Strike Force

I pre-ordered The Ink Black Heart (2022), the sixth novel in the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) and began reading it as soon as the book arrived. Nothing beats a gripping crime thriller and I have always loved this series, particularly the relationship between the two lead characters Cormoran Strike and his business partner Robin Ellacott.

Strike and Ellacott are hired to investigate the identity of 'Anomie', the co-creator of an online game based on a popular cartoon series, The Ink Black Heart. The creators of the cartoon have been the victims of a crime, and Anomie has been stirring up hatred towards one of the creators on Twitter and on the game. The private detectives have to infiltrate the game and its fandom, and try to determine the real-life identities behind the online aliases of the gamers. One-by-one they have to rule out potential Anomies, which is made harder because resources are stretched at the agency and there is a lot of gaming, stakeouts and undercover work to be done by the team. Plus, the closer they get to cracking the case, the more danger they face.

What I really enjoyed about this novel is the way in which Robin has come into her own. No longer Strike's sidekick, she is taking the lead, growing in confidence, and proving time and again how resourceful she is. The relationship between the two private detectives continues to bloom, simmering away and leaving readers in anticipation. 

I also admired the idea behind the plot - this online world where people hide behind anonymity and behave in ways they never would in real life. Cyberbullying, privacy, hate crimes, and more are covered in this novel. Rowling has created a world within a world which is wonderfully detailed and easy to see how people get sucked in. She is also able to craft a compelling mystery, with enough twists and turns to keep readers guessing whodunit. While reading, I also listened to the audiobook version brilliantly narrated by Robert Glenister who has performed all the novels in this series. 

However, as much as I wanted to love this novel, I was disappointed. At over 1000 pages, this doorstop book is too long, too complicated, and has too many characters. While the chapters depicting online chat threads of moderators within the game were innovative, after a while I found these repetitive and dull. I appreciate that Rowling needs time to explore characters but I honestly felt this book could have been edited down by 20-30% and been a tauter thriller. 

Rowling has said that she expects there will be ten novels in this series, and I look forward to seeing what happens next with these characters. While it will be at least another two years before the next instalment, the BBC has announced that Tom Burke and Holliday Granger will be back in a four-part adaptation of Troubled Blood. This is expected to be televised before Christmas 2022.

My reviews of previous books in the series are available on this blog:

• The Cuckoo's Calling (2013) 
•  The Silkworm (2014) 
• Career of Evil (2016)
• Lethal White (2018)
• Troubled Blood (2020)