A review by snazzybooks
The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

What a treat to return to the brilliant characters of Robin, Strike and their Detective agency, and immerse myself once again in the brilliant, readable plots of the Cormoran Strike series. If you’ve read any of these novels before, you’ll know what I mean and I’m sure I don’t need to give background to the characters – if you’re thinking about reading this one – book no. 6 in the series, coming in at almost 1,000 pages – you’re bound to be in some way familiar with this series! I don’t think you’d need to have read the others but to get the most out of this book it’s definitely preferable.

The plot is superbly twisty and engaging. It kept my attention completely for every page of this mammoth book – no mean feat! I always enjoy the ongoing ‘will they, won’t they’ relationship between Strike and Robin, and the main case/investigation this time was a very dark one – at times it was quite disturbing – but it was incredibly intriguing.

As always, I love that these novels are largely set around London. For me, every book (after the first) in this series has been like returning to old friends, and it’s a joy to read. It's definitely one of my favourite books of 2022.