The Shadow in the North

Any book by Philip Pullman, award-winning author of Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, is guaranteed to be a corker and The Shadow in the North is no exception.

Set against the backdrop of a veiled and misty Victorian underworld, the story of Sally Lockhart-- female entrepreneur and expert financial advisor--and her allies Jim and Fred, begins to unfold as news of the disappearance of the steamship Ingrid Linde reaches the ears of the intrepid trio.

As they investigate the loss, they are unwittingly drawn into a dark and sinister plot fuelled by the business dealings of the cruel and heartless Bellman. As their investigations continue, strange and supernatural forces intercede, leading them deeper into the menacing back streets of Victorian London and taking them on a journey into the very heart of true evil.

Few authors spin such a cracking yarn as Pullman and The Shadow of the North, a complex story with seemingly endless and breathless twists, turns and cliffhangers, is one of his best. An intelligent, explosive, superbly written yarn that will mesmerise older readers. (Ages 11 and over) --Susan Harrison

View other editions of The Shadow in the North.
View books by Philip Pullman.

Far too good to be left for the children! - Rated
This is the second in Pullman's Sally Lockhart trilogy, the sequel to The Ruby in the Smoke. I made the mistake of reading this one first; each of the books contains big spoilers for the previous one, so I strongly recommend they are read in order.

This is another absolute masterpiece from Pullman, but rather darker than its predecessor. The Ruby in the Smoke talked about greed, desire and stupidity; The Shadow in the North addresses the question of evil face on.

Sally has begun to make a name for herself in business, an incredible achievement for a Victorian woman, and to drag Frederick Garland's photography company back from chaos and near-bankruptcy. A seemingly innocent enquiry by a client about a sunken ship and an apparently genuine clairvoyant leads Sally, Fred and Jim off on another trail of deceit and trechery, leading across Europe, and into the very heart of the British government.

If The Ruby in the Smoke was Pullman's homage to Conan Doyle, this one has a lot more of the Wilkie Collins about it. The plot is just beautiful: neatly complex and tight, twisting and with a sting in its tail that has reduced me to tears both times I've read it. There is a sense of justice and moral certitude in his writing that is deeply satisfying. If there is really a better storyteller than Pullman in England right now, I don't know about them.

Great Entertainment - Rated
This book and its two predecessors are well written and great entertainment, although the characters are very black & white ('Axel Bellman' as the villain's name is a bit obvious, he could never be a good guy).

There are a few quibbles though, I find it hard to credit a female 'Financial Consultant' in the 1880s and lastly Bellman takes 'three small sealed bags' from a safe 'swiftly counts out £[...]' and hands the money to Sally (the heroine) however the coins weigh almost 23kg (over 52lbs), she must have muscles like an ox!

Splendid plot but the characters are thin - Rated
Pullman writes gripping page turners with intricate plots and sub plots where little is what it seems. There are moments of true bone chilling horror here, not the horror of guts and gore but the horror of the subtle inhumanities that a person can inflict on another. Pullman is interested in the nature of true evil and while he flirts with the supernatural his real belief is simply that Humans are capable of deep corruption. There are no winged demons, despite his teasing us with Blake-like images of hell and reference to sulfurous smells. Some people are just very very bad, he insists. The trouble is that this world view lacks ambiguity. The bad people are very bad and the good people are very good. He tries to give them faults, but they are so small and so obviously contrived that we don't believe in them. The only real fault that the protaganists have in this novel is their naivety in the face of true malevolence.
There is very little about redemption or even the possibility of it and writing about evil without this possibility makes it somewhat two dimensional. The evil characters are powerful because power corrupts. The good characters are courageous and make sacrifices because sacrifice is a sign of good character. The weak characters either get sucked into evil or who are victims of it.
Nevertheless, this is a page turner and I will be reading the rest of the series with interest. If only we could a less impoverished world view that acknowledges the complexity of the human condition and the possibility of a spiritual life that transcends the material.

An Incredible Read - Rated
Sally Lockhart- now older and maturer, and a rare woman Financal Advisor, discovers £3000 has gone missing from one of her customers. She sets out to get this £3000 back, no matter what it takes, and finds herself caught up in a case of unimaginable evil. Her friends- Frederick Garland, who she met in the previous book, and Jim, again from the previous book, have started up a detective business and help her out, meeting a suspicious Conjuror, who seems to be on the run from some shifty characters. As the story unfolds, they meet more intriguing characters, and discover more and more about the evil behind it all.

A beautifully written book- my favourite of the first three, for it's powerful story and emotional ending.

I recommend it to teenagers and adults.

Rather dissappointing - Rated
This book was rather disappointing follow-on to the first book - 'Ruby in the Smoke', and not a patch on the excellent 'Dark Materials' books (I can't recommend these enough). The story was well written, but just not that interesting, nor gripping.