Broken by Kelley Armstrong

In this thrilling new novel from the author of Industrial Magic, a pregnant werewolf may have unwittingly unleashed Jack the Ripper on twenty-first-century—and become his next target. Ever since she discovered she’s pregnant, Elena Michaels has been on edge. After all, she’s never heard of another living female werewolf, let alone one who’s given birth. But thankfully, her expertise is needed to retrieve a stolen letter allegedly written by Jack the Ripper. As a distraction, the job seems simple enough—only the letter contains a portal to Victorian London’s underworld, which Elena inadvertently triggers—unleashing a vicious killer and a pair of zombie thugs. Now Elena must find a way to seal the portal before the unwelcome visitors get what they’re looking for—which, for some unknown reason, is Elena.

The focus in this novel turns back to Elena and Clay much as it was in the first two books of the series, Bitten and Stolen. The other supernatural/paranormal characters that we have met through the later books are mentioned, but not really at the forefront of the story as they have been. Also introduced is a new vampire, and Jaime's (the celebrity necromancer's) plays a fair role in this book as well.

Elena and Clay's relationship has moved into a pretty content and settled place, very unlike the Elena and Clay that we were introduced to. Elena is pregnant, and so everyone in the pack is jumpy to say the least. With Elena being the only female werewolf, and no one having had pure werewolf babies, everyone is on high alert. With Elena and Clay being so settled, any conflict is going to have to come from outside of that relationship, and it comes in the form of rotting zombies, infected rats and possibly, Jack the Ripper. It soon becomes clear that whoever it is that has escaped from a time portal possible held within the From Hell letter allegedly written by Jack is targeting Elena. The questions to be asked are why, and how to protect her and her pregnancy.

I did like the fact that we got to see the members of the Pack in this book, and I am hopeful that before too long we get to see Nick find a mate for himself.

Whilst the story in itself was entertaining, this wasn't one of my favourite books in the series. I don't really know why that is - maybe because the action was very dark this time around. These books often are quite dark, but whereas there have been some moments of genuine amusement in most of the books, this time the gruesomeness felt more consistent and to a certain extent overwhelming. What few lighter moments there were came early in the book and mostly featured Jaime.

I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series, which I think features more of Jaime and Jeremy. I think I only have that book and then one more and I am all caught up with this series. I can tell you that I will definitely be waiting impatiently for each new book in the series!