The Name of the Star

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

Rating: 2 stars out of 5

Synopsis via Goodreads:

The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago.

Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

This novel got off to a pretty good start. It had some laugh-out-loud moments and both the premise and the setting intrigued me. I mean... a mystery surrounding a Jack the Ripper copy-cat set in a boarding school in London? Count me in! And although I liked the eerie feel and premise of the novel, the execution was a major let-down.

The main flaw was the writing. The plot was slow. Somehow, the author managed to make a ghost murder mystery a snooze. There were so many long unnecessary anecdotes that really bogged down the flow of the story. Did we really need to hear that many stories of Rory's wacky Louisiana relatives, each of whom got at least a half a page reminiscence of their quirks. It was completely irrelevant to the story!

Not to mention that the "secret ghost police" the synopsis mentions don't come into play until over halfway through the book. And once they do, we have to sit through pages of information dumps. The second half of the book is where most of the "action" takes place, but it was also the most boring.Very counterintuitive. Rory would just go from place to place not doing anything just having people explain different things.

And don't even get me started on the characters. Every character, including the protagonist, was dull. There was no development and I felt no connection to any of the characters or relationships in the story.

I couldn't even really call what happened between Jerome and Rory a romance. I have no idea why they even hung out. They seemed to have nothing in common and it even felt sometimes like there was a language barrier. Basically 90% of their interactions consisted of misunderstandings, awkwardness and then kissing, followed by more awkwardness. All they talked about was the Ripper murder, which, yes, would be at the forefront of their minds, but they never had any other topic of conversation, EVER. The romance felt like it was just there. It didn't add anything to the story, there was no connection and no chemistry.

I enjoyed Rory's sense of humor at the beginning of the book, and she made me laugh a few times with her awkward encounters or witty observations, but later on the humor became much less present and the times when the author did try to make what I assume was supposed to be a joke, the context was inappropriate and Rory just seemed insensitive and obtuse to be making that kind of remark at such a bad moment. For example:

When fellow ghost-seer, Stephen, opens up to Rory about how he developed the ability to see ghosts after he tried to commit suicide, something he hasn't told ANYONE before, and Rory responds:

"You tried to kill yourself, ... You must have failed. Because you're here. Wait. You're not a ghost, are you? Because that would totally destroy my mind right now."

Oh. My. God. Was that supposed to be funny? I'm sorry how is turning a very personal, serious and difficult moment for someone into not only a joke, but into something about YOURSELF not the most INSENSITIVE and OBNOXIOUS thing you could possibly do.

Furthermore, Rory doesn't DO anything. First off, she develops the ability to see ghosts because she was talking with her mouth full and choked on a piece of meat (the LAMEST near-death experience ever if you ask me. Not only is it unrealistic, but are we honestly supposed to believe that it would take the classmates surrounding Rory so long to notice that she is choking, that she would see the light and almost die? REALLY?).

Not only does Rory develop this ability purely by stupid chance, she can't even figure out that she has any ability to speak of. She has no idea! None. Zilch. She does not have even an inkling that what is happening to her is beyond the normal. It takes someone else's decision to tell Rory about her newfound skill to her for Rory to finally realize she can see ghosts. She then goes on to contribute NOTHING to the investigation of the Jack-the-Ripper murders.

THEN, when Rory finally comes face-to-face with the Jack-the-Ripper impersonator, we have to sit through PAGES of him explaining his backstory and his motives and reasoning... blah, blah blah.

 These long-winded constant explanations were so aggravating to read. Isn't this what editors are for: to shorten and cut out unnecessary over-writing?!
Oh, and did I mention that the ghost has the DUMBEST reason EVER, for committing these Ripper-style murders. He does it to get the attention of the ghost police, so he can destroy the devices that could potentially harm him, even though he was in no way under threat and the ghost police weren't even aware he existed before he started killing people.

After the ghost accomplishes his stupid-and-honestly-unnecessary goal, he decides to still commit the final Jack the Ripper murder by killing Rory because "he has to finish his masterpiece". And what does Rory do when the murderous ghost tells her that he is still going to kill her? She agrees. NO PROBLEM. Because... wait for it...

Maybe we were always going to finish this. Maybe he was the person I'd always imagined by my side in England- a star-crossed pair, the slayer and the victim, tied together by fate.

FATE?! REALLY?? YOU ARE SERIOUSLY GOING TO ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE MURDERED BECAUSE YOU THINK IT'S FATE!? HOW IS BEING A VICTIM OF A GRUESOME MURDER FATE?!!!

So Rory goes with the murdering ghost into another room WILLINGLY with no plan of attack or escape, and no plan to even try to stop the murderer or even delay him. She lets him slice her open while she watches doe-eyed only to then be saved, BY PURE LUCK, by another ghost who sacrifices herself for Rory (Lord knows why). Oh and, luckily for Rory, it turns out that this ghost, who has SURGICAL TRAINING, and has GRUESOMELY BUTCHERED over TEN people by this point made a cut that is too shallow to actually kill Rory. WHAT? THAT IS THE LAMEST CLIMAX AND CONCLUSION EVER. NO. JUST NO.