Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Robert Galbraith

“I seen a kid killed… He strangled it, up by the horse."

When Billy, a troubled young man, comes to private eye Cormoran Strike’s office to ask for his help investigating a crime he thinks he witnessed as a child, Strike is left deeply unsettled. While Billy is obviously mentally distressed, and cannot remember many concrete details, there is something sincere about him and his story. But before Strike can question him further, Billy bolts from his office in a panic.

Trying to get to the bottom of Billy’s story, Strike and Robbin Ellacott – once his assistant, now a partner in the agency – set off on a twisting trail that leads them through the backstreets of London, into a secretive inner sanctum within Parliament, and to a beautiful but sinister manor house deep in the countryside.

And during this labyrinthine investigation, Strike’s own life is far from straightforward: his newfound fame as a private eye means he can no longer operate behind the scenes as he once did. Plus, his relationship with his former assistant is more fraught than it ever has been – Robin is now invaluable to Strike in the business, but their personal relationship is much, much trickier than that.

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While trying to finish this book with difficulties, difficult because it was such a thick but boring book, I couldn’t decide whether it was a detective novel or a romance novel. A very tedious long detective novel or a poorly written romance novel, so to speak. Like the previous three books in this series, Cormoran Strike had some other cases to take care of while he tried to focus on the one he was most interested in. In other words, readers have to “participate" in every teeny tiny, little stuff with Strike. Well, that was still bearable. However, the many descriptions about how Strike and Robin were feeling about each other were really painful for me. The book started with the wedding of Robin and Matthew, and ended with their marriage all together. I really didn’t care how Strike and Robin wanted their relationship to continue. I just didn’t care. A very boring couple! A very dull romance!

I had a very strong sense of deja vu when I read Lethal White, the fourth novel in the Cormoran Strike series. That is, I had the similar feeling when I read the last two books in the Harry Potter series. They were all boring, predictable, nothing new, but also are ones in the series which makes it very difficult do decide whether to continue or not.

I really hope Robert Galbraith, aka J K Rowling, will not try to have the fifth book in the Strike series. To save me the troubles.