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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
Glad to return to the gruff detective Cormoran Strike for another case; thought this was better than the first in the series (Cuckoos Calling) because Galbraith (aka Rowling) seems to have hit her stride. I thought the fact that this book had more suspects also made it a harder case to solve, which I enjoyed. Looking forward to a third!
Robert Galbraith is really JK Rowling, of Harry Potter fame. I am not sure I really understand why she took another name to write adult private investigator novels because it didn't take long for her to be sprung. But like the name she chose, this work is totally different in every possible way from the Harry Potter series. As you would expect!
Cormoran Strike (she always has great names for her characters) is a private investigator, a man who has had an interesting career in the defence forces and the police, and now working for himself. Assisting him in his one-man band business is his wonderful assistant, Robin, dying to become a private investigator herself, following and observing every move Cormoran makes. To be honest, she has way more smarts than Cormoran, and is far more instrumental in solving the case.
With a name like Cormoran Strike you would have to be a bit of a maverick and he now walks a rather blurry line between the wrong and right side of the law as he attempts to help helpless citizens in their pursuit of justice. Most of his work is domestic related - spouses suspecting spouses of misbehaving and engaging Cormoran to tail, photograph and report back. In the midst of all this bread and butter stuff, he is approached by a woman who happens to be the long suffering wife of a famous author. The writer has gone missing, she suspects foul play, and Cormoran finds a routine m
And this is actually the problem for me with the novel - the imagination. The author who is missing, Owen Quine, writes quite bizarre and disquieting books. Not a nice man, and neither are any of the seven people closely associated with Quine that Strikes finally identifies as suspects. The seven people have been redrawn as fictional characters in Quine's latest controversial manuscript, entitled Bombyx Mori -the scientific name for a variety of silkworm. In this manuscript, the protagonist, Bombyx, is a writer who is "repeatedly abused, tormented and ultimately eaten alive by the people in his life whilst going to extraordinary lengths to capture and preserve his talent for their own selfish gains." Does it sound weird? Well, it is, really weird. As I said way too much imagination. The whole thing becomes so convuluted and complicated and dare I say it ridiculous that I just could not take any of it seriously. And so it lost me. Apart from the very real Robin, I couldn't engage with any of the characters - all self absorbed back stabbing narcissists - makes it even harder to work out who is the villain, as they are all vile. And I just thought Strike was a bit of clown - the usual failed detective, with a sad lonely life, living in the tiny decepit flat above his offices, drinks too much, has a crap diet, rude and grumpy. Plus the whole thing is very, very long. The ending when it comes, is a massive relief, and not much of a surprise, as I said the baddy could have been any of the seven.
Having adored all the Harry Potter books, marveled at them, Cormoran Strike is just one great big massive disappointment. Which saddens me. Maybe I will try JK Rowling's The Casual Vacancy, written under her own name - apparently it is good, and I don't want to give up on her just yet!
Cormoran Strike (she always has great names for her characters) is a private investigator, a man who has had an interesting career in the defence forces and the police, and now working for himself. Assisting him in his one-man band business is his wonderful assistant, Robin, dying to become a private investigator herself, following and observing every move Cormoran makes. To be honest, she has way more smarts than Cormoran, and is far more instrumental in solving the case.
With a name like Cormoran Strike you would have to be a bit of a maverick and he now walks a rather blurry line between the wrong and right side of the law as he attempts to help helpless citizens in their pursuit of justice. Most of his work is domestic related - spouses suspecting spouses of misbehaving and engaging Cormoran to tail, photograph and report back. In the midst of all this bread and butter stuff, he is approached by a woman who happens to be the long suffering wife of a famous author. The writer has gone missing, she suspects foul play, and Cormoran finds a routine m
And this is actually the problem for me with the novel - the imagination. The author who is missing, Owen Quine, writes quite bizarre and disquieting books. Not a nice man, and neither are any of the seven people closely associated with Quine that Strikes finally identifies as suspects. The seven people have been redrawn as fictional characters in Quine's latest controversial manuscript, entitled Bombyx Mori -the scientific name for a variety of silkworm. In this manuscript, the protagonist, Bombyx, is a writer who is "repeatedly abused, tormented and ultimately eaten alive by the people in his life whilst going to extraordinary lengths to capture and preserve his talent for their own selfish gains." Does it sound weird? Well, it is, really weird. As I said way too much imagination. The whole thing becomes so convuluted and complicated and dare I say it ridiculous that I just could not take any of it seriously. And so it lost me. Apart from the very real Robin, I couldn't engage with any of the characters - all self absorbed back stabbing narcissists - makes it even harder to work out who is the villain, as they are all vile. And I just thought Strike was a bit of clown - the usual failed detective, with a sad lonely life, living in the tiny decepit flat above his offices, drinks too much, has a crap diet, rude and grumpy. Plus the whole thing is very, very long. The ending when it comes, is a massive relief, and not much of a surprise, as I said the baddy could have been any of the seven.
