Lost And Gone Forever
by Alex Grecian concludes the Murder Squad series. Set in
Victorian England it brings to life Jack the Ripper and his
ability to thwart capture. Readers should be forewarned that
this story will be more understandable if the other two books
are read in order.
Grecian noted, “There was a real Murder Squad, similar
to a homicide unit in America. I wanted to write about the
best and most famous detectives in London’s history.
I did this by changing names and dates. The Commissioner of
Police at the Yard was a real person. Colonel Sir Edward Bradford
was larger than life. He was an amazing man who led a remarkable
life.”
Over the time span of the series many changes have occurred
to the characters. All of them were interesting and multi-layered,
including the antagonists. Sergeant Nevil Hammersmith lost
his job and now has a private detective agency, devoting all
his time to finding his friend and peer Detective Walter Day
who has been MIA for over a year. His wife Claire has devoted
her life to raising her children, finding Walter, and writing
children’s stories; one of which is an outgrowth of
the anxiety she feels about her missing husband. The wealthy
men of the Karstphanomen, a secret society that attempted
to use vigilante methods towards criminals, hired ruthless
bounty hunters, Mr. and Mrs. Parker, to find and kill Jack
the Ripper.
Although many readers may think Jack represents pure evil,
Grecian does not see it that way and instead thinks he is
“self-centered. It’s all about Jack. Anything
that gets in his way he will get rid of without a second thought.
Yet, occasionally he will do something nice, like when he
saved Hammersmith’s life. I think he is a very complicated
figure. He is not vulnerable in the least, because he never
cares about anybody.”
This final installment has the devious, deranged, and deadly
Jack the Ripper manipulating Day through torture and hypnosis.
As the story begins this broken detective, just released by
Jack, is now in a dazed and amnesiac state. Jack is attempting
to use Day as his pawn as the Ripper finds retribution against
those that caused him pain by killing the members off one
by one.
An interesting aspect of the book is how Grecian centered
the plot in Plumm’s Emporium Department Store, a la
Harrods in London. He commented, “I wanted to make the
coincidences realistic. This enabled me to use coincidence
to help weave all the characters’ different stories
together. I needed a place where lots of people would naturally
congregate and cross paths. It also enabled me to show how
the world changed with having everything a person needed in
one place.”
Grecian also gave a heads up about his next book. It will
be the first in a new contemporary series set in America.
The police are hunting for a Nazi that has hidden in the US
for over half a century. The series is based on a new character
that hunts down war criminals, similar to Simon Wiesenthal.
Grecian
has a knack for writing thrillers that are terrifying. He
has no qualms in putting in scenes that are extremely gory.
His plots always involve complicated characters that have
fascinating backstories. Anyone wanting to sit on their edge
of their seat should read the novel, Lost And Gone Forever.
Reviews
of other titles in this series
The
Devil's Workshop #3
The
Harvest Man #4
Lost
And Gone Forever #5
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