Robert Galbraith - The Ink Black Heart

When frantic, disheveled Edie Ledwell appears in the office begging to speak to her, private detective Robin Ellacott doesn’t know quite what to make of the situation. The co-creator of a popular cartoon, The Ink Black Heart, Edie is being persecuted by a mysterious online figure who goes by the pseudonym of Anomie. Edie is desperate to uncover Anomie’s true identity.
Robin decides that the agency can’t help with this—and thinks nothing more of it until a few days later, when she reads the shocking news that Edie has been tasered and then murdered in Highgate Cemetery, the location of The Ink Black Heart.
Robin and her business partner, Cormoran Strike, become drawn into the quest to uncover Anomie’s true identity. But with a complex web of online aliases, business interests and family conflicts to navigate, Strike and Robin find themselves embroiled in a case that stretches their powers of deduction to the limits – and which threatens them in new and horrifying ways . . .

Comment: This is installment #6 in the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith. I'm a fan of the series and while this one doesn't reach quite the same level as the previous one in terms of mystery, I was still seriously devoted throughout the 1221 pages of my paperback edition.

In this new adventure, Strike and Robin are going to stretch their agency's ability to investigate several cases, mostly because a big one comes their way and, suddenly, besides the things they had committed to, Strike's ex show up with yet another request, and Strike decides to investigate her husband because it would suit his need to finally get rid of Charlotte. 

However, the biggest and most time consuming case is that of the cartoon authors Edie Ledwell and Josh Blay, who are attacked and Edie is killed, being the main suspects members of the fandom of the cartoon. Robin is especially interested because Edie sought her before her death, asking for help to unmask the main hater among the fandom, but Robin told her they weren't experts on cyber investigation. Now, after all, they have the opportunity to make justice, but how will find who that person is?

I can bet many readers hated the size of this story and many might have the opinion that no story requires such an amount of pages but for me, personally, this is fun and like spending time with people I'm interested in. It's certainly true that some situations could be edited even further, but I like the vibe of the story, I like the slow progress and the time we have to savor and think about everything.

I will admit this case didn't fascinate me as much as the one investigated in the previous book and I wasn't as eager to find out the assassin in this one. Besides, the twists and the identity of the killer here weren't as amazing nor as surprising, and part of my reaction was due to this, and not that the story isn't appealing. In fact, this story has to be quite modern and realistic, considering the theme being heavily set on social media and cyber bullying/cyber hate and all those things we can say about coward people who have such behavior and lack of respect while on an anonymous screen.

The author does tackle a lot of themes related to the modern world of social media and how that works and how people can be affected by what they see and by the interactions in such platforms. It does seem as if people are way more free with the demonstrations of hate and lack of understanding if they don't have to be face to face with their "targets" and we can see this very well in the story, especially when Robin and Strike investigate several people somehow related to the cartoon - made to be accessible on YouTube - as well as to an online game fans developed based on the cartoon and, obviously, all the fans who were active on places like Twitter (which I know is now something else, even though I've never had an account there).

The investigation process starts slow, as one would expect, but I like these types of books where searching for a villain doesn't necessarily mean deaths or gore as we might find in other crime or mystery novels, and we can go steadily from one point to another, trying to guess what is going on. Now that I know the solution, there are, indeed, several hints which make sense and point out in that direction, but as always, there is a bigger amount of information that only makes sense, or seems easy, after we get to know how everything is connected. I must say it sounds too complicated to keep track of every detail and the author used tons of details... the editor must have the patience of a saint.

The best thing about these cases Robin and Strike investigate is how we get to see them think on their feet, connect dots, be proactive in finding ways to reach this situation or that, use disguises and plans and stuff that, frankly, seems too much work, but that is what makes reading this such a captivating task. Impossible to forget, of course, the second best thing (for me) about these books, the very slow development of Robin and Strike's personal relationship. They've started as boss/employee, then Robin left, then came back, then they became sort of friends, then co workers, now business partners and it does seem obvious where this is going. I surely hope the author takes pity and makes them a couple soon...

It took me five days to read this book - during work days I was inconveniently restricted - but I was always eager to go back to the characters and what would happen next. I suppose many of the subjects mentioned during the case's investigation might not appeal to many readers , after all one could say there is always somehow the notion the author or someone wants to send a message, but in terms of plot and characterization, I think the author was quite clever and I'm now very eager to read the next one, it will be about a cult....

