656 pages
English language
Published April 5, 2019 by Little Brown & Company.
"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 Robin 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 …
"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 Robin 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."--Amazon.
I enjoyed it. Some of the connections were too convenient but overall, it made me happy. I can't help but love Cormoran and Robin. Not necessarily together but as individuals, I love them.
Every Cormoran Strike book has a distinct personality. Cuckoo's Calling was about methodical procedure, Silkworm was a classic whodunit, Career of Evil was "personal peril/serial killer". Lethal White, for much of the first half, is entirely focused on the slowly-heating non-romance of the principals; there's barely any detecting for the early chapters.
Since the previous book ended in a way that suggested this "will they/won't they" thing was heading in the "they won't" direction, much of Lethal White involves resetting that situation. Galbraith clearly isn't in a hurry to come to a resolution, but she doesn't seem inclined to keep that suspense unending.
When the book finally gets to the detecting, it's an interesting, rather involved case of blackmail and politics with a variety of fairly interesting characters. Although I wouldn't say I was as drawn by the mystery in as I was for the first two.
Still, a nice …
Every Cormoran Strike book has a distinct personality. Cuckoo's Calling was about methodical procedure, Silkworm was a classic whodunit, Career of Evil was "personal peril/serial killer". Lethal White, for much of the first half, is entirely focused on the slowly-heating non-romance of the principals; there's barely any detecting for the early chapters.
Since the previous book ended in a way that suggested this "will they/won't they" thing was heading in the "they won't" direction, much of Lethal White involves resetting that situation. Galbraith clearly isn't in a hurry to come to a resolution, but she doesn't seem inclined to keep that suspense unending.
When the book finally gets to the detecting, it's an interesting, rather involved case of blackmail and politics with a variety of fairly interesting characters. Although I wouldn't say I was as drawn by the mystery in as I was for the first two.
Still, a nice return to form after that annoying serial-killer thing.
Lethal White opens where Career of Evil ended, at the wedding of Robin Ellacott to her long-time fiancé, where events soon conspire to establish a subplot of jarred relationships which threads its way alongside the main storyline (building on a will/won't they that fans of Moonlighting will be familiar with).
Even in handy paperback format Lethal White is a weighty tome, one that offers hours of reading pleasure but doesn't lend itself well to the daily commute. Despite the increase in pages from the previous book (and resulting strain on my already sore back from lugging it to work and back), the latest tale thankfully doesn't have the same tendency to wander away with the plot which the third book suffers with. Recommended.
DNF. From what I did read/listen to, way too much time was wasted on the same old Robin/Matthew drama that we have already been dealing with for three entire books. It's just getting old at this point. Then there's the build-up to a Strike/Robin relationship which is just not what I want from these books. There's so much time wasted on all the relationship drama that it felt like it took forever to get to the actualy mystery. What a waste of time.
I loved this book. As usual with the author, the characters are well rounded and developed, the plot is complex and intriguing and I was equally looking forward to know the ending and happy to savour each page. Highly recommended.
Somewhere between books 3 and 4 I lost interest in the characters. That doesn't make this a bad book, but it makes it more obvious that these aren't particularly good mysteries.
The latest installment of the Cormoran Strike series did not disappoint. Robert Galbraith (aka J K Rowling) has crafted an impressively complex murder plot, as well as a family saga, a bit of culture, and an update on the personal lives of Cormoran and Robin. In other words, everything I wanted.
Bravo! I can hardly wait for the next one...
