TROUBLED BLOOD (B PB)

There is an art to writing a good murder mystery story. Most of the times many a great artist fail to reach that end satisfactorily, but here Galbraith AKA JK Rowling does more than enough. A good mystery can hook you like no other but when the story comes to an end you get up and push on without thinking too much about the story you read, here though that's not the case. What Galbraith does best is create such a realistic ray of characters especially our erstwhile heroes, Cormoron Strike & Robin ellacott, that you find yourself truly invested not only in their life's triumphs and failures but at the same time in the investigation that somehow runs parallel to their own lives. That is a good book to read. Without giving too much away you should read this book for how the lives of our favourite duo has gone on since the end of the last book (Lethal White) and the coming loss for strike and messy divorce struggle for robin affects them as they tackle a cold case of a Doctor who disappeared without a trace 40 years ago. Her daughter hires them to understand and try and get information if she is alive or dead. Unreliable and dogey witnesses and some dead ones since the case is 4 decades old, botched police investigation as the lead investigator had a mental breakdown during the initial stages of the investigation and the occult notebook he left behind that plays a vital role. A psychopath serial killer who is the fictional equivalent of Ted Bundy, new agency detectives plus the whole in office politics with masculine toxicity and some scenes if not the best and gorish galbraith has written yet. Definitely a page turner full of in depth character insecurity for our will-they-won't-they couple and complex plot that just might surprise you. An ambitious project handled my a master.

Book # 5 in the Cormoran Strike series which got released with a tremendous amount of hullabaloo regards JK Rowling’s views about trans people and honestly, if you are like me, hiding away under the rocks and skimming over anything related to the issue in question and have no interest whatsoever in knowing about such views, then Cormoran Strike series is definitely worth a read for mystery lovers. Troubled Blood, however, I would recommend to the fans of series rather than all and sundry. It can surely be read as a stand-alone coz the author does give a bit of background of past events but like all series, there are incidents in Robin’s and Strike’s life that can be understood only if read in order, like for example, why Strike has trouble in completely cutting off the toxic relationship with his manipulative ex-Charlotte? The crime drama which has captured the heart of millions has so much going for it in this novel, but there are also segments of the story that bored me to death. The central mystery is a cold case that of a young doctor who simply disappeared after a day of work. 40 yrs. of torment and grief, her daughter Anna is looking for some measure of closure which is why she gives Strike and Robin a year to manage something out of nothing. Consequently, we get to see the events that occur in Robin’s and Strike’s life due the course of a year and there’s more or less a pressure cooker situation in Strike’s life with his aunt’s illness, Charlotte’s machinations, his estranged father and siblings trying to reconnect and Strike has no emotional maturity to handle the compounding problems. Robin, meanwhile, has her own share of worries, majorly handling the responsibility of the firm in the absence of Strike, a delayed divorce with Mathew, unwanted attention from a colleague, and struggling with life decisions at 30 years of age. I loved how Robin is so forthright in acknowledging the fact that with the kind of job that she’s involved in, marriage and children are probably not going to be the priority in her life. The novel's basic premise weaving together a missing person case with the butchery of a serial killer is remarkable, even though the pacing is slow and the author does go into detailed descriptions of the personal difficulties faced by Strike and Robin which made for some fascinating reading. What put me off was the descriptive astrology and tarot card study. It is being said the previous cop had a breakdown and was using these as a means to uncover the killer and Strike and Robin try to decipher the hidden madness inside the symbols and diagrams but honestly, I think it could have been achieved without the additional 100 or 200 pages on the subject. Anyways, the series is definitely growing in strength, my only wish that the mystery element has a little more thrilling aspects added to it in this labyrinthine plot of myriad clues and hidden mirages. I am sure that we haven’t had the last of Charlotte and that it would take another 2 books in the series for any development in the relationship between Strike and Robin. 4 stars for the brilliantly devised and convoluted story which has its threads spread out like a maze and serpentine complexity that boggles the reader’s mind.

