Strike Four
A lot has happened since Robin Ellacott got a job as a temp in the
rundown office of Cormoran Strike, disabled war veteran-turned-private
detective. In Lethal White, the fourth book in the series by Robert Galbraith (a
pseudonym of JK Rowling), Robin moves up the ranks to partner, marries her
disgruntled boyfriend Matthew Cunliffe, and secretly yearns for her boss; the
man, described as a big, hairy, one-legged and perpetually sullen, somehow manages
to get a string of beautiful girlfriends, the latest being Lorelei. But his
heart still beats for his ex-Charlotte, now married but still dreaming of him!
There is murder, mystery and enough red herrings to sink a boat in this
fat novel, but also too much Mills & Boon-ish romantic mooning holding up
the pace, when the reader just want the story to move forward briskly, dammit!
The book is set just after the last one (Career Of Evil, 2015), so Robin still has a raw knife wound on her
arm, inflicted by a serial killer, and Strike is grumpily acknowledging the
fame and money that followed the capture of the notorious Shacklewell
Killer. London is in the grip of the
2012 Olympics and Paralympics—the influx of tourists as well as Leftist
protests-- when Strike is thrown into a strange case.
A mentally disturbed young man, Billy Knight barges into Strike’s office
to babble about the murder of a child that he witnessed many years ago, and
then vanishes just as abruptly. Strike is mulling over this when he is hired by
the Minister of Culture, Jasper Chiswell, who is being blackmailed by Billy’s
brother Jimmy, and Geraint Winn, the creepy husband of the blind Minister of
Sports, Della Winn. He wants Strike to find some dirt on the two, so that he
can deflect them.
Robin is sent undercover into the grand building that houses the offices
of the ministers—and there are vivid descriptions of the place. Chiswell’s
daughter Izzy and her disgraced half brother, Raphael are around, working for
their father, and all is not well between them and their stepmother, the
temperamental, horse-loving Kinvara. Robin is as excited as her new husband is
furious—he does not want Robin to do such dangerous work for so little pay, and
is also quite blatantly jealous of Strike.
Almost half-way through the book, a murder takes place, the plot
actually kicks in and all the various strands of the book finally converge.
Each
chapter is headed with a quote from Henrik Ibsen’s play Rosmersholm, which has no
direct connection with the goings-on in Lethal
White, but for broad thematic indicators of moral and political conflicts.
The many twists keep the reader engrossed, but there are a few needless
characters and digressions—the book could have done with some ruthless editing.
Galbraith also uses the unforgivable device of having the killer explain his
motives and modus operandi in a leisurely manner, even when it is in his
interest to quickly shoot his victim and get out of his lair.
Hopefully, by the next book, Cormoran and Robin will sort their romantic
and sexual tensions—both could do with some lightening up—the pain of his stump
and her panic attacks take up far too much space.
Lethal White
By Richard Galbraith`
Publisher: Hachette India
Pages: 650
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