The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Troubled Blood is the fifth book in the Cormoran Strike series by JK Rowling. This book has Strike and Robin on their first cold case, investigating a murder from 40ish odd years ago. The mystery itself is intriguing as it has a lot of characters to navigate through. Easier than The Silkworm because you didn’t have to try and tie them back to the characters in the book within the book, but still a hefty cast. The book also furthers our understanding of our two protagonists.

The Good: Excellent cast, interesting mystery and my two favorite detectives. This book gave us more of a human side to Strike. His aunt is dying and he has to deal with the family dynamics surrounding death. It is always surprising how much emotion rises to the surface when faced with death. Rowling does a great job of protraying that and in her protrayal, we get to see a very raw version of Strike.

Two more goods: first, Strike is celibate in this book. Much more interesting when he is because we get more of the mystery. Also, I really liked how Rowling had the muderer be a sort of serial killer. She did it for purposes, but also just did it because she wanted to see what would happen. I imagine this happens more than we think. Excellent villain!

The Bad: I imagine many will disagree with me, but I am starting to find Robin a bit whiny. I understand she has a bit of a crap life at this moment, but she never is happy. Never. I really just need her to not be so maudlin all the time. Cheer up Robin!!

The Ugly: There was nothing too ugly, some rather disturbing parts about victim selection and how ugly the killer really was. I also wasn’t wild about how Cythia the nanny turned step-mom was protrayed, Rowling could have been a bit kinder to her.

Overall another excellent read.

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