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mirandadarrow 's review for:
Career of Evil
by Robert Galbraith
I nearly ran to the library when it was my turn with this audiobook, as I've been developing quite a book-crush on this series. I really liked Career of Evil, but not quite as much as The Silkworm, so this books suffers from comparison more than by its own merits.
What's to like, and why is this 4 stars instead of 5:
The Characters - I still love Cormoran and Robin (but not Matthew), and we had tons and tons for each of them in this book. Robin's backstory was on full parade, and was very well done. Cormoran had a new relationship, and this seemed an interesting foil to Robin and Matthew's engagement sub-story. We also got more backstory on Cormoran, his former step-father, his mother's death, but no glimpse of his sister or his half-brother, and I missed them. I think that lead to part of the darker tone, as his family (sister, nephews, annoying brother in law, half-brother) bring some lightness to Cormoran that we were bereft of in this book. We're left in a lurch about the future of this trio, and now I'm stalking the internet to try to find out when we'll get another book in this series. I'm all for reading a new Harry Book book / screenplay / whatever, but not if it's stopping us from finding out what's going on with Cormoran, Robin and Matthew.
The Theme - The first book in this series was really about fame and fortune and the hunt for such. The second book was about the publishing industries and all the odd ducks in that pond. This book is really about women, violence against them, societal limitations, and the struggles of one particular woman that we've come to like quite a bit, despite her own limitations. I like this subject, being a woman, and working in a career that was traditionally legally restricted to men only. But, the level of violence against women (and girls) in this book is hard to absorb while reading something "fun" as it made this book significantly darker than the prior two. Not that having a darker tone is bad, but it just made it a little less enjoyable to me. The narration from the perspective of the killer was particularly chilling and something that wasn't present in the prior two books in this series.
The Mystery - I think the mysteries in these books are particularly tightly drawn, with enough clues to lead the reader towards the killer, but also enough red herrings to send you off the track. In this book there were three main suspects that Cormoran and Robin were researching, tailing, and monitoring, but the physical description of the three were all so similar, it was really hard to keep them straight. Maybe some of my issues were listening on audiobook, as you don't see the names of the characters, and I didn't always catch when they were shifting from one suspect to another in their investigation. Here's a slight spoiler - they are all terrible people. The main issue I had with the book was confusion at the end regarding which bad acts were committed by which members of this trio, and which dude was actually sending Robin and Cormoran the body parts rather than just being a horrible person to people in their daily lives.
The Odd New Fact - I like to learn about something new in books of fiction so I feel like I'm actually learning and not just "having fun", so learning about the people who fantasize about amputations and injuries was a shocking new fact. Good lord, who knew, but apparently it is a thing. That sobering new information actually gave us one of the lightest scenes in the whole book, though, as Cormoran and Robin were paying money (that they didn't have) to take out to dinner two people, including a horrible woman who fakes injury for attention and thinks she's a hero for it. Tempest, I think, was the woman's name, and just the whole image of that dinner, along with Cormoran's dinner at the fancy restaurant with his new girlfriend with mild spoiler were really the only "light" moments in the book and greatly appreciated.
Unwanted Earwigs - I'm old enough to remember some Blue Oyster Cult, and never particularly liked it. The creepy lyrics which started out each chapter certainly didn't want me to go search out vintage record shops to find some. So the whole time I'm listening to this book, I'm hearing "Don't Fear the Reaper" on continual loop. I actually went and listened to "Burning For You" to have some variety in my head. Please stop. How can I make this stop.
For the love of all that is holy, please no more Blue Oyster Cult. I promise I'll give 5 stars to the next book if it comes out in the next year or so, it gives us character development (spoiler) and I don't get some 1970s band music stuck in my head for days. Is that too much to ask?
What's to like, and why is this 4 stars instead of 5:
The Characters - I still love Cormoran and Robin (but not Matthew), and we had tons and tons for each of them in this book. Robin's backstory was on full parade, and was very well done. Cormoran had a new relationship, and this seemed an interesting foil to Robin and Matthew's engagement sub-story. We also got more backstory on Cormoran, his former step-father, his mother's death, but no glimpse of his sister or his half-brother, and I missed them. I think that lead to part of the darker tone, as his family (sister, nephews, annoying brother in law, half-brother) bring some lightness to Cormoran that we were bereft of in this book. We're left in a lurch about the future of this trio, and now I'm stalking the internet to try to find out when we'll get another book in this series. I'm all for reading a new Harry Book book / screenplay / whatever, but not if it's stopping us from finding out what's going on with Cormoran, Robin and Matthew.
The Theme - The first book in this series was really about fame and fortune and the hunt for such. The second book was about the publishing industries and all the odd ducks in that pond. This book is really about women, violence against them, societal limitations, and the struggles of one particular woman that we've come to like quite a bit, despite her own limitations. I like this subject, being a woman, and working in a career that was traditionally legally restricted to men only. But, the level of violence against women (and girls) in this book is hard to absorb while reading something "fun" as it made this book significantly darker than the prior two. Not that having a darker tone is bad, but it just made it a little less enjoyable to me. The narration from the perspective of the killer was particularly chilling and something that wasn't present in the prior two books in this series.
The Mystery - I think the mysteries in these books are particularly tightly drawn, with enough clues to lead the reader towards the killer, but also enough red herrings to send you off the track. In this book there were three main suspects that Cormoran and Robin were researching, tailing, and monitoring, but the physical description of the three were all so similar, it was really hard to keep them straight. Maybe some of my issues were listening on audiobook, as you don't see the names of the characters, and I didn't always catch when they were shifting from one suspect to another in their investigation. Here's a slight spoiler - they are all terrible people. The main issue I had with the book was confusion at the end regarding which bad acts were committed by which members of this trio, and which dude was actually sending Robin and Cormoran the body parts rather than just being a horrible person to people in their daily lives.
The Odd New Fact - I like to learn about something new in books of fiction so I feel like I'm actually learning and not just "having fun", so learning about the people who fantasize about amputations and injuries was a shocking new fact. Good lord, who knew, but apparently it is a thing. That sobering new information actually gave us one of the lightest scenes in the whole book, though, as Cormoran and Robin were paying money (that they didn't have) to take out to dinner two people, including a horrible woman who fakes injury for attention and thinks she's a hero for it. Tempest, I think, was the woman's name, and just the whole image of that dinner, along with Cormoran's dinner at the fancy restaurant with his new girlfriend with mild spoiler
Spoiler
(during which he contemplated breaking up with her, but not during dinner as she was buying, and then he received a call from the police about Robin and left)Unwanted Earwigs - I'm old enough to remember some Blue Oyster Cult, and never particularly liked it. The creepy lyrics which started out each chapter certainly didn't want me to go search out vintage record shops to find some. So the whole time I'm listening to this book, I'm hearing "Don't Fear the Reaper" on continual loop. I actually went and listened to "Burning For You" to have some variety in my head. Please stop. How can I make this stop.
For the love of all that is holy, please no more Blue Oyster Cult. I promise I'll give 5 stars to the next book if it comes out in the next year or so, it gives us character development (spoiler)