The Name of the Star

Published in 2011, The Name of the Star is a paranormal young adult novel by Maureen Johnson. The first title in Johnson's Shades of London series, the story follows teenager Rory Deveaux as she becomes the sole witness to—and next target of—a person who is recreating the infamous Jack the Ripper murders in modern-day London. Born in Philadelphia but now a New York resident, Johnson is a prolific author of young adult fiction, and many of her stories are inspired by her time spent traveling around Europe.

Life is changing for Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux. Her college professor parents are both moving to Bristol for a year. This means that Rory must leave her friends and familiar school behind to attend Wexford boarding school in London as a Sixth Form student. On the day she arrives, news outlets are abuzz with the discovery of a gruesome murder. The crime appears to copycat the infamous killer Jack the Ripper from 1888.

The next day, Rory attends classes, and her general impression of boarding school life is that it is quite ridiculous. However, she receives a new roommate: fellow new student Julianne Benton, who goes by Jazza. Fortunately, the pair soon discover that they get along well, and things seem to be looking up. But that night at dinner, Rory chokes on a piece of food. As she loses consciousness and slips towards death, she sees a bright white but yet empty light. Not a moment too soon, she is saved by a successful Heimlich maneuver.

As the days pass, Rory struggles to fit in with her British classmates. It is not all bad, however, as one night, she and Jazza are invited out to a pub by Jerome, a school prefect. As the girls wait in line at the pub, Rory suddenly feels an uncomfortable chill. She steps backwards and nearly bumps into a man. As she apologizes, the man's eyes widen in shock, but he quickly recovers his composure and steps aside to give her space. The rest of the evening passes without incident, but later that night, Rory looks through her window and sees the same man standing outside in front of the dorm.

As the night arrives when the next Ripper victim is scheduled to be murdered, London is on lockdown, and the Wexford students are confined to their dorms. But Rory, Jazza, and Jerome sneak up to the roof to see if they can spot anything. They do not, but on their way back down, they encounter a man and Rory briefly speaks with him.

The next day, a body is discovered on school grounds, and when the police arrive, Rory reports that she saw a man the previous night. Jazza, on the other hand, swears she saw no one, and Rory cannot figure out why she would say such a thing. But in the coming days, Rory realizes that she is starting to see a lot of people that her classmates take no notice of.

Fear of the Ripper murders increases when half of a kidney is mailed to a TV talk show host. The host reads the included note, but the network cuts off the broadcast before he can read the final line. Meanwhile, Rory and Jazza receive a third roommate, a girl named Boo. Boo seems nice, but often acts suspiciously. On a school field trip to a museum, Boo wanders off, and Rory secretly follows her. She observes Boo speaking with another student named Stephen and a woman Rory does not know, but when someone walks through the woman, Rory becomes convinced that she is going crazy.

Boo and Stephen explain to Rory that, like them, she has the Sight, which allows her to see ghosts. They reveal that they are Shades; they hunt evil ghosts and dispatch them with something called a terminus device. Using this knowledge, Rory is able to deduce that the new Ripper is actually a ghost, but not one from the 18th century.

Later, the Ripper appears outside Wexford to talk to Rory, and he confesses that he was a Shade when he was alive. However, Boo sees them talking and runs over. The Ripper throws her in front of a passing car. She is hit and rushed to the hospital. That night, Rory discusses her conversation with the Ripper with the Shades and a friendly ghost named Jo. They learn that the final sentence the talk show host was prevented from reading said, "I look forward to visiting the one with the Sight and plucking out her eyes." In light of this, the Shades give Rory her own terminus device.

Two days later, Rory receives a text from the Ripper telling her to go to the place where he died. The other Shades accompany her, but the Ripper surprises them, and they are forced to give up their terminus devices in order to keep him from killing Stephen. The Ripper then demands the final terminus device, so Rory leads him to Wexford where Boo, who has the device, is recovering.

Rory begs the Ripper not to kill her in front of Boo, so they go to the bathroom. There he cuts her across the abdomen, and as she is bleeding out, he gives her Boo's terminus device so that she might become a ghost when she dies. However, Jo passes through the walls of the bathroom and takes the terminus device. He aims it at the Ripper, and both ghosts are destroyed by the blast.

Rory survives her wounds, but her parents decide to pull her out of Wexford to come live with them in Bristol. The other Shades feel helpless now that there are no more terminus devices, but they agree that they must keep trying. As she packs her things, Rory accidentally touches a ghost, and the ghost explodes. The story continues in The Madness Underneath, book two of the Shades of London series.