Troubled Blood

I love all 5 of Galbraith's books, but I think TB is my favorite one of them all. And ironically enough, I think I enjoyed TB so much due to the fact that a good amount of the storyline was dedicated to showing how Strike's relationship with Robin was becoming more and more personal and close. I say that is ironic for me personally, because usually, what I call the “mushy stuff” in a book is almost a distraction. That is, if I'm reading a mystery/thriller type of novel...

Het was alweer drie jaar geleden dat ik het vorige deel in deze reeks las, waardoor ik toch een opfrissing nodig had. Daarom keek ik nog eens naar de BBC-reeks om vooral terug voeling met de personages te krijgen. Deze gaf me ook echt terug goesting om erin te duiken.

Waauw, dit voelde totaal niet als een boek van bijna 1000 bladzijden. Spannend, mysterieus, meeslepend, intrigerend, boeiend, alle superlatieven komen hier zeker van pas.
Een groot aantrekkingspunt in deze reeks is en blijft zijn personages. Zij en hun onderlinge relaties voelen zo echt aan.
De zaak en de plot zelf, was toch wel complex, waardoor je er je hoofd zeker moest bij houden, maar dit voelde totaal niet als een moeilijke klus. De opbouw, de introductie van de spelers, de ontwikkelingen, alles wordt duidelijk en natuurlijk aan de man gebracht, waardoor het echt gemakkelijk volgen bleef.
Toen het boek uit was, baalde ik toch dat er nog geen vervolg was, want ik wou precies wel bij de personages blijven. Top boek, top schrijver!

★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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I've jumped on each book in this series, but this book sat on my shelf for 16 months after its release. Now that I've finally tackled it, I'm afraid that it'll take me 16 months to write this up the way I normally would.

So, I'm just going to offer some brief thoughts about the book. But first, let's start with:


THE OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION

Private Detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwall when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, Margot Bamborough – who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974.

Strike has never tackled a cold case before, let alone one forty years old. But despite the slim chance of success, he is intrigued and takes it on; adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency, Robin Ellacott, are currently working on. And Robin herself is also juggling a messy divorce and unwanted male attention, as well as battling her own feelings about Strike.

As Strike and Robin investigate Margot's disappearance, they come up against a fiendishly complex case with leads that include tarot cards, a psychopathic serial killer and witnesses who cannot all be trusted. And they learn that even cases decades old can prove to be deadly . . .

Troubled Blood

The latest in the Strike/Robin detective agency series. It has a main investigation of a cold case, and several smaller jobs, running concurrently. These, plus the interplay between Strike, Robin and several new employees of the agency held my interest, despite the length of the book, which I would normally find off-putting. 

Summary: Cormoran and Robin are hired to look into a 40-year old cold case.

Cormoran Strike is a standard grumpy private eye, ex-military, ex-cop. He has had a number of high-profile cases, and his absent father is a famous rock star trying to get Cormoran to show up to an album release party for the 50th anniversary of the band's first release. Robin, his younger partner, is still trying to process through her husband's infidelity and divorce proceedings and her concern that Cormoran will see her as a real partner.

Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) has another book that has ballooned to an enormous size. Like the later Harry Potter books, Troubled blood has nearly doubled in size compared to earlier books and weighs in at over 900 pages. Considering the size, I read it quickly. I have listened to most of the previous books in the series, but I did not want to listen to 32 hours of audio. Also, this series pushes my boundaries with violence and sex. Troubled Blood is a thriller, and the series has always had violence and sex, but I read the series because I like the characters of Robin and Cormoran, not because I want to read about serial killers. In some ways, I am not sure I would start the series if I had known where the content would go. But I have started it, and I do like the leading characters.

Rowling writes engaging storylines, but there are a lot of traditional thriller/mystery tropes here. For example, the main characters are in love but won't admit it to themselves or each other. They both have a history with previous relationships that makes them wary of entering new relationships. The tough guy Cormoran wants to protect Robin from danger, but that makes Robin more prone to risk-taking to prove herself, which is another reason besides their fear of intimacy with each other that keeps them from openly talking. So many things are hidden from each other that, if they would talk, would work out. I know that real people do this, but it is such an old trope in books that it can be annoying.

