Capturing the Devil - Book Review

This review contains major spoilers for Capturing the Devil and the preceding books in the series.

My goodness I can't believe this series is over now. I just finished the book like an hour ago so I'm still processing stuff but I'm writing a review now anyway.

Ok this book was pretty good. Like in the other books, I definitely think that the characters are very unique and memorable -- Thomas especially haha. I also appreciated how a disabled character (Audrey Rose) was front and centre. Representation, yay!

I really liked how this book linked back to the first one in the series, it was like the series was sort of coming full-circle in a way. The plot twist of how Nathaniel wasn't actually the Ripper was pretty cool in my opinion. And the ties to other books was also very satisfying. Capturing the Devil felt like a last-book-in-the-series because of all these ties and I'm pretty happy that this happened because, as I said before, it was pretty satisfying.

However. I feel like as the series progressed, the mystery decreased but the romance and drama increased. There was a big chunk in the middle of Capturing the Devil that was all about that drama with Thomas and Audrey Rose's marriage/engagement. They didn't even mention their investigation into the murders for like 150 pages or something? That was not really what I signed up for. The engagement to that other lady didn't even go anywhere so it just felt like it was just shoved in there for drama. And ugh the romance felt so forced to the point where the mystery felt forced, if that makes sense? Like there was so much romance that it seemed like the romance was prioritised in the story more than the actual mystery and plot. 

Like. At the end. Audrey Rose nearly got killed. And when she got out all she could do was kiss her boyfriend. I was internally screaming, "STOP MAKING OUT AND GET TO A HOSPITAL!!" Like what the heck.

I do feel like maybe the quality of writing also decreased at times in the book. Like at one point in the book the phrase "within an inch of their lives" was wayyy overused. It was a bit weird. Like how did that get past the editor?

Ok moving on. I was very annoyed at myself because I spoiled the book for myself. I searched up the name of one of the characters because they sounded familiar, and it came up with "serial killer". Kinda -- I searched up Minnie and it came up with H. H. Holmes. So I was pissed off at myself about that but I think other people had similar experiences. I guess that's the problem with historical fiction -- it's even easier to spoil yourself than with normal fiction. Hahaha so now I look back and laugh because of course I spoiled myself. Anyway I was kinda happy that this book was more based on historical events and stuff you know? Like the first one. 

Ok so that's all I have to say for now. Also I realised that I have like 50 unread books on my shelf so I think that for a while I'm gonna focus on standalones because reading a series is a commitment and expensive haha. Anyway I think this series was like a step forward in my reading journey. I really want to start reading kinda similar stuff to this, like horror and historical fiction. Anyway bye!

Capturing the Devil by Kerri Maniscalco, 14+*  ★★★★ 

*This age recommendation is only my opinion. Some younger people might feel comfortable reading this book, and some older people might not. That's fine, either way. Warning for sexual references and themes, murder, violence, lots of gore, graphic descriptions of murders, disturbing themes and potentially upsetting themes.