aromatherapy to illegal immigrants to PTSD, Allende’s tightly plotted tale of crimes obvious and masked is sharply perceptive, utterly charming, and intensely suspenseful.HIGH-DEMAND BACK STORY: Best-selling Allende’s leap into crime fiction will be energetically promoted with a national author tour and a publicity blitz directed at both her fans and mystery enthusiasts. --Donna Seaman
Review
“Allende’s tightly plotted tale of crimes obvious and masked is sharply perceptive, utterly charming, and intensely suspenseful.” (Booklist, starred review)
“The novelist’s charming first murder mystery features an irresistible teenage sleuth.” (New York Times Book Review, Editor's Choice)
“[A] rip-roaring, entertaining crime novel… Allende remains a remarkable spinner of stories. Her prose is sparkling and graceful… her ability to portray passion and action undimmed. “Ripper” grabs you, toys with you, amuses you…” (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
“Thoroughly charming book… [A] lot of fun to read.” (New York Times Book Review)
“Literary icon Isabel Allende mesmerizes with her first crime novel…this race-against-the-clock thriller is pure magic.” (People Magazine, Four Stars)
“Appealing characters, a fast-paced plot, and a successfully imagined killer add up to great entertainment.” (Library Journal)
“[Allende’s] facility with plotting and pacing will keep readers turning the pages.” (Publishers Weekly)
“It must have been surprising to discover that [Allende’s] particular literary strengths - a talent for dramatization, a delight in world-building and a passion for investigating relationships between family members - lend themselves so well to a genre she’s never bothered with before. I am hoping she’ll continue her killings.” (San Francisco Chronicle)
“There are deliciously creepy elements in ‘Ripper,’ much like those in the dark Scandinavian crime novels one of its characters loves.” (Seattle Times)
“Allende doesn’t miss a beat, smoothly exposing the underbelly of the city and the shenanigans of its wealthy elite. You might guess the identity of the killer before the last pages, but you won’t care-the shocks and unexpected twists will keep you riveted until the end.” (More Magazine)
“Like many of Allende books it’s a joy to read with sentences to savor and read aloud. An excellent novel, RIPPER is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.” (I Love a Mystery (Blog))
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