Lethal White

I loved everything about this book! For a Strike plot it's a slow burn with even more internal conflicts for the characters driving the story. Fortunately Galbraith is very good at that. I probably shouldn't compare this to Harry Potter book 4 but who can resist? Longest book yet of the series? Check. Major events shifting the orientation and relationship dynamics of main characters? Yep. Gauntlet thrown down by big bad? Definitely.

Oh, i loved it. That is such a relief to read about characters that are well written to the point, that you don't get annoyed because they do something stupid. And all because you understand their motives and why they do what they do.
The plot is impeccable too. A good deal of surprises in it for me.
But the thing that I loved the most was the writing. I read books set in our time and world not that often, and this edgy honest writing made all the difference.

right on the verge of 5 stars in terms of “could not wait to get back to it”. “Galbraith” is hitting his/her stride and has blossomed into a top detective novelist. The characters have had the time to flesh out, she has a masterful control over the various threads in the story (reminiscent of some other work of hers?...)

Amai, wat kan ze schrijven, die J.K. Rowling, want Robert Galbraith is natuurlijk een synoniem voor haar.
Dit vierde boek in de Cormoran Strike-reeks is gigantisch – over 600 bladzijden gigantisch – maar het voelt bij het lezen absoluut niet zo. Extreem meeslepend, complex en spannend. Een fantastisch goed in elkaar stekende puzzel die mij geen second heeft verveeld!

The fourth book in the Cormoran Strike series is the best of the series in my opinion. In this book Strike and Robin deal with both work and life conflicts. Their investigation begins as a blackmail case and escalates to something much bigger. Both main characters face challenges in their personal relationships while deciphering the mystery of their case.

I like how this installment of the series digs even deeper into the characters of Strike and Robin. Their relationship is evolving, and I enjoy witnessing the progression. Their friendship is healthy and beneficial for both of them. So many of their other relationships are toxic in contrast.

The plot is very intricate. There are so many suspects and possible explanations. I love that in a good mystery/detective story. I was unable to figure out the culprit, but that's how I like it. If I can guess it, it isn't complex enough.

I hope this series continues. I want to see where the relationship between the main characters goes.

Once again Galbraith, a.k.a, J.K. Rowling, kept me guessing and kept me interested in the lives of her main characters Comoran Strike and Robin Ellacott! Compared to the other books in the series, it seemed a little long - but I was involved with multiple work library projects, and reading other books this past month as well - which may contribute to it feeling longer to me.

Basically after three books, I'm tired of the relationship drama between Robin and Matthew. That's how the book opens with their wedding ceremony and all the drama/tension that it entails because Strike is there etc. 

It doesn't help that each book grows in page length, which hasn't benefited the books in any way imo, but rather the opposite. So after a couple pages of holding this heavy book and reading yet more drama, “I'm over this” is what came to mind so I won't be continuing the series further.

Summary: A year after Robin was nearly killed by a serial killer, both Robin and Strike are still trying to figure out how to work together and deal with their respective relationships, and attraction to each other.

I think Lethal White is the best book of the series so far. Robin is really the central character, although Strike is certainly present. Galbraith/Rowling has finally stopped trying to make the crimes more lurid and allow the focus to be on the main characters and not the bad guys.

Lethal White was probably a bit long if you were reading primarily for the mystery. But I don't read mysteries for the mystery, I read them for the characters, and this is a book that is primarily focused on character development. Robin is suffering PTSD from nearly being killed by a serial killer in the previous book (on top of her earlier rape and other near death experiences). This book has her going undercover multiple times and allows her to grow as an investigator.

Strike is still pretty much Strike. His leg is his main limiting/humanizing feature. If not for a prosthesis, he would be nearly a superhero. And while I do get annoyed with how often his leg hurts in the book, I think this is the only way to really show weakness.

Both Strike and Robin have their own romantic relationships. Early in the book (told mostly in flashback) Robin and Matthew get married, just days after Robin nearly died at the end of the last book. Matthew is no more fully developed in this book and I think that is a weakness in the development of the books. At this point he has opposed Robin's career in four books and there isn't much more to him. Strike's early relationship to Charolette that was over in the first book, but continues to have ramifications, is still present here. In think that the Charolette and Matthew that were in this book were different than the previous books. But what is attempting to be shown is how Robin/Strike have changed and how Matthew/Charlotte have not. I am not sure that completely works, but the handling of it by the end is probably appropriate.

I have mostly listened to these books in audiobook from my local library. The narration is good and I have been engaged throughout the series, although I do not think this is a series I would ever re-read. I like Robin and Strike, but the crimes of the first three were pretty grisly. The crime here is significant, but not grisly in the same way and I could see myself re-reading it.

I am glad that Rowling has continued to write. She will not make the same amount of money as she did from the Harry Potter books, but this is solid writing and I look forward to the next book in the series.

It seems to me that the background story and the writing techniqgue get worse along the series. The first book was written really week, you can almost taste the talent of J.K. at every page. Here, however, there is almost only dialogues and not any more beautiful description. Also, chapter and sentences get really shorter. Someone could say that this is the way to write a detectivme story, but actually the thing that I found interesting about this series was how JK could write a detective story, not how she could manage with stereotypes.
Furthermore, the author is unable to address one of the main problems of detective stories: how not to introduce too many characters and situations that entangles the situations so that it becomes impossible to follow the story and try to guess who is guilty and why.
In summary, it seems to me that this series has lost any original characteristic that was cool.