Sally Jones and the False Rose

I've definitely never read a book from the perspective of a gorilla before, but Sally Jones and the False Rose is a tremendous story of adventure, unlikely friendships and mystery. Set across Europe, from Lisbon to Scotland, the story follows Sally Jones and her Captain as they try to unravel the mystery of the treasure they find in their ship.

Along the way, you are introduced to a myriad of characters, both good and bad, and the scenes set immerse you deeply into the narrative. I loved the book, and although different to my usual reads, I'm glad the cover drew me in because the story, whilst appropriate for younger audiences, would also suit adult readers too. I found myself gripped by the hints that the author dropped throughout the book, wishing that I could shout at Sally Jones and point her in the right direction! Thoroughly enjoyable.

This is a wonderful adventure story again featuring the indomitable Sally Jones and Henry Hoskela.This time they are on the search for the owner of a pearl necklace discovered on their boat.The tale features an array of curious and eccentric characters and Sally Jones proves herself more than capable during an array of dangerous escapades.What makes this book and the predecessor so likeable is the warmth we feel towards Sally, Henry,Ana. and Luigi as well as Bernie the Butcher( never judge a book by its cover). The adventure is fast paced and set primarily in Glasgow and a world of gangs - think Peaky Blinders for children . Roll on the next instalment- Jakob Wegelius has created a gem and Peter Graves has produced a great translation

If you loved The Murderer's Ape like I did, you are going to love this must-read sequel. This is a new story about Sally Jones and the Chief., after they find a mysterious rose necklace hidden on their boat. Of course, there is danger and interesting characters throughout. Another fun adventure for these two characters!

With the Hudson Queen still in a sorry state, the Chief and Sally Jones – the best gorilla to choose as ship's engineer, musical instrument repairer, or all-round hard labourer – are taking any and every job going to get the cash to put her right. The Chief then is en route to Brazil for a month, leaving Sally Jones – who has been gifted a gig at a fairground, and is busy repairing instruments, and is needed to help at a medical quarantine emergency – run ragged with work. But somebody else is burning the candle at both ends – the man who gave her the fairground work in the first place is hunting for something on the Hudson Queen behind her back. When the Chief and Sally Jones fluke their way to finding it instead, it starts off a right royal parade of ups and downs in this second full-length novel from this most charming of universes.

Although… this felt like the weakest of the three Sally Jones books, which range from the quickly-read graphic novel that presents her backstory, to the other doorstopper of prose I first met her with. I think this is perhaps a mixture of things that makes me feel this – familiarity breeding discontent, and wanting something a bit more than we have here, perhaps, and also it could be said that having read said graphic novel, that takes us round the world and back in a hundred pages, this felt more humdrum and staid for losing all sense of the exotic.

There certainly are lashings of charged moments in this book – many threats to life, many mysteries, many unusual callbacks to characters and events from earlier on (most of those annoying, however, as we can work it out while Sally Jones seems unable to have any recall of anything necessary, nor nearly enough spider-sense). But I longed to see more of the world, and when we're stuck in Glasgow, of all places, it felt a missed opportunity for all the travel and new characters we could have been witness to.

However I still think four stars is right for this – it remains a rich read, in a charming set-up, and the many pages still turn at a lick. Declaring this the most average of the three is not to dismiss it as poor, for it lowers the quality of a very classy set of books. We're always gunning for Sally Jones, a character that at least the other books allowed us to love, and things here remain distinctive, even when you don't factor in the unique nature of our narrator/heroine. There are few books doing something like this – a mix of animal story and human potboiler, and it remains a pleasure to have them out and about for us to choose. My enthusiasm did drop with this example, however – and I have no idea if this far-from-prolific author will allow Sally Jones to return or not. Pretty much all of us reading this would still wish to be on board, though.

The wonderful Sally Jones is back. I loved her in "The Murderer's Ape" and "The Legend of Sally Jones", and yeah, she's terrific here, too.

This time, Sally Jones and The Chief, Henry Koskela, are in Lisbon and taking a variety of jobs on to make enough money to continue repairs on their ship, the Hudson Queen. One of Sally's jobs entails maintaining the steam engine for the carousel of a travelling circus. The man who gets her the job seems to have a connection with their ship (Sally thinks he might be searching it for some unknown reason). And Sally discovers he may also be the former engineer for a Captain with a less than friendly reputation, who was known to have both a daughter he abandoned, and an unrequited desire to find her once he struck it rich.

Sally and Chief soon find what the former engineer was looking for: a necklace with flawless, large pearls and a silver and mother of pearl pendant. This necklace will set the two off a perilous trip to Glasgow and some pretty fraught and dangerous adventures over the course of a year. This includes the Chief getting blackmailed by a Scottish criminal into running whiskey to the US, and Sally being held hostage by the criminal to ensure Chief's compliance.

Sally doesn't just sit around, scared as she is; she's soon helping the criminal's gang with the heavy lifting of contraband, and various other ill-gotten gains, and becoming inadvertently embroiled in a gang war in Glasgow. Sally suffers a lot during her year alone (my heart bled for this gentle, kind being) but manages to maintain her hope and make a few critical friends.

I love Sally Jones so much! She is a wonderful character, and horrible as the things she undergoes in this book, she was just so strong and kind, trying all the time she was a prisoner to find a way to both make her time a little easier on her, and find a way to escape.

Jakob Wegelius has created another terrific adventure story, with interesting characters and much adversity. Both Sally and The Chief undergo many difficult challenges, but Sally's plight was much more frightening. That she retained her optimism and kindness throughout, and her ability to forgive afterwards, was pretty amazing. I would follow Sally Jones anywhere, on any adventure, if only to watch her, though her determination and caring disposition, find her way through her troubles, and usually better off afterwards.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Pushkin Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.