Robert Galbraith

Having been a fan of the first book in the Cormoran Strike series, CAREER OF EVIL arrived to some anticipation, and a bit of panic as the second book was still on the unread pile despite the strongest feeling that it had been read. Reading them sequentially seemed like a serendipitous event, although the outcome was somewhat less expected.

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Picking up the 2nd Cormoran Strike novel, THE SILKWORM, in preparation for reviewing of the 3rd for Reviewing the Evidence, I was reminded how much I really enjoyed the first book. Way before I had any idea of Robert Galbraith’s true identity.

The major appeal of the series, for this reader, is the building working relationship between the two main characters - Cormoran Strike and his assistant / apprentice Robin Ellacott. It’s also the struggle that Strike has on a daily basis with his disability and the restrictions that it places on somebody who once was a fit, active and obviously physically capable man.

Set these two in a nicely complex plot which has a hefty dig at the publishing industry as well, and this was a great read. Enjoyable, engaging and as good as the first in the series, albeit showing a worrying tendency towards length over content.

Career of Evil is the third novel to star Iraq veteran Cormoran Strike and his plucky offsider cum secretary Robin Ellacott. It is no spoiler to reveal that Galbraith is the pen name of JK Rowling, this worst kept secret in publishing was revealed with the publication of the first Strike novel. Career of Evil, as its name suggests, is darker than the previous two. It opens with Strike and Ellacott receiving a package containing a woman’s leg. Given that Strike is himself an amputee there is clearly a personal element to this, an element that becomes more personal as it appears that Robin is also a target.

As with the previous volumes in this series, the best thing about Career of Evil is the two main characters and their relationship. Strike, the grumpy former military investigator with a prosthetic leg, is a great character and well handled by Galbraith. As is Robin, whose violent past finally gets an airing. One of the highlights of the novel is the exploration of Robin’s history and its impact on her relationship with her fiancé.

Galbraith takes a route of many contemporaries, mixing descriptions of her protagonists’ activities with short chapters from the killer’s point of view. This is by far the weakest aspect of Career of Evil. While these point-of-view chapters are supposed to ramp up the tension, they are too clichéd to be as scary as Galbraith wants them to be. Unlike writers like Michael Robotham and Jeff Lindsay, there is no nuance or depth to the character that might both make them more human and thus more menacing.

It is too easy to look to JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series when reviewing her pseudonymous crime novels for patterns and clues. But there are similarities that are hard to avoid. In the case of Career of Evil, much like the latter Potter books, it is Rowling’s propensity to pad out a threadbare plot with character interactions, lengthy red herrings and reams of detail. While Galbraith/Rowling is an engaging writer, she would be a better crime writer if she could just cut to the chase.

Into every crime fiction reader's life something like THE CUCKOO'S CALLING should sneak. Quietly delivered to the front door, unheralded (apart from a blurb comment from Val McDermid that could make you sit up and pay attention), decorated with a nicely atmospheric cover, with a blurb that doesn't quite telegraph exactly what is about to happen.

But you know it when it is happening. A feeling that this is exactly the sort of book that you've been looking for. It's the sort of book that makes you start to resent the need for sleep, and not regret ignored chores for one second.

Part of what makes this such a fantastic book is the characters. The central private detective Cormoran Strike comes from the school of lone wolves, but very current day. He's an injured war veteran, a recently ex-fiancé, struggling businessman, living in his office after what seems like the final split from his volatile ex. His temporary help in the office, Robin, is surprisingly normal, a country girl come to the city, she's efficient, a self-starter who enjoys the difference of working for a PI. So much so, that she doesn't seem all that keen to take on a more stable, full time job even though her buttoned down boyfriend thinks she should.

There's a lot more background to both of them, but it's woven into the story of an investigation triggered when a brother comes to Strike for help after the fall off a balcony of a troubled, very famous model is called a suicide.

Which leads to the other part that makes THE CUCKOO'S CALLING such a fantastic book. It's a terrific plot. Twisty, unexpected, littered with possibilities and alternatives, it's such an intriguing case. There's such a contrast between the lives of the rich and famous, and those less materially fortunate who look into their lives. There's the contrast between famous for not a lot, and injured and maimed for an awful lot. There's also great humanity and touching complications in the relationship between Strike and Robin, Robin and her boyfriend, Strike and just about everybody he comes across.

It's also a plot that leads to a conclusion that, I didn't see coming, but when it arrived, made complete sense.

There's really only one problem with books as good as THE CUCKOO'S CALLING. Waiting for the next one in the series. It's hard not to whinge about the waiting.