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Table of Contents
About The Book
Two starred reviews!
An instant New York Times bestseller!
From Printz Honor–winning and New York Times bestselling author Julie Berry, a true-crime-nail-biter-turned-mythic-odyssey pitting Jack the Ripper against Medusa. “A powerful exploration of human connection during nightmarish times” (Kirkus Reviews).
It’s autumn 1888, and Jack the Ripper is on the run. As London police close in, he flees England for New York City seeking new victims. But a primal force of female vengeance has had enough. With serpents for hair and a fearsome gaze, an awakened Medusa is hunting for one thing: Jack.
And other dangers lurk in Manhattan’s Bowery. Salvation Army volunteers Tabitha and Pearl discover that a girl they once helped has been forced to work in a local brothel. Tabitha’s an upstate city girl with a wry humor and a thirst for adventure, while farmgirl Pearl takes everything with stone-cold seriousness. Their brittle partnership is tested as they team up with an aspiring girl reporter and a handsome Irish bartender to mount a rescue effort, only to find their fates entwine with Medusa’s and Jack’s.
An instant New York Times bestseller!
From Printz Honor–winning and New York Times bestselling author Julie Berry, a true-crime-nail-biter-turned-mythic-odyssey pitting Jack the Ripper against Medusa. “A powerful exploration of human connection during nightmarish times” (Kirkus Reviews).
It’s autumn 1888, and Jack the Ripper is on the run. As London police close in, he flees England for New York City seeking new victims. But a primal force of female vengeance has had enough. With serpents for hair and a fearsome gaze, an awakened Medusa is hunting for one thing: Jack.
And other dangers lurk in Manhattan’s Bowery. Salvation Army volunteers Tabitha and Pearl discover that a girl they once helped has been forced to work in a local brothel. Tabitha’s an upstate city girl with a wry humor and a thirst for adventure, while farmgirl Pearl takes everything with stone-cold seriousness. Their brittle partnership is tested as they team up with an aspiring girl reporter and a handsome Irish bartender to mount a rescue effort, only to find their fates entwine with Medusa’s and Jack’s.
About The Author
Photography by Travis Tanner
Julie Berry is the New York Times bestselling author of the 2020 NCTE Walden Award and SCBWI Golden Kite Award winner Lovely War, the 2017 Printz Honor and Los Angeles Times Book Prize–shortlisted The Passion of Dolssa, the Carnegie Medal– and Edgar Award–shortlisted All the Truth That’s in Me, the Odyssey Honor The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place, and the Wishes and Wellingtons trilogy. Her picture books include The Night Frolic, Happy Right Now, and Cranky Right Now. Julie holds a BS from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in communication and an MFA from Vermont College of the Fine Arts. Julie lives in western New York, where she owns Author’s Note, an independent bookstore.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (September 16, 2025)
- Length: 448 pages
- ISBN13: 9781534470835
- Ages: 12 - 99
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Raves and Reviews
A New York Times bestseller!
Two starred reviews!
★ “If Looks Could Kill drips with the historical and sensory detail Berry's readers have come to expect from her work. . . . a meticulously thoughtful exploration of vengeance, justice, mercy, faith, and sisterhood.”
—Shelf Awareness, starred review
★ “This expansive historical novel with Medusa-inspired fantasy elements features Jack the Ripper, Salvation Army missionaries, and new-made Gorgons in New York’s Bowery, 1888. . . . Berry’s call to awareness of misogyny in its many guises is strong and clear. And, as is her way, she treats historical detail with a light but sure hand and religious conviction with sympathetic clarity.”
—The Horn Book, starred review
“A YA thriller unlike anything you’ve read before . . . dark, fast-paced, and utterly addictive, it’s the must-read of the fall.”
—Parade Magazine
“A page-turning, well-balanced story in a richly drawn setting. . . . Rather than just a cathartic comeuppance, this is more a considered look at who, if anyone, can be spared in a world so callously stacked against women and girls that it views brutal crimes as more titillation than tragedy.”
—The Bulletin
“A powerful exploration of human connection during nightmarish times.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Awards and Honors
- Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
- ALA Rise: A Feminist Book Project List Selectio
Resources and Downloads
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Book Cover Image (jpg): If Looks Could Kill
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Author Photo (jpg): Julie Berry Photography by Travis Tanner(0.1 MB)
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