A captivating novel which keeps you hooked, though it seems a bit over stretched at times. But nonetheless, it is totally worth it.

A book that is very rewarding in re-reads as well. We have known that JKR( Robert Galbraith) has been a great mystery writer for a very long time now but the way she keeps laying clues and misleads us is truly masterful.

Rating: 4/5 To start off with, Galbraith’s (JK Rowling’s pseudonym) “Troubled Blood” has an interesting premise — a woman, Anna, hires protagonists Cormoran Strike and his business partner Robin Ellacott, to investigate the disappearance of her mother, Margot Bamborough, a London-based GP. The interesting part is that Margot disappeared 40 years earlier and we have Strike and Ellacott revisit the lives and motivations of several possible suspects, some of who are dead, including an incarcerated serial killer, Margot’s husband at that time, her medical colleagues, patients and friends. And in between trying to solve this case, Strike and Ellacott must grapple with other cases and personal issues such as his terminally ill aunt, his suicidal ex-girlfriend, Robin’s PTSD from an earlier incident and her messy divorce. That gives enough material for Rowling to make this a 900+ page book, without it dragging at most times! The mystery is of a high quality. The various characters are fleshed out well and the reader is privy to most developments through the book. Astrological clues are also neatly woven in the narrative, in the form of the scribblings of the initial investigator who slowly lost his mind. For a change, at least in my view, Rowling has handled the emotional elements, especially the potentially romantic track between Strike and Ellacott, quite well. I always thought that romance was the weakest part of the Harry Potter books and the Strike-Ellacott relationship was handled awkwardly in the earlier books in the Cormoran Strike series. This time however, there is far more maturity (and far less cringe)! Rowling has borrowed the title of the book from Edmund Spenser’s epic poem, “The Faerie Queene”, and has a verse from the poem as an epigraph to each chapter. The epigraphs, very cleverly, appear to have clues to the direction of the story. Given my unfamiliarity with the poem, these allusions escaped me but (important: the following link has major spoilers) the strikefans website is a very good source to understand the linkages between the poem and the book. The missing star in the rating is for the excessive length. While, as mentioned above, the book does not drag for most of its length, the reader tends to lose the plot and forget the characters if they take a long time to finish the book (for example, it took me a month and half to complete this book due to a lack of time to read). Rowling seems to be going the way of the Harry Potter series with the Strike books — the first two books were about 450 pages long, the next two were 500 and 650 respectively, “Troubled Blood” (the fifth of the series) is almost 950 pages long and “The Ink Black Heart”, which has just released has crossed the 1,000-page mark! Pros: Interesting premise, fast-paced towards the end, relatively better handling of the emotional parts Cons: Excessive length

Let me say at the outset that I am a Robert Galbraith fan. I had read a few critical reviews of this book. But I must confess that I loved it from the start to the finish. Like all her books, in this book too, Rowlings draws you into the life of the characters. You live with them through their days, their troubles. It is not a thriller in the sense that it lacks the pace, but more than makes up in characters and ambience. A world is created and one lives in it with the protagonists. Engrossing and thoroughly enjoyable.

