The Universal Humanitarian Church is, on the surface, a peaceable organization that campaigns for a better world. Yet Strike discovers that beneath the surface there are deeply sinister undertones, and unexplained deaths.
In order to try to rescue Will, Strike's business partner, Robin Ellacott, decides to infiltrate the cult, and she travels to Norfolk to live incognito among its members. But in doing so, she is unprepared for the dangers that await her there or for the toll it will take on her. . .
Utterly page-turning, The Running Grave moves Strike's and Robin's story forward in this epic, unforgettable seventh installment of the series.
This time Strike and Robin need to investigate a church on behalf of their client, whose son has been there for years and can't seem to be reached. The Universal Humanitarian Church (UHC) seems to have everything other churches don't have but is it really all that perfect? The church leader is as charismatic and seemingly good as everyone believes, but why can't the members who are not high in the hierarchy talk freely to their family members? It seems the church's indoctrination suggests family ties are seen as restrictive, but could this be the way to ensnare people to the point they forget they had a life before the church? Robin and Strike decide to take on the job and Robin goes as far as to infiltrate the church and see what happens on the other side. What she sees and what they find points to something even bigger than what they were seeking. Is there any way to help their client's son and still charge the church for the things they don't disclosure, which some might even be criminal?
The books in this series are all quite big. My edition had 945 pages but the only reason why I didn't finish sooner than 5 days was work, otherwise I'd have sailed through it even quicker, because the story is engaging, addictive and so well plotted - all things I expected - that it was quite a final result.
Strike and Robin are partners at work and they are both in love with each other but have not told one another this fact, and it's both a frustration and a source of continuous situations that affect their personal lives that they don't feel like confessing this. Any fan of the series knows it has to be a matter of time until they are partners in all senses but the path until this happens is certainly slow and pondered. These aren't two people who rush into something just because and while I can't help thinking they should just talk, it's also quite a way to add tension and I can't wait when they are both in the same page.
This said, something happens in this book that affects Strike's perception of life and I hope this also means he can realize, as clever as he obviously is, that trusting someone and being with someone like Robin will mean his life will be richer and not problematic, but it's also a little sweet to see this happening quietly. Things are now complicated because Robin is in a relationship with a police officer and a good part of these books is to see the protagonist go on with their lives and how that brings them closer to realize they would be happier (I hope) together.
This aside, the plot of this book is terrific. I really applaud authors like Galbraith, who can think, plan, invent and execute plots that make sense, especially like here, with also a huge amount of details and connecting elements and nothing is left forgotten. If there's a issue for me, personally, is that I kind of wanted more closure on the fate of some secondary characters, at the end. I wanted to know more about what some characters will be doing or what choices could they have, and some things weren't addressed as much. It's not an interference to the book's quality, but for me it would be an extra good element.
The cult /church idea was quite riveting. This isn't the first fictional book I read with this element, and I've seen non fiction documentaries on some cults, so the theme is fascinating and I wanted to see how much detail would the author include here. The UHC portrayed here is probably a mix of information from different realistic cults which existed or still exist, and the working of it, the execution of it was so well thought that the only criticism I can say is that some things which enhanced the church's rules felt a bit difficult to seem acceptable if the place wasn't fully isolated. But if one think about existing cults which everyone knows about and the law still allows them to exist in such conditions... anyway.
The author certainly has lots and lots of pages with details which would be used, and the mix of that information with so many characters and situations, and red herrings and things which shouldn't matter and then do, and vice versa, make for a very engaging story and also rather disturbing. Some things are invented, I imagine, but the fascination is that all those things could be real and some people would be manipulated and brainwashed that way and who knows who could care and who could take on such an entity to the point of helping someone. Of course, this part of the novel was a bit like a movie (some scenes are kind of cinematographic), but the way things happen make sense for the evidence Strike and Robin find.
Why would people behave this way? Is this attitude in par with what a person in this situation would do? These questions ran through my mind very often, in regards to the people who lived the church/cult to the maximum. As if happened in may other real life cults, people must behave in a certain way, while certain members don't have to. This is clearly exaggerated in the novel, so much that it seems unlikely no one outside would see it, but the result is quite well achieved. While Robin was there in disguise, I feared for her and I kept hoping she would escape to go back to her normal life.
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