The Tiger in the Well: A Sally Lockhart Mystery (original 1991; edition 2008)

I didn't like this book as much as the others. It had its moments -- the "kissing like they just invented it" line, for example, sticks in my head years later. And yet. ( )

I read it hoping for some redemption after the debacle which was Book the Second. I think I felt so betrayed by Pullman that I couldn't fairly assess this book on its own merits. I'm still mad at him. ( )

Enjoyed this series very much the first time I read it, still enjoying it a whole lot on re read. I like Sally, and I also really like the way this series tips its hat to its Victorian antecedents in interesting sorts of ways. ( )

I started reading this thinking 'oh, _more_ Sally Lockheart, and such a fat one too, how dull! But I really want to finish the series'. I ended thinking 'wow, the series has really found its stride finally'. Sally is much less of a Mary Sue, and is forced to confront the consequences of her actions - of having a daughter mostly raised by her nurse, of speculating on the stock exchange while workers live in squalour, of her attack on Ah Ling many years before.

There are interesting foreshadowings of Northern Lights in the evil Monkey.

I don't think, however, that Sally's impassioned speach about 'evil doesn't look like a big fat disabled man' makes up for the book's amazing ability to make disabilities repulsive and petrifying.

It's nice to get a strong social red message in a book for young adults though.

The plot is really dark and evil. The way the trap has been spun around Sally for years, and all Lee has planned for Harriet is deeply nasty.

The ending is too deus ex machina for my liking, although it has a lot of style. ( )

This is the Last book of the Sally Lockhart Tales, which most curiously, I started FIRST. This may make little sense, but I started this book having no idea (at first) that this was the very last one. I quickly ordered in the others, feeling rather foolish at my mistake. However, I found my fingers fumbling through the pages of 'Tiger' at alarming speed. This was indeed an adventure of heart-thumping suspense,that HAD to be read despite fears of strong spoilers.

Sally is a strong female, successful, sassy, with financial independence, friends and family (oh, pardon me, this story takes place in 19th century England) whose luck in life takes a sudden horrible plunge when a stranger makes painfully elaborate plans to steal Sally Lockhart's daughter away from her.

I would dub this as a 'modern day Dickens' novel, if the term didn't sound so hammy. But this best describes the writing style of the book. The characters are seeping with social conscience, heart and emotions that tumble out effortlessly. Pullman provides excellent descriptions of life in Victorian England, making the world the characters inhabit fresh and real.

Sally's struggle is heartbreaking and we, as readers, can recognise her fears all too well. I imagine the weight of Sally's loss (of her money, life, friends, family) would be more strongly felt if I had read her previous adventures--however, the narrative does a good job at not making the reader feel isolated. This can be pretty much a standalone tale. It is aimed at a mature audience, and while it tears horribly at the heartstrings and shows a darker side of 19th century London--the writing is never distasteful or shocking.

Lesser known than 'His Dark Materials' but just as blindingly brilliant. ( )