Grade: 8/10

Robert Galbraith - Troubled Blood

Private Detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwall when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, Margot Bamborough – who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974.
Strike has never tackled a cold case before, let alone one forty years old. But despite the slim chance of success, he is intrigued and takes it on; adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency, Robin Ellacott, are currently working on. And Robin herself is also juggling a messy divorce and unwanted male attention, as well as battling her own feelings about Strike.
As Strike and Robin investigate Margot’s disappearance, they come up against a fiendishly complex case with leads that include tarot cards, a psychopathic serial killer and witnesses who cannot all be trusted. And they learn that even cases decades old can prove to be deadly . . .

Comment: This is the latest installment in the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith. The book was published last year but I waited for the paperback edition and only now finally got to it. What a ride!

In this book, the main characters are still dealing with the challenges in their personal lives but the detective agency is going very well, so much that Strike and Robin have gotten the help of three investigators. Most cases are pretty predictable but they are part of the job and some even provide interesting situations. However, the main case Strike and Robin investigate in this story is the disappearance of Margot Bamborough in the 1970s for her now adult daughter wants to try to know what happened and gives the agency one year to investigate. The police at the time suspected a serial killer of having abducted her, he is in prison for other murders but is he actually guilty of Margot's death or was he just a convenient player? Strike and Robin go back to basics in this investigation and when the clues are finally put together, who knows what truth come out...

This is a big book, no doubt. My edition has a little more than 1000 pages but, sadly for me, I was also busy with other things so it took me longer to read this, otherwise it probably wouldn't have taken that long... I was enthralled by this plot. I think the author did a wonderful job.

The book is big, yes, and focused on the investigation of Margot's disappearance. But as expected, there's also a lot of time dedicated to Strike and Robin's thoughts, personal lives and dealings with secondary characters. This takes a lot of pages, takes a long time, is incredibly descriptive and long and I can understand why many readers find this annoying, boring, tiring, repetitive, everything is debated to the maximum and their relationship barely advances. While I, too, would love to see them reach common emotional ground sooner, I'm not bothered because, for me, the overall reading experience was outstanding.

It's true the setting up of Robin and Strike's personalities have already happened in a very solid manner: readers by now already understand they are complex and that they will, eventually, be together, but the road is taking a long time. There were moments I wish the author had stressed out this more, so that the scene where they finally admit their feelings comes quicker but...on second thought, I don't mind it because spending time with the characters, following them as they go on their routines, on their work, on their interactions just captivates me and I don't mind all the time this is taking. It's like spending time with friends, people you want to see find true happiness.

As for the case, I won't go into it because I don't want to ruin anyone's possibility of reading this story without spoilers, but I had no idea this would go the way it did - to be fair I'm not a very good guesser of who's done it and such in mysteries - and when the solution came up, when the case seemed to be finally solved, I was amazed at how on earth was it possible that the explanation was that. Of course, by then, all the clues we've spend so many pages on, thinking, connecting, deducting, all feel into place but I would never think it would be like that.

Of course, by then, all clues and hints made sense, as if the solution was in front of us all the time, just like in books from the masters such as Agatha Christie, but something lacked for us to connect the dots. I thought to myself, the amount of planning the author had to do, the work it took to plan and to write down stuff so that everything would make sense in the end... plus with the secondary things, the fact this is a huge book, all could be messy and badly executed but, in my opinion, all worked out very well.

Well, perhaps there are some things that could be improved, some details which could be removed, scenes that don't really mater much in the big scheme...some pacing here and there could have been adjusted... but I was having such a great time reading that those things didn't bother me. The positive aspects, to me, more than compensated for the things I'd change. For me this was a success and now it feels depressing to think it might take a long time for another story to be published...