Having adored all the Harry Potter books, marveled at them, Cormoran Strike is just one great big massive disappointment. Which saddens me. Maybe I will try JK Rowling's The Casual Vacancy, written under her own name - apparently it is good, and I don't want to give up on her just yet!
Very gripping, and written with the great pace and characterisation that is typical of Rowling/Galbraith. But as much as it pains me to say it, the more of her writing I read, the more I spot unfortunate cracks in her writing style. Truthfully, it's just nothing special. And without the amazing story and characters that made me fall hopelessly in love with the Harry Potter series, it just falls a bit flat. She REALLY needs to get her editor to watch out for overuse of particular words and phrases, which crop up with a noticeable and somewhat irritating regularity.
Despite not holding a candle to the characters from Harry Potter, that's not to say that I don't like the protagonist of this series. Cormoran Strike is an incredibly likable character, and also rather fanciable, despite the numerous references to how unattractive he is. But 'The Silkworm' didn't deliver the 'whodunnit' revelation at the end with the gusto that I was hoping for. The whole way through I was very excited to find out answer to the mystery, as you should be when reading a thriller. But the culmination of the plot didn't contain enough references to subtle clues that had been dropped throughout the book, and just didn't leave me with that kind of "Ooohh" feeling that I want from crime novels.
That all sounds like I disliked it, which is not the case. I was very engaged in the plot and as I said, the pacing was excellent, as always. Just wasn't as good as some of her previous work unfortunately. But it was an enjoyable read, and I will definitely be looking forward to Cormoran Strike's next case.
Despite not holding a candle to the characters from Harry Potter, that's not to say that I don't like the protagonist of this series. Cormoran Strike is an incredibly likable character, and also rather fanciable, despite the numerous references to how unattractive he is. But 'The Silkworm' didn't deliver the 'whodunnit' revelation at the end with the gusto that I was hoping for. The whole way through I was very excited to find out answer to the mystery, as you should be when reading a thriller. But the culmination of the plot didn't contain enough references to subtle clues that had been dropped throughout the book, and just didn't leave me with that kind of "Ooohh" feeling that I want from crime novels.
That all sounds like I disliked it, which is not the case. I was very engaged in the plot and as I said, the pacing was excellent, as always. Just wasn't as good as some of her previous work unfortunately. But it was an enjoyable read, and I will definitely be looking forward to Cormoran Strike's next case.
More great detective writing. I think I liked this one as much or better than the first. I hope Rowling continues to write under the Robert Galbraith pseudonym.
Galbraith loves words and London. Like the later HP novels, this needed firm editing. There's no doubt though they're a good storyteller.
in reality it’s more of a 3.7 but it was still good. i think there were a couple blips where i got bored and i also felt like the drama was going in circles but overall like not bad i might continue the books
The mystery is more engaging than the first book. Still vaguely sexist. Still pretty enjoyable.
Another very solid, very readable private eye yarn from Galbraith/Rowling. As always the author shows her patience in letting character arcs play out for the relationships of the core characters. The main mystery is a murder that revolves around a salacious roman a clef about the London publishing industry... which makes me wonder whether this book was actually a roman a clef about the London publishing industry. That would have been brassy. The wikipedia entry doesn't say so. shame
It does mention some London reviewer's comment that the descriptions of placed in London were superfluous because surely everyone knows what those look like. Right, everyone important, who already lives in London. twerp.
Anyway, it was a heck of page turner, I like the characters, the mystery plays fair.
It does mention some London reviewer's comment that the descriptions of placed in London were superfluous because surely everyone knows what those look like. Right, everyone important, who already lives in London. twerp.
Anyway, it was a heck of page turner, I like the characters, the mystery plays fair.