IF LOOKS COULD KILL

IF LOOKS COULD KILL by Julie Berry

YELLOW LIGHT with HEAVY CAUTION

Today's post is written by my daughter, Lauren!

I am a huge fan of Lovely War by Julie Berry (seriously if you haven’t read it go check it out! Read the review first, for a quick Heads Up on one part!), so I was very excited to start in on her newest book. If Looks Could Kill follows four different characters. Tabitha and Pearl are roommates at the Salvation Army in New York City. The book also follows Jack the Ripper and Medusa who is hunting him. This story has some major plots twists that I did not see coming! However, there’s some stuff to be aware of in this book.

HEADS UP

Tabitha and Pearl are trying to spread Christ in the rough parts of New York City. Here, brothels, pimps, prostitutes, and bars abound. When a girl they know gets trapped in a brothel working under the harsh Madam Rosie, they are desperate to set her free. The story doesn’t get into too much detail, but as they work to free girls, you are aware of what is obviously going on and learn the backstories of several girls (including one being raped as a young girl and another being sold into the sex trade as a child). Again, not too many details are shared, but there are some flashbacks.

Pearl and Tabitha. are both believers in Christ, so the book addresses their true Christian faith. Then, we meet Medusa, who is going around killing men. You’re put in a world where Christianity and Greek mythology are both real. Medusa has a whole conversation with herself about whether her actions are Biblically moral. She quotes several Bible verses to herself and comes to the conclusion that she’s going to Hell anyways, so she might as well take as many dangerous men off the streets with her. Additionally, one of the girls prays to God about Medusa, and God responds to her that He loves all his creations, including Medusa. This bothered me.( According to Greek mythology, Medusa was created by Athena.) I didn’t appreciate the combination of Pearl and Tabitha's faith colliding with the acceptance of Greek Mythology.

Finally, in the middle of all of this, Jack the Ripper is killing women throughout the story and cutting up certain parts of their body. This is historically accurate. However, in this story, Jack is cutting up body parts (for example the liver of one of the girls) and eating it in a special brew, because he believes eating human flesh will heal him of a disease he struggles with.

Basically, this book didn’t live up to the expectation I had after reading Lovely War mainly because of the combination of Christianity and Greek Mythology. While the concept of Medusa hunting Jack the Ripper was genius, a book with both truth and myth just leaves a lot of confusion in my opinion.