All the action with Sally Jones is back in this brilliant sequel to The Murderous Ape.

With a rare pearl necklace discovered in the wheelhouse of the Hudson Queen, we might wonder if that's why someone was sneaking around their ship, recently. How do they know about it?

They check out some of the background details of the necklace & decide to reunite it with the owner. This involves a trip to Glasgow but someone else is determined to spoil that plan & get their hands on it. How far will people go when they're fueled by greed?

Sally Jones, gorilla and ships engineer, The Chief, Signor Fidardo & Ana will all draw you right into this adventure - you'll love the way it's written & whether or not you've read The Murderous Ape, you'll enjoy this one 100%.
Such a great example of story-telling as a true art with a smooth flow.

Superb opening. A reminder of how good the first book was. Lovely to revisit Sally Jones and friends. The translation is excellent and does not feel like it is one.
I look forward to reading the whole book now.

A follow-up worthy of the first volume! Same great characters, same sense of adventure and new settings. Young readers will love this intelligent animal, not to mention hidden treasures and sea journeys. Both exotic charm (Portugal) and local interest (Glasgow).
The illustrations are beautiful and it can be read as a stand-alone.

A wonderful taster, thrilled to meet Sally Jones again and excited to read the full book and travel with her on another adventure.

After reading just the first few chapters of The False Rose, I can't wait to read the whole book! It has left me with lots of questions about what is going to happen to Sally Jones next and I am excited to see how the adventure will unfold.

These early chapters do a great job of skilfully weaving in information from The Murderer's Ape so this could be read without having read that book first, although I would definitely recommend reading it too!

From the outset I was hooked back into the wise mind of Sally Jones. She is describing a new adventure and the tantalising first few pages made me crave to read on.
To slowly savour her tale as she suggests when writing a warning to ‘Madam…’ is what I suggest.

I have not read 'The Murderer's Ape' yet, but have heard so many fabulous reviews about the title that I jumped at the chance to read this extract.

I really enjoyed what I read and cannot wait to get my hands on the full title. Even though I haven't read the first book, I didn't feel I was disadvantaged and could follow 'The False Rose' easily. What wonderful story telling! A mystery is quickly established with many interesting characters in very few pages. The quirky, but capable Sally Jones is the main narrator. A female gorilla who is also an engineer - it doesn't get much weirder than that. She is brave, capable and perceptive and will make a fabulous story teller as we are steered through this adventure. Will the 'Hudson Queen' ever sail again and at what cost? What are Harvey Jenkins' motives? Is he a friend or a foe to overcome?

I am sure this book will be a thrilling adventure for all to enjoy!

The extract I read was only long enough to recap the previous book (which it did beautifully) and set up the new adventure, so I can't really review the plot of this sequel. The writing and the characters are wonderful, as they were in he last book and it felt brilliant to be back in their world. I will definitely read this once the whole book is available. My son adored the first book. It is often hard to find something he is really gripped by, but he found book one fascinating.

Thank you to the publishers for allowing me to read an early preview.

There isn't much to go on, but there's enough to make me intrigued to read more.

I hadn't read the prequel, The Murderer's Ape, and suspect some of that story may have been spoiled by my reading these early chapters, but despite the text seeming to give an overview of that earlier book, surprisingly little was given away.

It took me a while to realise the narrator was the eponymous ape from that story, and, not that it matters, but I had no idea the narrator was female, (the only illustration showed an ape wearing typically male clothes) or what her name was. The narrator does not introduce herself to new readers, and when a couple of characters talk about 'Sally Jones', it is as if she isn't there, so it's not clear that it is the narrator they are talking about. (I felt the need to go back and re-read the blurb for The Murderer's Ape and finally got that Sally Jones, the ape, and the narrator are all one and the same 'person'.

From what I've read so far, this story won't work as a standalone, so I think I will need to read the first book first, and then read more of this one before I can give a fair review.

The star rating I have given reflects the level of writing and the intrigue set up in these first few pages.

I was given the opportunity to read an exclusive extract of early chapters and was hooked. This will definitely be on my books to purchase list as will the prequel The Muderer's Ape. The short extract reveals that Sally Jones is being left, albeit by necessity, and is being offered a job by the mysterious Harvey Jenkins.
An absolute first rate extract with lovely illustrations.
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this exclusive extract.

I am so looking forward to this book and my only complaint was how quickly I finished this extract. It has just left me wanting more!
I loved The Murderers Ape so this sequel is highly anticipated. The extract was certainly a teaser and suggests the reader is in for another treat!

I LOVE The Murderer's Ape. The extract reads awesome. Fingers crossed the book, The False Rose, is available to read soon. Sally Jones is the most wonderful and cleverest character. Can't wait for more adventures

Sally Jones is a legendary character in my mind and one I would happily read about all day long. When I heard The False Rose was coming soon, I immediately found my copies of the previous books,
Saying that you don’t need to re-read these as the first chapters of The False Rose very quickly and efficiently bring you up to speed on what has already happened.
These chapters also introduce a new character, one who will drive this story and inevitably cause some problems for Sally Jones. It builds up so wonderfully that I was left guessing, hoping and willing for the rest of the book to come sooner!
This book will be hugely popular and will hopefully introduce Sally Jones to a whole new generation of reader!

The Murderer’s Ape was a winner with learners and teachers captivating and enthralling us. Cliff hangers and superb description as well as the empathy we all felt for Sally Jones created a winning formula. This opening extract already tells me that we will all be hooked… bring on the publishing date

Absolutely loved it. Great to be back in this world and looking forward to the full manuscript very much indeed

How to review the opening two chapters of a much-anticipated book is my first thought, with so much unknown! The book preceding this, Murderer's Ape, is a book like no other - a story packed full of mystery and adventure as gorilla Sally Jones tries to unravel the events leading to the wrongful imprisonment of her friend and employer The Chief after he is convicted of murder.- and one which is greatly loved by those who have read it.

This title picks up shortly after that one, with Sally Jones and The Chief trying to repair the Hudson Queen after it was sunk early on in Book 1, and the gorilla again recording her narrative using a typewriter as she is unable to communicate through speaking. In need of funds for the restoration of the ship, The Chief has taken on a job aboard ship the Funchal and is to be away at sea for some time, leaving Sally Jones behind. Shortly after he departs, the ape receives a note from Harvey Jenkins - a man she has only recently met - offering her employment with a travelling fairground and asking her to meet with him.

At this point, the reader has the misfortune of being able to read no more, but with my appetite well and truly whetted, I cannot wait to read the rest of the story. Obviously I am assuming that Sally Jones will keep the appointment and that something will happen to her as a result, but the question is what? And - of course - what will happen after that?

As well as the sublime narrative, I am keenly anticipating more of the wonderful artwork - only a taster of which is included in the sample I read - which greatly enhanced the original title and has to be seen to be believed. I think it fair to say that October 7th is going to be a long time coming for a great many of us who cannot wait to read on. Huge thanks to Pushkin Press for my sneaky peek and cheeky fingers crossed for an advance read of the entire book!