Overview
Follow Jonathan Starling on another creepy adventure on the dark side of town in the highly anticipated second book in the thrilling DARKSIDE series!A series of unexplained murders on the Darkside of London has Jonathan tangled up in another dangerous mystery. With the help of his ally, private detective (and werewolf) Elias Carnegie, the pair discover that Jonathan's mother was investigating similar murders before she vanished. Jonathan becomes obsessed with solving the crimes and finding his mother. Meanwhile, the Ripper family is involved in a deadly scandal that goes right to the heart of Darkside society and they're watching Jonathan. In his desperation, can Jonathan solve the murders and find his mother before the Rippers find him?
Synopsis
A series of unexplained murders on the Darkside of London has Jonathan tangled up in another dangerous mystery. With the help of his ally, private detective (and werewolf) Elias Carnegie, the pair discover that Jonathan's mother was investigating similar murders before she vanished. Jonathan becomes obsessed with solving the crimes and finding his mother. Meanwhile, the Ripper family is involved in a deadly scandal that goes right to the heart of Darkside society and they're watching Jonathan. In his desperation, can Jonathan solve the murders and find his mother before the Rippers find him?
Since Tom Becker learned to hold a pen, he wanted to become a writer. In fact, when he was five years old, he wrote in a notebook that it was his dream to be an author. Tom studied history at Oxford University and was inspired by the otherworldly atmosphere of this academic institution. He used to spend long days studying and reading in the University library, but now he spends long days writing. This is his second book in the Darkside series. His first book in the series, DARKSIDE, was awarded the 2007 Waterstone's Children's Book Prize, which celebrates new talent. He lives in the UK.
Children's Literature
When gruesome murders begin to occur in London's Darkside, Jonathan Starling becomes involved in solving the crimes with his fellow private investigator, the werewolf Carnegie. As they investigate, Jonathan realizes that not only are the murders very similar to the murder of a Ripper heir years ago, but that long-ago murder was the case his mother was investigating as a reporter when she disappeared. Jonathan pursues the case with greater vigor, hoping that solving it will lead him to his long-lost mother. But as the investigation continues and Jonathan uncovers more information, he could very well share his mother's fate! In this second volume of the "Darkside series," Becker continues to weave a fantastic tale. The alternate London is very vividly created, and the people who inhabit it are interesting and humorous. Readers will be kept guessing until the very end, and they will go looking for the other "Darkside" novels afterward. Reviewer: Amie Rose Rotruck
Editorials
Children's Literature -
When gruesome murders begin to occur in London's Darkside, Jonathan Starling becomes involved in solving the crimes with his fellow private investigator, the werewolf Carnegie. As they investigate, Jonathan realizes that not only are the murders very similar to the murder of a Ripper heir years ago, but that long-ago murder was the case his mother was investigating as a reporter when she disappeared. Jonathan pursues the case with greater vigor, hoping that solving it will lead him to his long-lost mother. But as the investigation continues and Jonathan uncovers more information, he could very well share his mother's fate! In this second volume of the "Darkside series," Becker continues to weave a fantastic tale. The alternate London is very vividly created, and the people who inhabit it are interesting and humorous. Readers will be kept guessing until the very end, and they will go looking for the other "Darkside" novels afterward. Reviewer: Amie Rose RotruckSchool Library Journal
Gr 5-8
Jonathan Starling, the smart and self-reliant teen first introduced in Darkside (Scholastic, 2008), must travel between London's familiar, modern Lightside and Darkside, where horse-drawn carriages travel under gas streetlamps and werewolves, vampires, and murderers all reside together under the rule of the descendant of Jack the Ripper. There he tries to solve the serial murders linked to the ensuing battle between Ripper descendants and possibly his mother's disappearance 12 years earlier. The fact that Jonathan was born of two worlds makes his travel between them less physically devastating, and aids the self-discovery aspect of the story. His mother was a reporter for a Darkside newspaper, and his father is a Lightsider who cannot risk the trauma of traveling to Darkside since he is weakened from his battle there with a vampire. The book has many fantastical characters, such as Jonathan's sidekick and protector Carnegie, a charming albeit deadly werewolf; outrageous settings like the nightclub where undead characters go to party and do battle; and plotlines that involve killers who are also painters desperate for sales. This book is totally cool, and readers who love Harry Potter, as well as fans of all things dead and undead, will flock to this fantasy/horror/thriller.-Jake Pettit, Thompson Valley High School, Loveland, CO