This was an emotional and revealing read. It really does not focus on the horror and brutality of their murders and instead gives a complete (as possible) picture of the women's lives. Rubenhold manages to walk the line between ensuring that it’s clear that Nichols, Chapman and Stride weren’t sex workers while affirming that even if they chose sex work, that wouldn't make their murders justified (as well as reinforcing that even though Kelly chose sex work, her murder was senseless, misogynistic and not in any way down to her).

I was going to rate this 4.5 but I've bumped it up for the conclusion which tackles and explains a lot of my thoughts better than I could articulate them while I was still reading. The jack the ripper mythos and tourism industry excuses and justifies the murders based on misogyny. It allows the faceless and misogynistic murderer the spotlight while dismissing, minimising and almost fictionalising the women to the extent they're merely the unfortunate but uncared for victims that allow the ripper his fame. I really do recommend to anyone interested in getting the whole and untainted picture.