Grade: 9/10

Robert Galbraith - Lethal White

“I seen a kid killed…He strangled it, up by the horse.”
When Billy, a troubled young man, comes to private eye Cormoran Strike's office to ask for his help
investigating a crime he thinks he witnessed as a child, Strike is left deeply unsettled. While Billy is obviously mentally distressed, and cannot remember many concrete details, there is something sincere about him and his story. But before Strike can question him further, Billy bolts from his office in a panic.
Trying to get to the bottom of Billy's story, Strike and Robin Ellacott—once his assistant, now a partner in the agency—set off on a twisting trail that leads them through the backstreets of London, into a secretive inner sanctum within Parliament, and to a beautiful but sinister manor house deep in the countryside.
And during this labyrinthine investigation, Strike's own life is far from straightforward: his newfound fame as a private eye means he can no longer operate behind the scenes as he once did. Plus, his relationship with his former assistant is more fraught than it ever has been—Robin is now invaluable to Strike in the business, but their personal relationship is much, much trickier than that.
The most epic Robert Galbraith novel yet, Lethal White is both a gripping mystery and a page-turning next installment in the ongoing story of Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott.

Comment: This is installment #4 in the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith, a series I have been enjoying lately. It does make me nervous there's only one book after this one to read, which I haven't got yet but looking at how easy it has been to go through the pages, it will be quick to read the 5th when I get it and then the terrible time until the next one will await. Considering the page count increases with each installment, the wait might be painful...

In this book we follow the general events which took place at the end of the previous story into their natural development, meaning, Robin is now married but not happy and Strike has went after her to tell her he wants her to work for him again.

They obviously have a new case, which ends up in their lap a little by chance. They decide to help Billy, a young man who tells them he saw something a long time ago, but Billy isn't the most reliable of witnesses. To investigate further, Robin goes undercover since Strike is now too famous to play the part of a man of no importance, and what they discover makes the mystery even more complex. When an important man is killed and his murder staged a suicide, will Robin and Strike be able to solve things before it's too late?

I believe I've said before, when commenting on the previous books in the series, that my favorite element in these books is how the author balances the crime investigation and all the steps taken for that with the personal development of Robin and Strike's lives and their work relationship. This second subject is quite complex and takes up quite a big part of the novel but I really like it. The problem is that things happen at a very, very believable pace, which is to say - slow! - and most readers are probably frustrated by now that the little clues and the inner monologues each one of them has about the other aren't yet bearing fruits.

Will it happen in the next book, the admittance of what they feel for each other? The wonder and expectation but you know, even if it doesn't, even if it's slow and frustrating, if it ends up being romantic somehow, I'm all for it. The fact we get so much information about them, about their personalities and opinions and of what happened to them, of how they think, is what makes them memorable characters and why I feel like rooting for them, both as professionals trying to solve a mystery and as two people doing the right thing while they sloooowly fall in love. Well, I hope!

As for the crime investigation, there are many interesting steps taken into making it complex and filled with possibilities. At some point, the identity of the killer felt a little obvious but then a red herring happened and I didn't think about that person anymore so when that ends up being the culprit, I was as surprised as someone who might not considered the idea. It might seem the bad guys' motives are sometimes a bit hard to accept but, then again, there are crazy people everywhere in real life, doing things for the silliest of reasons. I was not wowed by the intricacy of the process, but I did enjoy seeing how Strike and Robin investigated and reached their conclusions.

There is some interesting characterization in these books. The other side of the slow pace and lengthy scenes is that we get to know the main characters pretty well, as well as the possible state of mind that leads them to make the decisions they do. I do like the psychology of this. This means that we get to understand why they are this type of person, why they react the way they do, why certain events affect them in this or that manner... Yes, the same elements don't work the same way for everyone, but I can say I was engrossed in reading this and the personal details of the characters lives' made it compelling. I'm really eager to read the next one...

Grade: 8/10

Robert Galbraith - Career of Evil

When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman’s severed leg.
Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible – and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.
With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them…
Career of Evil is the third in the series featuring private detective Cormoran Strike and his assistant Robin Ellacott. A mystery and also a story of a man and a woman at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives.

Comment: This is book #3 on the Cormoran Strike series by author Robert Galbraith. I have enjoyed the previous books which means I will most certainly finish the series.

In this third installment, things are going well enough for Robin, Cormoran's assistant and secretary. She feels she is learning to become an investigator and she knows she is a key piece in the office too so when a woman's severed leg is sent to her, she is obviously affected, especially because the whole thing makes her fiancé Matt react badly about her working there.

