The Murderer's Ape

This book, translated beautifully from the Swedish, is about the adventures of a gorilla who can’t talk, but can understand how to sail a ship, play chess, and how to be loyal to those humans who treat her with respect when she falls into the middle of a crime drama. It reminds me in a lot of ways of my favourite book for young readers, The King of the Copper Mountains by Paul Biegel. It’s in the most beautiful soft jacket, the end papers of which are maps drawn by the author to show the travels of the main character, Sally Jones. Sally Jones is a gorilla and quite simply the greatest non human character since Manchee the dog in Patrick Ness’s Knife of Never Letting Go. Sally Jones is an engineer who was rescued from a life chained to a post for tourist photos. She becomes embroiled in a helter-skelter, twisty-turny murder mystery adventure story, much of which is set on the high seas or in other exotic towns and cities across the globe.And what a fantastic story. The plot is clever, but not too clever. The reader roots for Sally Jones from the first line to the last page. Quite remarkable writing.The book is a great adventure story for kids on the surface, but, underneath, it’s also about: love, loss, justice, corruption, courage, resilience, tenacity, racism, the importance of music in our lives, and the power of story telling. I think readers from 8 to 99 would love this book. Each little story within the narrative is utterly compelling, often amusing, sometimes heart breaking. I adored it from start to finish. And I have a queue of 11 year olds all wanting to read it next - so much so, that I’ve bought a second copy for my class library.(The one thing that annoys me is that the spellings in this edition are American English, e.g. "practice" instead of "practise" and "harbor" instead of "harbour" - pity.)

I love reading, and have devoured many books over the years (well in excess of a thousand). I'm therefore always looking for something a little bit different when searching for my next book 'fix.' As time goes by, that quest is becoming more and more difficult. Fortunately though I do occasionally unearth a treasure, in other words, I find a book that provides that certain charm and magic that inspired me to take up reading all those years ago when I was an innocent child. The Murderer’s Ape is one such book. This may be classified as a children’s book, but take it from me, this is a super book for readers of ALL AGES! That’s why Philip Pullman himself gave the novel such high praise. You only have to open the front & back paperback covers to reveal charming coloured maps, detailing the international shipping routes that feature in the story, to know that you are have something special in your hands.Sally Jones is a wonderful creation, and she's a gorilla whose human traits are so easy to accept once you’ve read those first few enticing pages. Also, although she can understand humans, she cannot speak - so her inclusion in this tale is not as far-fetched as you may at first think. Besides, one of the roles of a good author is to make the unbelievable believable - and Jacob Wegelius does this superbly. I would add that if you’re a person who doesn’t read a lot, or maybe someone who has temporarily fallen out of love with reading then this novel is for you!For me, this was the perfect book to get lost in, and it temporarily made me forget the difficult times we are all facing during the COVID pandemic. This novel took me on an exciting, old-fashioned kind of adventure. The tale is set in the 1920's and it did feel as if it was written during that time in history (though of course it's a recent novel). The Murderer's Ape is indeed a rare treat. The story is told mainly from the perspective of Sally, interspersed with a third-person narrative. It's worth mentioning that the author has also provided some wonderful self-drawn black and white illustrations throughout the book, which are works of art in themselves, and give the reader lovely renditions of the main characters, together with terrific illustrations of some of the settings - gas-lit cobbled streets, exotic market squares, ships at harbour, late-night, clandestine meetings etc. There are actually 79 chapters, each one featuring an exquisite drawing related to the events to be covered in the following few pages.I hope that what I've written here has in some way piqued your interest in a novel that I can easily place in my TOP 5 all-time favourite books - yes, it's that good! Whether you're a boy, a girl, a woman, or a man, this is well worth spending your pocket money/hard-earned cash/pension on. Anyway, thanks for checking out my review, I hope you found it of use. Oh, and just remember: Reading gives us somewhere to go when we have to stay where we are! 📖📚= 😊

Sally Jones is a gorilla and a ships engineer on The Hudson Queen with her friend the Chief. They are offered a mysterious job which goes wrong with disastrous consequences and the chief is falsely convicted of murder.This starts an amazing adventure for Sally to prove her friends innocence and clear his name.This is such a rollicking adventure of a read. I was immediately taken with Sally Jones - such a fantastic main character. Although she cannot speak, we know her thoughts and she steps fully formed from the page, she is endearing, courageous and wonderful.This is a brilliantly inventive story, with fabulous illustrations that really help bring the characters to life in your minds eye. Although this is classed as a children’s book, it should be read by everyone. With such wonderful characters that leap from the page and make you realise that everyone should be accepted for who they are. Immensely detailed, fun, thrilling and gripping.Can’t wait for Sally’s next adventure!

This is a fantastic book. I loved every minute of it - whilst it is fairly long, at no point was there a lull in the action! We follow Sally Jones as she travels the globe in an attempt to prove that her friend, Chief Koskela, is not guilty of murder!Did I mention that Sally Jones is a gorilla? Well you soon realise that her kind hearted and practical nature is almost human - along with her bouts of sadness. A fiercely loyal friend, she is willing to risk everything to help Chief and as the story progresses, the new friendships that she makes along the way are truly heart-warming!

Just finished this fantastic adventure story for children and young adults. When her skipper is falsely imprisoned for murder in Lisbon, it's left to Sally Jones and her friends to prove his innocence. The twist? Sally is a gorilla. She can't speak but she can use a typewriter and is a dab hand with machinery. This is a delightful old-fashioned story, that takes our hero across the high seas from Portugal to India via the Panama canal. Recommended particularly for Tintin fans!