Career of Evil (2015)

As usual, Robert Galbraith spends time building up to the finale. This time, the pace is slower compared to the first two books in the series, and it is interspersed with Robin's insecurities about her job and their ambivalent feelings towards one another. Galbraith took more time here building up towards the end, with detours to a number of Scottish and English towns (I felt I was on a tour). She even revealed the killer before the end and you wonder where the plot is going from that point onwards. However, a brilliant twist awaits you, and that saved this book from an average rating. Strike's friend, Shanker, was also a delight here. His witty lines, though probably unintended, add much-needed relief to the plot. ( )

My least favourite of the series, in part because of a deliberate choice by Rowling to intrude the voice of the antagonist into the plot. As they're kept anonymous and we only get short excerpts of their thoughts it's just annoying. There's no possibility of empathy or justification for their motivation, it's just been put there to increase tension, but actually serves to distract the reader from the clues that are present in the normal Strike/Robin interactions and their personal lives esp Robin's take too much of the rest of the page count. It is a delicate a balance to strike because the detectives are always supposed to have lives outside of the job, and the interference is part of the reason we like them, but this becomes more of Robin's lifestory than a crime novel.

Robin opens a parcel containing a human leg. She's naturally somewhat distraught but Strike knows of at least three people who could have motivations to do such a thing, and although the Met strictly requires them to stay out of the way, they both get the feeling that the Met just aren't working the right angles and so they start and unpaid investigation. Meanwhile of course Robin and Mathew's wedding preparations continue unabated and Robin's distraction is of some concern to Strike, but nowhere near as much as Robin's concern that she might not be seen as pulling her weight, or Matthew's concern that she's still doing 'that job

There are far too many instances of rowling deliberately trailing a 'clue' in the annoying villain chapters to be presented as an obviously false lead in the subsequent investigation of one of the three in the next pages. Hence you quickly lose track of who is who or where they are or were on the night sin question. The particularly unpleasant individual concerned is not a mindset I wanted to read either. ( )

Privatdetektiven Cormoran Strike og hans sekretær/medhjelper Robin Ellacott løser mordgåter i London. Dette er virkelig gode bøker. Du får en umiddelbar god følelse for Strike og Robin og du heier dem gjennom bøkene. Rowling skriver godt, og bøkene er virkelig godt oversatt, så her er det bare å skaffe seg bok 1 med en gang. ( )

Removed my rating because it's no longer accurate-- I can't enjoy this book knowing it's written by someone currently spreading transphobic hate. I know that's not very "Death of the Author" of me, but that's just how it is.

Trans liberation now. Read trans authors.

The first two were awesome, following a formula perfected by Galbraith--*cough* Rowling *cough*--in the second book. This one, however, throws all that out the window to try something new, and wow, it works!

Career of Evil is a more personal story, focusing on the private lives of Strike and Robin. The stakes are much higher this time, hitting close to home, especially in a sequence that left me terrified and worried for one of the protagonists. Even more so, the story flows well with the multitude of characters and events all happening at the same time.

One thing struck me though and not in a good way: the ending. It felt forced and wasn't what I was expecting at all. The epilogue was interesting, though, which made up for the somewhat bitter taste the serial killer reveal had left.

Truth be told, I highly enjoyed this one, and I believe you'll too. ( )