Cormoran, however, feels he is the right intended for the leg and that by using Robin's name, the author only wanted to send a message. The police starts the official investigation into the woman whose leg was sent to them but both Robin and Cormoran start their own mission trying to put the more obvious possible suspects in a likely position to have committed the crime.

In between personal and professional issues both Robin and Cormoran need to overcome, will the killer be finally caught?

I would say that the die hard fans of mystery and thrillers would think the plot of this book to be too slow in pace. Things take quite a while to happen even if the characters are always doing something.

However, for those who like crime books mixed in with good (or perhaps simply emotional) traits evidenced by the main characters, this is certainly a good example.

The author pleases both sides quite well but I must confess what makes me want to read these books is very, very simple: how Robin and Strike's relationship evolves among all the investigation.

The investigation in this book is a little different from the other two because the crime committed is closely related to Strike. This means we get to discover more things about him as the story evolves and clues about the suspects arise and how that is connected to Strike and his past.

This is clearly a clever way to slowly unravel secrets of the protagonist while keeping up the interest in a crime investigation, without it becoming too boring.

For me, the really great part was how more protagonism Robin seemed to have here. It's really an exciting part of the story to peel off layers of the characters, to understand why they are like that or why some things have not yet been shared.

I suppose what we discover here about Robin isn't such a discovery but it's quite different to assume something and to have it admitted by her. I keep hoping Robin shares more about her and the possible amazing skills she can come up with. This happened here very well: she has a few scenes that are truly amazing and showcase her immense potential.

On the other hand, the author didn't transform Robin into this super able heroine. Robin makes mistakes, has low moments and a complicated personal life. I think all readers who, like me, are more focused on the personal side of things in these books, keep getting a little frustrated by how slow and vague things still are. Even after interesting admissions by both Strike and Robin in their inner monologue moments, they both behave as humans do and just get swamped by life and other commitments, their own fears and thoughts of unworthiness. I just hope the author can start changing this soon because it would be as great to have them as real couple as it is to just wish for it.

Strike is still the main character, of course, and the investigation is finally solved by him. 

There are several suspects and red herrings everywhere, some purely for distraction, other clues don't matter to the crime investigation but do offer handy knowledge on the character's lives for other reasons.

When the real killer is uncovered, of course it makes all sense, just like in any crime story and the reason why had been in open sight of the reader, but of course the why and how aren't that easy to understand until the end. This to say, the crime aspects aren't badly done, but with so much going on, it can be easy to overlook what matters or not to its solving.

So, all things considered, this was still a good story, it's a big book with a lot to focus on, which means there are a lot of pages, but it's a good feel to be immersed in the story and the character's lives. I'm hoping more things happen in the next book, which I'm eager to read next month.

Grade: 8/10

Robert Galbraith - The Silkworm

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, she just thinks he has gone off by himself for a few days - as he has done before - and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.
But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realizes. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were published it would ruin lives - so there are a lot of people who might want to silence him.
And when Quine is found brutally murdered in bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any he has encountered before . . .

Comment: I'll definitely need to kep my comments short for the near future, mostly this month, since between work and chores, I've had a lot less time to read and to be online. I trust next month things will be calmer at work and I might have more free time again out of that period.

This is the second story in the Cormoran Strike series by the author. I did enjoy the first book and decided to keep up with the series.

This time, Strike has a new case and he is hired by a woman to investigate her missing husband whereabouts. What seems an easy case actually turns into something in the world of weird for the missing man is an eccentric author and his work, although not consensual and as important as he believes himself to be, is still at the public eye and inspires interest.

Strike starts his investigation quite simply but the more he uncovers, the more intriguing things get. When the author is found dead, Strike will need to his best to prove his client didn't do it and, even more so, who is the real killer...

This story follows along the lines of the first one in terms of plot and characterization:

- an investigation that starts out simply but that becomes more complex as the clues pile up.

- two protagonists who seem to be co workers, who do well as a team but who still manage to (very) slowly be more concerned with each other.

In fact, I should say my favorite part of these stories has been to see what happens to the characters emotionally speaking. It's obvious they will evolve as time goes by.

