Where would YOU rank 'Jack Knife' among Jack the Ripper fiction?

Going way back, I’ve always considered myself an amateur “Ripperologist,” that is, I’ve always been fascinated by the details surrounding the world’s most famous unsolved crime(s), the notorious Jack the Ripper murders.

I’ve read more than a few books on the subject and just the other day, I had the pleasure of reading an awesome science fiction-horror book that centered on Jack the Ripper, Virginia Baker’s 2007 novel, “Jack Knife: A Novel of Jack the Ripper.”

This book was extremely cool on a number of levels. In a nutshell, it’s about a military scientist who misuses a government time machine to send himself back to 1888 Whitechapel, London. His brains get scrambled in the trip when a lab assistant tries to follow him. The time machine kills her, but sends him in back in time a few bricks shy of a load.

The military sends a tough special ops guy and a lovely scientist back to the past to retrieve the first scientist. They hope to bring him home and attempt to undo any damage that he’s done. Instead, they find themselves in the middle of the Jack the Ripper case and end up becoming targets of the Ripper and suspects in the murders as well.

Published by Jove in January 2007, “Jack Knife” was Baker’s debut novel, which is hard to believe given how great this book is from start to finish. The book seemed extremely well researched, and Baker pulls off her descriptions of the Victorian setting like an expert on the period. You could almost hear the gaslights guttering out there somewhere in the fog.

If you’ve read this book and liked it, here are some other Jack the Ripper books that I highly recommend:

1. Anno Dracula by Kim Newman

2. The Complete History of Jack the Ripper by Philip Sugden

3. The Diary of Jack the Ripper: The Chilling Confessions of James Maybrick by Shirley Harrison

4. From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell

5. Jack the Ripper: The Complete Casebook by Donald Rumbelow

6. Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper, Case Closed by Patricia Cornwell

I’ve listed the books above in alphabetical order because they're so good in and of themselves that they're impossible for me to rank from best to worst. “From Hell” and “Anno Dracula” are outstanding works of Ripper fiction and are highly entertaining reads. Sugden’s “The Complete History of Jack the Ripper” is the most thorough nonfiction treatment of the Ripper crimes that I’ve read.

I enjoyed “The Diary of Jack the Ripper” because it connects the crimes to Alabama. Maybrick’s wife was from Mobile. Rumbelow’s “Jack the Ripper: The Complete Casebook” is considered the bible of Jack the Ripper books. Cornwell’s book is outstanding as well. She makes a strong case that the artist Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper.

In the end, how many of you have read “Jack Knife” by Virginia Baker? What did you think about it? What did you like or dislike about it and why? How many of the other books mentioned above have you had the chance to read? Which is your favorite? Can you recommend any other outstanding Jack the Ripper books? Let us know in the comments section below.