Skip to main content

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith #inbetweeny

So time for another inbetweeny before my review of our book of the month A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman. This time I'd chosen to read Career of Evil by Robert (JK) Galbraith (Rowling).

I've read both previous Strike novels and whilst I loved the character's I was slightly dubious on Rowlings ability to write excellent crime novels. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed the books but had definitely read more edge of the seat stuff. This one came highly recommended and as I had enjoyed the other two I was looking forward to a change from the not so good books we had chosen at book club so far in 2016 (no pressure Ove!)

I really enjoyed it - I tried to write that all fancy but couldn't think of a better way to put it.

I loved the character's and think the story between Strike and Robin did move forward (although I do question how long the will they won't they can be kept going).I loved the journey round northern England/Scotland and the Royal Wedding and that band who came third on the X Factor. Rowling just has a way of capturing things that reads so well.

We've always known that about Rowling though and the crunch with a detective novel is in the detecting and this time I think she upped her game. It was grizzly, gritty stuff (biting frozen fingers for sexual pleasure springs to mind) and although the reader could have become confused with 3 similar suspects Rowling was aware of this and gave each a sufficient backstory and enough reminders to keep the reader on track - massive tick for that.

In short I just really enjoyed it and will look forward to reading any new installment. When does the tv series start?

Oh and a special request to Rowling - please can we have more of Shanker - totally loved him. She really does write some stonking characters.

#wouldstayontheshelfbutitsonloan #inbetweeny

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Lock down book club - books from a different country

So we continued with the Zoom version of book club this month and it was lovely to see so many of us tackle it. The theme was books set in a different country (if you can't travel, let a book take you).  I read The Accident on the A35 by Graeme Macrae Burnet, a detective story with an element of tricksy fiction set in France. I really enjoyed it and you can read my full review here. We travelled to America a couple of times most interestingly to see whether Hilary Clinton (or Bill for that fact) would have made President if they had not got married. Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld is out in hardback now. Norway was a popular spot - Norwegian Nights by Derek B Miller about a retired american marine who moves to Norway and intervenes to save a young boys life sounded interesting. So much so that at least one member of the group has gone on to buy the first in the series, American By Day. We even made it as far as Japan and Botswana (and discovered a Scottish connection for Alexander McCa

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

"In a remote hunting lodge, deep in the Scottish wilderness, old friends gather for New Year. The beautiful one The golden couple The volatile one The new parents The quiet one The city boy The outsider The victim. Not an accident – a murder among friends." We had all read the book and all agreed we hadn't really read a book where the victim was revealed at the same time as the murderer. We liked this and found it a definite page turner. The victim not being revealed so late however meant that everyone had to, theoretically, be capable of wanting to murder everyone else which made for a whole host of not nice characters. We all struggled with the characters in someway. We didn't like them. There were too many. They were too self-centered, too two dimensional. Not liking the characters often means we don't like the book and there is no denying it was definitely a hindrance. A few of the group also commented on a plot hole or two. When exactly did

Lock down book club - autobiographies

After what felt like 13 million weeks in lock down we attempted to conduct our first online meeting via Zoom. We chose a broad theme of 'autobiographies' to give as many of us as possible a chance at obtaining a book without too much difficulty. I actually didn't have an autobiography on my shelf and so borrowed The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert. The book was all about raccoon eating, teepee living, deer skin wearing Eustace Conway. He has lived a fascinating life and Gilbert had carried out interviews with a wide range of friends and family but I found the lack of pictures puzzling. You gotta have pictures in an autobiography. The group had chosen autobiographies from a real wide range of people. Partly due to availability, partly due to differing interests. We had Gok Wan and his troubled childhood as a non white gay person. Louis XIV (the Sun King) and his debauched court and two Michelle Obamas one of which was given up on. I think the broad topic made fo