The plot is convoluted but fine. The daughter of a missing woman hires the agency to investigate the disappearance of her mother. This is a 40-year old cold case, and there is little chance of the case being solved. The agency is always short-staffed, and hiring good investigators is hard. The margins for the agency are thin, and everyone is always overworked. Cormoran's aunt is dying of cancer. His absent mother has already passed away. His aunt and uncle provided the only stability in his life, even if their relationship is strained at times. Cormoran spends much of the book with family and not on the cases, which strains the agency even more. Robin's ex is dragging his feet on the divorce to make things hard on Robin and force her to give up because she is out of money. There are a couple of new staff in the agency, but more people does not always make things easier.

As you would expect with a nearly 1000 page thriller, there are a lot of false trials. The solution is acceptable and explained in the end, but I think the tension could have been maintained at 300 fewer pages without harming the plot. I enjoyed the book. I will keep reading the series, but it is not a series that I will pre-order and read immediately (I read this one a year after it was released.)

Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith (or JK Rowling) from the Cormoran Strike Series Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook

To get one thing out of the way right at the beginning: It's just a disguise. Creed himself says so.Nevertheless, I've been informed by my daughter - who tends to be right (woe be me!) - the author proudly presents views the Dark Ages are rightly about to reclaim. Those views of the author are deeply offensive to many - me as well. And, yet, they do not diminish the greatness of this piece of art.2021 starts out well, reading-wise. I've liked [a:Robert Galbraith 383606 Robert Galbraith https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png]'s “Strike” novels from the beginning because Galbraith's characters were so relatable.The eponymous Cormoran Strike, former soldier, now a detective, who lost one of his legs in war. Robin, who starts out as a temporary worker at Strike's then-struggling agency as a secretary, but who becomes Strike's business partner and confidante.Then there's Strike's glamorous ex-fiancee, Charlotte, his estranged rockstar father Johnny Rokeby and Leda Strike, Cormoran's groupie mother.In the beginning of the series, that's pretty much the entire primary cast - apart from the victims, the perpetrators, the witness, etc. - and that would already have been enough because the chemistry between Strike and the others is interesting and vibrant. Especially with respect to Robin...At this point in the overarching story arc Galbraith is obviously in full command of his cast and at the top of his game so far. So, where are we? (Potential mild spoilers for the previous novels follow in the next paragraph solely which you can safely skip if you intend to read the first Strike novels.)Strike's and Robin's detective agency is booming with business. In spite of getting two sub-contractors on-board, Barclay and Morris, Robin and Strike actually have to make use of a client waiting list. Robin has finally gotten rid of her soon-to-be ex-husband, Matthew. She finally realises what she really wants - namely her job as a detective.“Troubled Blood” primarily focuses on a cold case which an annoyed Strike only actually takes to get rid of someone buggering him. Strike and Robin are supposed to find out whatever they can about the disappearance of a GP (general practitioner) - 40 years after the fact!While England at large strongly suspects convicted serial killer Dennis Creed - who sometimes disguised himself as a woman - did away with Dr. Margot Bamborough as well, her daughter Anna isn't quite as sure. As are Robin and Strike after taking a closer look...Thus ensues the longest (at 1.200 pages) and yet most entertaining mystery I've read in recent years. It is not often that I read such a monument of a book and actually enjoy every minute spent “inside” it. Not only do we get to see the cold case to its fascinating conclusion, but we learn a lot about Strike but never explicitly so or heavy-handedly...»The truth was that his feelings contained nuances and complications that he preferred not to examine.«Robin also feels spring coming...»In spite of her tiredness she found her spirits buoyed by the glorious morning, and the idea of Strike waiting at journey's end.«In spite of being mostly story-driven, we get to know a lot about Strike's family, too - especially his aunt Joan - as well as his immediate friends, like his oldest friend from school, Polworth.It's in the way how Polworth especially would be willing to let the world burn but not Strike down that we really get to know who Strike really is.As well as in his relation to his (half-)siblings, their offspring (“a whiny little prick”, “a complete arsehole” (death-defyingly said to their mother...) and a decent boy) and his father, Rokeby. In all these relationships, Strike tries to be honest and this makes the entire book feel honest.One might wish as I did, that both Strike and Robin talked more to each other. There were many scenes during which I wanted to actually shout at both of them (and during one particular scene I did...).Due to all this, it was entirely and unreservedly enjoyable to read these 1.200 pages - and this is truly rare. In its genre, “Troubled Blood” is probably the best book I've read in years and near-perfect.Five out of five stars! Blog Facebook Twitter Instagram