The Shadow in the North [Hardcover]

Philip Pullman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2006

This thrilling sequel to `The Ruby in the Smoke' provides another taut atmospheric chase through the hurly burly of Victorian England.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Six years after solving the mysteries surrounding the death of her father (in The Ruby in the Smoke), Sally Lockhart has set up her own consulting business. But her photographer friend, Fred Garland, has a habit of drawing her into his private detective work owing to her skill in both finances and firearms. When one of Sally's clients loses a large sum of money invested in a shipping firm and Fred encounters a conjurer on the lam from underworld thugs, the two begin to find links in these apparently disparate cases.

Exquisitely written and packed with a wonderfully diverse, often terrifying cast of characters and dark twists and turns of plot, the second installment of the Sally Lockhart trilogy--an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a Booklist Editors' Choice, and a nominee for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Mystery--is entirely impossible to put down. Make sure book 3, The Tiger in the Well, is close at hand as you near the end of this one. (Ages 12 and older) --Emilie Coulter --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Termed by PW a "brilliant bauble," this sequel to The Ruby and the Smoke finds Sally Lockhart, six years later, embroiled in high-level government chicanery; the mystery's tangled threads are "quite elegantly tied up." Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Peter Smith Pub Inc (June 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0844672890
• ISBN-13: 978-0844672892
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (87 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,956,445 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A polemic as cold and slippery as ice, January 18, 2002

By 

Forrest L. Norvell (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Shadow in the North (Sally Lockhart Trilogy, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

Pullman has a rare and valuable talent: his chosen field is the young adult novel, and he writes for young adults. Frankly, without condescension, and with a lively intelligence and subtle humor that shows he respects his audience as much as they (indubitably do) respect him. This novel shows a young woman in full command of her faculties being put into the teeth of an excruciating moral predicament, and if the road she eventually finds out of it is a simple one, that is because Pullman is not above granting a final bit of wish-fulfillment after he's run us through the wringer.

I'll leave the plot summaries to other reviewers; it's enough to say that it's a lively and political mystery / thriller and its coincidences, while implausible, do not betray their own internal logic. Pullman is first and foremost an observer of character, and what makes this book something that makes me, a 29-year-old guy who tends to read much more austere stuff, take notice, is the sheer aliveness of the characters. There's Sally, of course, a resolutely feminist young woman whose resolve and determination are surely of her time, even if some of her anxieties and dilemmas seem more resonant with the present than Victorian England; Frederick, her friend and peer who she loves, and with whom she argues helplessly and often; Jim, their young, streetwise friend, who is capable, brave, and eminently self-aware; and a large cast of supporting characters, many of them women, who are sharply limned and full of their own stories. The fact that Sally is living out what would have been, at best,a Victorian woman's fantasy is dealt with elsewhere; the fact that huge swathes of the dialogue is anachronistic is irrelevant.

What sets this apart from other young adult novels, even as it evokes them, is the very real sense of moral hazard and the awful consequences of the modern age that it portrays. The world into which Sally, Frederick, and everyone else is being swept is one where the old hunger for power is being given new, terrible means of finding its voice. The clarity with which Pullman evokes this sense of foreboding is remarkable, as is his restraint. At its heart this novel is a warning of terrible things that have already come to pass. It is insistent without being didactic, it shows rather than tells. In the end it convinces.

While the Lockhart trilogy is not as stunning as the His Dark Materials books, it's not trying to be. It's about one woman, her friends, and the world whose birth they must survive. If they are occasionally more than human, that might just be because something more than human is necessary to survive in this new world.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best of the Trilogy, February 23, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Shadow in the North (Sally Lockhart Trilogy, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

The Shadow in the North, the third book in the Sally Lockhart Trilogy, is the best in the series. The book is wonderfully written with and excellent, but complicated, plot.Six years later Sally Lockhart is a 21 year old financial consultant and Fredrick Garland and 20-something photographer and private detective become involved in a mystery or murder and fraud. Sally refuses to accept that her relationship with Fred is becoming something more then friendship.... You'll be smiling through your tears!!! Its a must read that you can't put down. You'll probably end up reading it a dozen times.The ending is sad , a happier ending may have been better, but its one more obsticle Sally must overcome in her life. The Shadow in the North is absouloutly the best in the series, not saying the others were bad they too were excellent. I recomend reading the books in order , their more enjoyable that way!! But no matter how you read them make sure you read The Shadow in the North!!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Adventure awaits Ms. Lockhart and Crew, September 23, 2002

By 

Zack Davisson "japanreviewed" (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Shadow in the North (Sally Lockhart Trilogy, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

"The Shadow in the North" takes a darker tone than the previous Sally Lockhart book, "The Ruby in the Smoke." Sallies enemies take on a more realistic tone than the operatic Ah Lee, and there is some serious doubt about who, if anyone will prevail in this strange adventure.

Like all books in this series, Philip Pullman pulls together historical accuracy, winding plot lines, likeable characters and outright adventure. Sally Lockhart is not a perfect hero. She has faults like any person and often is blinded by her ambition to prove herself. She goes through many changes in this book and matures into a young woman. No longer a teenager, Sally is in her twenties in "The Shadow in the North." Fred Garland and Jim are there to help her as usual.

I don't want to give away too much about the book. It is a mystery after all! But I will say that, like many Philip Pullman books, "The Shadow in the North" is bitter-sweet and captivating. Sometimes reality intrudes too much into the fantasy, leaving a strange sensation for the reader. A very good novel.