Long Time, No Posts!

Nothing like letting almost a year go by without writing anything!  And I really don’t have a good excuse!  So let me catch you up on what I’ve been reading!

It seems pretty appropriate that one of the last posts I wrote was about Robert Galbraith’s The Cuckoo’s Calling.  I finished the second Cormoran Strike novel The Silkworm last night.  Strike is approached by a woman, Leonora Quine, whose husband, a writer, has gone missing.  Confessing he has disappeared before, Leonora hires Strike to find her husband and return him to his wife and mentally disabled daughter.  Strike does find Owen Quine - hung from the ceiling in an abandoned house, disemboweled, drenched in acid, and quite dead.  The way he was murdered mirrors the way his character dies in Quine's latest book.  However, only a handful of people have read the manuscript - narrowing the suspects down to very few.  All of whom, I might add, are represented in foul ways in the book, giving all of them motive.

The police peg Leonora for the murder of her husband, but the more "evidence" that is found against her, the more Strike is convinced she is innocent.  He sets off to prove her innocence, all while getting to know Quine's tangled social network of publishers, agents, enemy writers, ex-friends and editors.   

Strike's secretary, Robin, becomes more of a partner in investigation when she reveals her dream of working as a detective.  She proves herself to be very useful, but at what cost to her upcoming marriage?

This book was definitely a different side of JK Rowling to me.  The book Quine has written has grotesque imagery throughout - some of it making me think, "Who comes up with this stuff?!?!?"  The grisly descriptions of the murder didn't bother me, but the excerpts from Quine's book are a little disturbing.  Under her pen name, I think Rowling is really trying to distance herself from the Harry Potter books, which is completely understandable.  

I really enjoyed the books - of course the plot and the details kept me hooked, but I thought the ending was too short.  Strike wraps up the case, explains his theory, and catches the murderer in about 2 1/2 pages.  How he and Robin went about getting the evidence was vague - just "We've gone over the plan.  You know what to do."  I wanted more!!!!  But that's just a personal preference - I guess - I like all of the details!!   

I don't know whether I would recommend this book to just anybody off the street or not.  Maybe so - the grotesque parts were minimal, but referenced several times.  I heard there would be 7 total Cormoran Strike novels, so I can't wait to see what he's up against next time!