The plot is filled with weird references and situations, some do feel a little complicated but it's interesting the identity of the killer is so obvious when we learn a certain fact...of course this only happens at the end. I still liked the way things were developed although, comparing to the first book, this one seemed to be a little less appealing. It's not the investigation path for some things we learn in the process are quite fascinating if not a little too weird, but the whole case felt a little slower, thus also a bit boring at moments. It is a fact the story drags...

The victim is an author which means we do have some inkling to the world of publishing and despite knowing this can be both an exaggeration and abased on realistic situations, I still didn't find it to be as engrossing as I imagined, being a book lover. I suppose it's a lot better to maintain a certain ignorance or indifference in one's head to better savor the books without real life implications.

Like I said, the main characters' relationship and how it progresses is the most fascinating element. It's a pity things happen too slowly but on the other hand, if they do become a couple at some point (hopefully), the journey will feel a lot more special then.

I'm going to read the next book next month and I hope it can allow things to move a little more in the path I imagine.

Grade: 7/10

Robert Galbraith - The Cuckoo's Calling

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.
Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.
You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this. Introducing Cormoran Strike, this is the acclaimed first crime novel by J.K. Rowling, writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. 

Comment: I decided to pick this book because I saw a glowing recommendation by someone whose taste in books I tend to share. I was looking for to be impressed and I was, although this wasn't as powerful for me as it was for who recommended it to me.

In this book written by famous JK Rowling, under a pseudonym, we have a brilliant crime investigation and a quirky cast of characters, some of which turn out to be quite endearing, especially private detective Cormoran and his new secretary Robin.

Cormoran Strike has a very famous father but he tries his best to stay out of his radar and does his own thing, including the fact he was in the army and left because of an injury.

He's a little down on his luck when the story begins and slowly we get to see his powers of deduction come to play as he investigates the death of a supermodel and everything related to her young life. But the case isn't as simple as he imagined and the more he discovers, the more unsettling every clue is. Will Cormoran be able to put things together before something fatal happens?

I'd say the most impressive detail of this book to me was the whole tone and atmosphere the author has created. Throughout the novel, the slight feeling of oppression, of a road without a stable end, of something that isn't quite right on one's nerves never really left me. 

I figure the intention is for the reader to feel a weight has come out when the characters finally get on with a better life, namely how the protagonist goes from practically destitution to a hopeful future in the end.

This little thing has convinced me the author planned and executed this story very well, all the details and steps taken from one point to another were constructed in a very precise manner. It was wonderful to see her eye for detail in this book. I can also see the room for improvement in terms of psychological elements concerning the main characters, Cormoran and Robin, as well as complexity in their lives being a key element in the future novels too. This has been well thought, for certain.

Here we got simple glimpses on them but it's fascinating to think where it will go.

Cormoran is quite a character. We have an idea of his personality by his actions and what little things we see him do and think of his past. I confess there were time I felt a little sorry for him but then again he wasn't loud nor cocky so I could appreciate his quieter side more. He is also clever, has a complicated past and family life and I'm naturally very eager to find out more about him.

Robin wasn't as developed, just a little hint here, another there...enough to make me rise my eyebrows and think "interesting..." so I believe the author, again, did a great job in characterization, leaving plenty of room for speculation. I hope - and will steadily avoid reviews on the next books - these two might become a couple at some point....

The plot was intricate and although I suspected who the bad guy might be from a certain point on, it was still a marvel to see the clues being put together and understand the how of everything. The why wasn't as strong but in crime books it gets to a point where it's too unbelievable if the motives get wacky or unrealistic, therefore some of that "already seen this" can't really always be helped.

However, I still think the author connected the dots quite well. 

I suppose the reason why this wasn't even better for me was a matter of pace. I understand the need to let time pass, to let the reader feel ready to go from one idea to the other but it did drag the action, it did make things feel they were developing very slowly. One can't forget there is also the development of the protagonist's personal lives ongoing but I think the book had some slower moments that almost put a break on things and I felt bored here and there. Thankfully, these were moments rapidly compensated by some discovery, some clue on Cormoran's life but yes, they were there.

In my opinion, this was a good story, with a solid structure and I'm eager to see what will happen in the next books. This one might not have been perfect but it suited very well that need to just sit cozily and be immersed in a story.

I hope the next one is even better.

Grade: 8/10