Youssef Haseem might be in over his head. After a terrorist attack by a group called The Quest wipes out half of the human population on Earth, he finds himself the de facto leader of the Earth Alliance. To make matters worse, The Quest’s leaders have vanished, leaving only an ultimatum. Youssef has precisely one year to either surrender what remains of the Earth Alliance to The Quest or see the rest of the world perish...unless he can stop the leaders from coming back. Meanwhile, a group of mysterious women arrive in Whitechapel, London, 1888, unaware that they are being watched from the shadows.

Part science fiction, part historical thriller, this book was hard to put down once I started! The book cleverly ties together the events unfolding in Youssef’s time (2288) and the brutal Whitechapel murders of 1888 attributed to “Jack the Ripper”. I love how McClusky was able to weave in a lot of the details from the real Ripper murders and investigation in this fictional retelling. Even though the heart of the story is in 1888, the historical sequences are well balanced with the sections featuring Youssef and his team as they try to prevent another disaster. I found both storylines intriguing and couldn’t wait to see how everything would fit together in the end. 

Though I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the storytelling focuses almost exclusively on driving the plot forward. Sometimes, this results in sudden jumps in the narrative that were a little confusing and/or made me feel I was missing something. Additionally, a lot of details either feel ignored or substituted by “details of convenience” that prevent deeper exploration and are occasionally immersion breaking. Where many of these details are not central to the plot, their absence results in the characters and settings feeling a little flat. 

Overall, I think this is a very enjoyable read for those looking for a casual science fiction book and/or a light thriller. Though the Ripper murders are known for being gruesome, I do not feel that they are described in an overly gory fashion. Both the future world that McClusky creates and the historical setting he reimagines are compelling without getting too technical or detailed. However, if you are looking for a hard science fiction, historical fiction, and/or thriller, this might not be the book for you.