J. K. Rowling

I put off reading this book for so long because 1) JK Rowling is problematic as hell and 2) it's ridiculously long. However once I started it I was COMPLETELY absorbed - it was an absolute treat to read 1,000+ pages with Robin and Strike (the slow burn continues!) investigating their trickiest case yet. The creator of a popular online cartoon, The Ink Black Heart, is found brutally stabbed and murdered in the park along with her partner (although he lives). The week prior Edie Ledwell (the show more creator) had reached to Robin to ask for help for because the online harassment that she had been receiving for years had really ramped up and she thought she was in danger. After she is found murdered, Robin is wracked with guilt about not taking the case when she was still alive, so when Edie's relatives reach out to see if they can discover who Anomie, the online troll is, (who also happens to be the number one suspect) they jump on the case. Anomie is a moderator of a game based off The Ink Black Heart and does nothing but spew vitriol about Edie, even after her death. Strike and Robin will have to go online and learn quickly all about this toxic fandom and pull the mask off Anomie before anyone else connected with the cartoon dies. Dense, but fantastic. I could not put it down - hell I would have read more. I didn't come close to correctly guessing Anomie. Give me more Strike and Robin!!! show less

**SPOILER ALERT** Well, the fifth Potter novel continues the tradition of focusing your attention upon the Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher--more on this in a moment. But this is a seriously long book with an arc running from the fallout over Voldemort's return at the end of the previous novel (Goblet of Fire) to the death of Sirius Black at the hands of an escaped deatheater.

This novel finally deals with reading Harry (and the readers) into the varied behind-the-scenes moves of Albus show more Dumbledore, some of which have catastrophic consequences. His leadership is certainly superior to that of Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, but that isn't saying anything.

Once again, Voldemort doesn't necessarily appear to be all that competent or threatening. Time and again he is foiled by a bunch of kids--he's supposed to be so powerful and scary no one can even say his name without wincing. There is some attempt here to justify this oddity, but the impression has been established firmly at this point that while everyone is supremely afraid of this character, there seems little reason to be so (as yet).

However, this novel does unveil a character so repugnant, morally evil, abusive, and dangerous that it is the true stuff of nightmares. Dolores Umbridge begins, you guessed it, at the Dark Arts position, but quickly assumes the post of High Inquisitor at the School before eventually becoming Headmistress. This character's Torquemada-esque fanaticism in devotion to burying her own (and everyone else's) head in the sand as concerns the threat posed by the returned Voldemort is truly frightening. It is disturbing, to say the least, that this also plays out in very clear physical abuse of Harry--abuse no one accounts for, apologizes for, takes ownership of, etc., at least not in this novel. That Hermione brilliantly serves her up to centaurs on the warpath towards the end goes some way to a resolution for this heinous villain, but the fact that she brutalized children under Dumbledore's nose is hardly a sterling moment of his leadership--and, as yet, he hasn't been made to confront it, or its probable legacy and consequences.

Needless to say, this is the darkest of the Potter novels so far--and things promise to continue to get more serious moving forward to the conclusion of this tale. show less

I was initially wary about embarking on J K Rowling’s crime fiction, published under her soubriquet of Robert Galbraith. I sometimes wonder whether I am the only person in Britain who hasn’t read any of the Harry Potter books or seen any of the films made from them. This is not from any literary snobbishness but simply because I have never felt sufficiently inclined to read children’s literature while there are so many other books I consider more likely to appeal to my tastes, and yet show more so little time remaining in which to read them.

I was certainly more than a little cynical about the apparently inadvertent ‘leaking’ of the real identity of ‘Robert Galbraith’, which serve to boost the sales of the Cormoran Strike books, although I can perfectly understand Ms Rowling’s wish to see if her writing for grown-ups could succeed in its own right, rather than depending upon the impetus that her name would lend it.

