by Robert Galbraith
review by Aimee
First, I’d like to apologise for not posting two reviews last week. The Silkworm is quite a hefty read, plus I’m at the final stage of thesis writing for my Masters degree and have not allocated quite as much reading time. One more week and I’ll be finished. Hooray!
As anyone who reads this blog will know, I hated the first book in this series (read it here). I was very reluctant to read this one, but as it had been chosen for my book group, I thought I’d better give it a go.
I would most definitely missed out had I not read it. I’m not saying it’s a perfect novel, but it far exceeded my expectation. It’s much gorier, with less dead ends and more pure thrilling crime. I like it when the author is smarter than I am, because I love that shocked reveal at the end. This book had many moments that had me gasping, and was definitely a page turner.
Cormoran Strike goes through some much needed character development, but it’s quite clear we are still not fully acquainted with him. However he was not the reason I enjoyed this book so much. I felt quite a deep connection with his secretary, Robin Ellacott. In this adventure, she went through the biggest changes, and we got glimpses into her not-so-happy engaged life. Her fiancé, Matthew, appears controlling, jealous, and irrational. For anyone who has ever been stuck in a relationship like that, it rings a lot of alarm bells. However, Robin stands up to her fiancé, and really grows as a character. Not only that, but she develops from the meek temp-agency secretary that we met in book one, to really bond with Strike and demand from him what she wants in life. You go girl!
Also, aside from the books, the BBC have recently made an adaptation of the first novel, in a TV show called Strike. I have to say, the TV show made for much better drama than the first novel. The book drags, but the TV show has that sense of gritty drama about it that only the BBC can pull off. Also, the casting is perfect. Tom Burke is cast as Strike, and he fits the role so perfectly. He’s bulky, dark and brooding, and has the qualities that you’d imagine a war-veteran-turned-private-investigator to be. One thankful thing is that, despite Galbraith’s references to Strikes unusually hairiness (which I still think is not the most interesting point to keep raising about him) Tom Burke gives that impression but in a way that is not meant to be disgusting, but just a bit hunky. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do with The Silkworm and whether the BBC will air such a gruesome tale.
Book Details
Publisher: Sphere
Published Date: 29 January 2015
RRP: £7.99
ISBN: 9780751549263
Synopsis: Taken from Amazon
When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, she just thinks he has gone off by himself for a few days – as he has done before – and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.
But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine’s disappearance than his wife realises. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were published it would ruin lives – so there are a lot of people who might want to silence him.
And when Quine is found brutally murdered in bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any he has encountered before . . .
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