Career of Evil (2015)

Über weite Strecken deutlich düsterer als die ersten beiden Bände. Diesmal ist Robin selbst bedroht, und auch die sonstigen Umstände sind so schwierig, dass das Buch insgesamt sehr viel weniger angenehm zu lesen ist.
Trotzdem verdammt gut. Und wieder hat Rowling es geschafft, mich auf die falsche Fährte zu führen! Richtig gut. ( )

The third book about Robin Ellacott and her assistant Cormoran Strike. Or however it works. Their relationship is not well defined, but sure is that they both really like their job, are stubborn as nothing else, have absolutely no money and are awful at personal relationships.

I really enjoy these books, even though some events really make me cringe. People do terrible mistakes but they always seem human. The author is really making me feel the tiredness, fear and worry explode in unwarranted outbursts.

Carreer of Evil starts with the detective office being sent a severed leg. Apparently someone does not like them and Strike starts digging into the life of the worst people he's ever met which is not good for business at all. ( )

Thrilling book. The progression of the characters through the series and indeed, each story, is perfectly paced. The story made me blanch a bit at times, quite heavy going in a sense of: I’m not a psychotic killer so the violence is a bit uncomfortable for me to process.
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I didn’t get very far in my first attempt to read the third title in this series by Robert Galbraith, the pseudonym for J.K. Rowling. I loved the first book, Cuckoo’s Calling, and the curmudgeonly private detective, Cormoran Strike, along with his savvy and determined assistant, Robin. The second title, Silworm, was a lot darker, with a ritualistic killing that was hard to stomach. I wanted to give the third title a chance, but the evil thoughts of the serial killer in the first few chapters were too dark and disturbing, so I decided to give it a pass. Subsequent to a discussion with a colleague who informed me that the book got better, I decided to try again, once the library holds on the book diminished.
I did end up enjoying the mystery, the interactions between Cormoran and Robin, and the various characters they encounter in their investigation of an unusual mystery: Robin receives a severed leg delivered by motorcycle courier at their office. Cormoran believes that the leg was sent by one of four enemies he has made, his step-father and three criminals he investigated when he was in the army. The novel alternates chapters conveying the thoughts and actions of the unknown killer, Cormoran and Robin. I, obviously, preferred the latter chapters to the former and had to skim some of those. Maybe it’s my age, but I find I have less patience reading descriptions of evil and cruelty, and I feel that many authors feel they need to keep raising the “shock” value of their novels as we become increasingly desensitized to dark crimes.
I will continue to give Ms. Rowling a chance with this series, and she left a bit of a cliff-hanger in Career of Evil that I will be eagerly looking forward learning more about in the next book.
 
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Very well-written, but almost too bloody for my taste. ( )