Mayhem

Mayhem starts as a wonderful Victorian true crime novel, then suddenly takes off into supernatural thriller territory and builds to a great climax when friendship and faith prove more effective than rationality and the scientific mind. At the time Jack the Ripper was terrorizing London, there were a series of other deaths called the Thames Torso Murders. For the first half of this book, we follow the true story of the police in their investigation. They are assisted by a coroner called Thomas Bond who slowly comes to believe there’s more happening than just two killers on the loose.

In a city where superstition and rumor run riot, it’s easy for the actions of one monster to cause mayhem as distorted news and speculation fuel fear in the streets. Even when the monster is entirely human, the crimes can enter the mythology of the city. When the monster is an ancient supernatural being, the dark miasma rising from the Thames for all to breathe can produce nightmares and a rising sense of dread. Sarah Pinborough has produced a marvelously crafted novel where the horror of true crime is shown as nothing more than the mayhem caused by a truly evil entity.