This will be a difficult review to write. I have read all the Strike novels released till now and I have liked them generally. I do feel they depict more violence than other crime thriller books that i read, but more than the plot of any single book, the series is addictive (in a Harry Potter kind of way). I am fond of all the characters and do love the way they have evolved and the chemistry and romantic tension between the two main characters. As far as the plot is concerned of this latest book, it is good and riveting (to me). That said it is 927 pages long and it can seem a bit stretched out at parts for many. And maybe because i have eagerly awaited this book, for almost 2 years, it felt like a bit of a let down as i reached page 927. Despite the good plot and sub-plots, despite the nice way the author has depicted the romance between the two main characters, despite the beautiful descriptions about some of England's regions/places, despite the fact that I really like a hero who doesn't come across as infallible and right always as some other detectives, despite the fact that I really like the heroine who is quietly efficient and has lots of guts and solves many cases on her own (it can now really be called Strike-Ellacot series), despite the other well developed characters who support the main narrative, despite the nice way it is written that effectively makes me feel I am actually there witnessing it all unfold...despite all of this it was still not overall fantastic. To begin with there was too much astrology and Tarrot in the main plot for my liking...it is intended to obfuscate and it does...and it is too far stretched this particular angle of the story and I didn't like that this became kind of a central angle and it did seem to show there was meaning in the astrology angle. Secondly, even though I am reading a Strike novel after 2 years I realised that it also has become a bit predictable - not the plot and who-done-it part but some of the other elements (maybe that is true of most series). Thirdly, I wish the violent crimes depicted in the book were in less vivid details - I know in real world there actually are far worse crimes committed against women (and men) but reading it amidst a pandemic was a little more disconcerting. Fourthly, given the pandemic I so much wished one of the killers would be someone else. Fifthly, didn't at all understand, or appreciate, the poetry in each chapter beginning. Finally, just as I got the book I got to know about the whole transphobia row of the author. I did not read about it in details before I delved into the book, but once it was over I went through the arguments and counter arguments against JK Rowling regarding her portrayal of one of the suspects in the book. I also went through her initial comments and her lengthy article in June 2020 on trans issues. The main question I had to ask myself was: can I keep the art and artist separate when I am reviewing this book? There are many ways this has been examined in literature and someone had famously said "the author is dead" implying it is the reader who gives their own meaning to the text through their reading and interpretations. So we should, according to this viewpoint, consider the art totally separately and make it our own. I do understand some parts of what Rowling has been saying and understand some of her concerns, but sadly she does seem to have some form of transphobia. However, to be objective, the character in the book over which there has been such a row is not really Trans - he dresses up as a woman only occasionally to establish kinship with vulnerbale women, to gain their trust as another woman, with the aim to kidnap them. There are many other suspects in the book. So this was just one character. However, given Rowling's history on this issue why did she choose such a character? I think she knew the controversy it will bring - maybe drive up book sales? Even if this is true, I still don't get it why many people are calling this particular book to be perpetrating transphobia, cause in my understanding of my reading of it - it is not a transphobic plot because that character is not really a Trans woman. I also don't understand why people are so angry with her that they want Rowling dead (not the "author is dead" kind of way) and has called for her books to be banned/tossed to fire? That is real hate. And if her detractors feel she is transphobic and creating/legitimising hatred against the Trans community what are they doing by calling her all sorts of names and wishing her harm? I understand the frustration Trans people and their allies feel at someone of the stature of JK Rowling using her huge platform to air views that can affect how others view Trans people. But painting her in a corner with so much of hatred, does it achieve in making her (or anyone supporting her) see the alternate point of view any kindly? Also she is a fantastic author and has created a good plot and told a good story. It is very easy to critique (I am aware of that as I write this review and give the rating) and impossible for most of us to create what she creates - both in Hogwarts and in this series. I do understand in my reading of it it may not have come across as transphobic, but then again I am not Trans and I have not felt hurt by the author's comments for a couple of years now on this issue. I can understand the sadness of fans of Rowling and Harry Potter and anger of others who feel that this has been another example of the author's narrow view on Trans issues. They have every right not to read this book, to denounce the author's stubbornness on the Trans issue. Despite that this particular book is a good crime thriller. It is, however, not as fantastic as I hoped it would be.

I must say JKR is one of the best authors ever for me. The sheer brilliance of the writing and the ability to weave together so many topics be it social commentary in a detective series. Brilliant

Anything by her is great.

