4 JUNE 1892, Page 23

I Will Repay. By Frederick W. Rose. (Eden, Remington, and

Co.)—The author of I Will Repay dedicates his book to the author of "The Kreutzer Sonata," and in the ability to conceive and tell a thoroughly unpleasant story, the disciple does not fall below the level of the master whom he honours with "a tribute of admiration." Mr. Rose has mused much on the theme of the Whitechapel murders, and having formed a theory concerning their perpetrator, he has embodied it in one of the most grue- some works of fiction that has seen the light for many a long day. A series of unfortunate experiences have trans. formed the once healthy Wargrave Leinster into an epileptic homicidal maniac, and he believes that he has a divine mission to exterminate a certain class of tempters to evil. In describing his fulfilment of this mission, Mr. Rose spares no details of horror, with a result which, to use a familiar phrase, can be more easily imagined than described, though very few people will desire even to imagine it. The author, with extreme naivete, expresses the hope that "no one will construe this story into a commendation of murder," evidently thinking that no other

objection could possibly be urged against his sickening narra- tive. It is to be hoped that upon this point he will speedily be undeceived.