Caroline has waited until her mother's death to come to New York and exact revenge on her grandfather, who abandoned his daughter to the mean streets of London. Caroline uses her talents to gather the money needed but doesn't really have a plan in place. She initially lives in one of the tenement houses with a woman she met on the ship where she meets Jackson, who is throttling the man he placed in charge of the homes.
Jackson is punishing the man for stealing the money meant for repairs, but he notices Caroline right away. He meets her again later, in a more opulent part of town, where she gives a different name. He suspects her motives and decides to get to the bottom of it. When the truth comes out, another mystery needs to be solved, and he finds himself teaming up with her. He doesn't want to give in to his feelings for her, he's seen first hand how selfishness can ruin someone's life, and he doesn't want to put his reputation in jeopardy.
There were a few things I didn't really understand about this book. Once Caroline's identity is revealed, I wondered what the rest of the book would be about. I wish the "mysterious identity" aspect had been more developed and resolved later in the book. After that, I found I didn't care as much what happened to Caroline and Jackson. Also, sometimes the way the characters spoke to each other seemed a little unrealistic.
I think it had potential, but I don't think it got there. Things were repeated numerous times, such as Caroline's motives for finding her grandfather. It seemed like every time she was with her grandfather, it was mentioned. I wish there had been more at the end regarding Mary and cousin Elizabeth. Poor Mary, who was such a good friend at the beginning, kind of faded away. She popped up briefly at the end, but it didn't sound like Caroline had done anything to help Mary at all, even though she'd been so determined to do something earlier in the book. Sadly, I just ended up being a little disappointed overall.
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