Setting that wariness aside, I read The Cuckoo’s Calling the first of the Galbraith books a few years ago and enjoyed it. Cormoran Strike is certainly a welcome addition to the ranks of literary private detectives. Fictional detectives, whether in the police force or privateers, all seem to require at least one particular quirk or flaw, and Strike has them in abundance: disowned illegitimate son of a major rock star, former soldier who lost part of one leg in service in Afghanistan, and potentially as splenetic as Morse or Rebus on a bad day.

The novel worked very well, with a cleverly crafted plot and engaging and believable characters (neither of which was any no surprise from a novelist who had succeeded so admirably in encouraging children to read in the first place, and then holding their attention through increasingly massive books). Having enjoyed The Cuckoo’s Calling, I shortly afterwards attempted to read The Silkworm, but for reasons I can’t recall, gave up, having found it almost impossible to progress beyond the first few pages.

Finding myself recently the recipient of a copy of Lethal White, Galbraith’s latest novel, and after being convinced by several friends whose opinion I regard highly that The Silkworm certainly merited another chance, I returned to it a few days ago … and loved it.

The story opens with Strike being approached by Leonora Quine who wants him to find her missing husband. Mrs Quine herself in a markedly unappealing character, but her despair reaches out to Strike, and he agrees to take the case on. He learns that the missing husband, Owen Quine, was a novelist who had enjoyed early success although in recent years his popularity had declined, as had his standing with literary critics. He had, however, been working on what he believed would be his masterpiece, set to re-establish both his standing in the world of letters and his more worldly fortunes. This keen anticipation of an imminent return to fame and wealth had not been shared by his agent, whose initial response had been dismissive of many aspects of the work, causing a major rift between her and Quine. She had, however, forwarded it on to Quine’s current publisher and various other figures, without having read through it closely. It transpired that the work was a grotesque fantasy, through which Quire had satirised the publishing world in general, and many of his own acquaintances in particular, most of whom had been portrayed in the most appalling and deliberately hurtful manner. Although the book took the form of a horrific exercise in magical realism, the portrayals of certain individuals were clear enough to render the book libellous in the most incendiary manner.

Having read the book in closer detail, the agent tried to recall it from the various people to whom she had earlier forwarded it, but was too late. Many of those who had read it were immediately talking about legal action, and some had reacted violently, uttering violent threats against Quine. Against this background, Quine disappears.

The petty (and not so petty) jealousies that Strike uncovers within literary London are very entertaining, and I assume that Ms Rowling found a certain satisfaction in deriding some elements of the publishing world that was initially so resistant to taking on her Harry potter books (similar to the hapless A&R officer at Decca who turned down The Beatles on the grounds that there was not much demand for guitar bands).

The developing working and personal relationship between Strike and his capable and eager assistant Robin Ellacott is cleverly handled. In the early part of the story, Robin feels disconsolate as she feels that Strike does not value her as anything more than a glorified filing clerk. This is far from the truth, but while he is immensely impressed with her courage and abilities, Strike is reluctant to expose her to danger, and also recognises that her fiancé Matthew dislikes the idea of her working for him at all, and is reluctant to cause her any domestic strife. As the plot advances, and Strike finds himself more heavily challenged, his dependence upon her grows stronger, and she emerges almost as an equal partner.

This is a very entertaining and engaging book, and I am at a loss to understand why I didn’t get on with it better when I first tried to read it. I will certainly look forward to the next in the series, and may even find myself reading some of the Harry Potter books too!
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⚡️✨ Accio childhood memories! ✨⚡️

So, I just revisited the wizarding world via "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" and nostalgia hit me harder than the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9¾. As a certified Potterhead (no shame here), I'll try to be unbiased... but who am I kidding? The biased glasses are on, and I'm rocking them like Harry rocks his lightning scar.

Firstly, if you haven't read this, you're basically living under a cupboard under the stairs. Hogwarts letters are show more clearly lost in the mail for you.

Pros: show less