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At more than 900 pages and over 30 hours of audiobook (which is how I completed it), "Troubled Blood" involves quite a commitment, but repays that commitment with a twisting, turning narrative that never flags. Some of the length can be attributed to a considerable amount of backstory, which might come across as padding to existing fans of the Cormoran Strike series, but is invaluable to new readers. I suspect Rowling (the author behind the Galbraith pseudonym) anticipated that this book would attract new readers to the series. Certainly it did me. The book is long, but it is not slow-paced or languorous in any way. What I would describe it as is: painstaking. This is not the hour-long TV episode of a cold case investigation. The reader follows Strike and his partner Robin Ellacott through a dogged pursuit of leads, dead ends, long-dead witnesses and broken lives, which feels more realistic than than tied-up-in-an-hour TV episodes. And it is a testament to Rowling/Galbraith's skill as a writer that this painstaking investigation holds the reader's interest through many hours. No doubt everyone has thrashed over the "controversy" about the book, which was a total beat-up generated by a misleading review in a right-wing newspaper. But once more for those in the back row: THIS BOOK IS NOT TRANSPHOBIC. There are no trans characters in the book. The serial killer originally assumed to be the murderer of the missing woman was not trans and was not even a cross-dresser. He seems to have occasionally used disguises or put on a false "camp" persona to put his victims at ease, thinking he was harmless. If this character makes you think of trans women, YOU are the transphobe. That said, Rowling has clearly laced this book with a number of details that hint at her disapproval of "woke" ideas about gender and politics more generally (along with her disapproval of Scottish nationalism, which is if anything even more blatant in the text). For a start, in a book where almost every character is three-dimensional and in some way flawed, the only characters that come across wholly positively are the daughter of the missing woman and the daughter's female partner. As anyone who has watched the UK gender debates for any period of time will realise, many proponents of gender identity would infer a pro-lesbian message (especially one that was completely inessential to the plot, which this is) as being an anti-trans "dog whistle", so it doesn't surprise me that Rowling is still being denounced for this book despite the complete silence on anything to do with transgender people. Even more blatant, though, are the multiple points in the plot where Rowling is clearly mocking the idea that "sex work is [just] work". Whether it's the entitled, self-absorbed young students who impose on Robyn and her flatmate while en route to a "Slut Walk" protest, or the elderly former prostitute mocking a past social worker who had adhered to the "sex work is work" idea, these episodes are also "dog whistles" by Rowling registering disapproval of woke views. (The more obnoxious of the students is even a male with a beard, which is basically a trope for woke Social Justice Warriors.) Running through the whole book, especially the parts written from Robin Ellacott's point of view, is a painstaking evisceration of how some men treat women extremely badly. From the murders by the serial killer Creek, to the casual dehumanisation perpetrated by many of the other male characters, "Troubled Blood" is replete with episodes showing what women encounter and, often, put up with. This, too, will probably be none-too-pleasing for those who have denounced the book. In short: if you like carefully plotted, intricate murder mysteries, you will enjoy this book. If your identity is bound up in social justice and gender identity, you will probably notice that the author is ever so delicately having a go at your views, and you will hate it. Either way, I will bet you won't work out who the real killer is until the very end. Recommended! (Edited to add Robin Ellacott's first name now that I've gone back to check if it was Robin or Robyn. Problem with only using the audiobook version!)

An intricate mystery with plenty of twists and turns.

Cormoran Strike gets hired to solve a decades old disappearance case, after an initial botched investigation by the police. After a chance meeting with the prospective client whilst visiting his ailing aunt in Cornwall, a fire is lit within Strike and the hunt begins. So starts another mesmerising, page-turning, utterly captivating mystery from Galbraith, that may just be the best of the series yet. We fall into the world of horoscopes, tarot cards and signs of the zodiac, as Strike and Robin diligently work their way through clues, witnesses and suspects, trying to find their way through the maze of untruths, lost causes and forgotten facts. The journey we are brought on is so smooth and joyous that the 900 pages were a pleasure from start to finish and I almost wished it were longer at times so that I wouldn’t have to put the book away. The quality of writing and the editing are what make this book so easy to read. There is rarely an unnecessary passage. All the while a sense of atmosphere is ever present, as is character development, which makes you all the more invested in how everything will play out. The back and forth between Robin and Strike is one of the linchpins to this whole series and Galbraith really ramps it up in this instalment, to, surely, every fans pleasure. This is a series that I find just gets better and better with each book (though I was not the biggest fan of Career of Evil) and I will eagerly await the next one too.