He slid back the steel bolts which held the smaller of the two gates. It operated as a sort of hatch, and sliding it upwards, he locked it into the open position. The tigers growled again, their flanks heaving, but they made no move.
'There you are then', said the man. 'It's all yours. Help yourselves.
Live a little.
The natural instincts of Mohan the tiger and Ramee the tigress had been blunted by years of captivity. But slowly these instincts came back, they learned to adapt to the forest and, desperate for food, how to hunt and how to kill.
It is from this superbly dramatic setting that Ted Willis develops an intricate story about the people whose lives were affected by the release of the tigers. This leads initially to a portrait of a small English community, then to a wider canvas as senior police officers and the forces of law become involved.
This book is marvellously exciting. The monstrous animal violence of the tigers, the scale of their muscular ferocity, their smells and hungers and rages, come vividly alive.