The Cormoran Strike series
This is the eighth installment of the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith, JK Rowling's pseudonym. In The Hallmarked Man, Robin and Strike attempt to identify a body that was found murdered and dismembered in a silver shop's vault.
Look, I said this about The Running Grave and I'm going to say this about this one, too. This was a slog. It took me weeks and weeks to read it because it was brutally boring, particularly the middle part. There's no reason for this to be over nine hundred pages unless you like to hear about Strike drinking, vaping, and Robin not dealing with her PTSD.
I thought the Ink Black Heart was brilliant, but it feels like these are just being phoned in now. I don't know if I'll be returning to this series unless someone tells me that something changes in subsequent books. 2.5/5 stars
Lines of note:
...thinking about Robin's defunct Land Rover, now destined for the scrapyard. While not as attached to the car as Robin was, it seemed to somehow mark the end of an era...(page 222)
Have I talked about how we are test driving cars and have been for months now? Part of is that while we both know that our Hyundai is past its prime, but we're unwilling to acknowledge it in the tangible way of trading it in. Our Hyundai was the first major purchase we made together and the thought of sending it to the scrap heap makes me sad.
It was hard to tell whether they disliked each other or were bosom friends; they belonged to the category of Englishman whose love and hated bore almost identical faces. (page 406)
This is what I imagine it's like when I'm with Bestest Friend. Do they love or hate each other?
"I'd imagine it's occurred to you that we've got an unusual number of sex offenders congregating around this crime?" Strike asked Robin...
"You probably won't like my answer to that," said Robin.
"Which is?"
"That men perennially underestimate how many of their fellow men are perverts and predators. You know what they say: 'all women know a rape victim, no man knows a rapist.'" (page 536)
"That men perennially underestimate how many of their fellow men are perverts and predators. You know what they say: 'all women know a rape victim, no man knows a rapist.'" (page 536)
Even the men who think they understand will never know the constant vigilance that is a woman walking around the world.
Things I looked up:
MOT (page 87 and then again and again) - Acronym for Ministry of Transport, an annual test of vehicle safety, roadworthiness aspects, and exhaust emissions required in the United Kingdom for most vehicles over three years old
shufti (page 104) - a look or reconnoiter, especially a quick one
Dettol (page 104) - a British brand line of products used for disinfection and as an antiseptic
Songye (page 200) - a Bantu ethnic group from the central Democratic Republic of the Congo. They speak the Songe language
Luba (page 200) - a Bantu ethno-linguistic group indigenous to the south-central region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
joss sticks (page 470 and then more often) - a thin stick consisting of a substance that burns slowly and with a fragrant smell, used as incense
Gravensteen (page 690) - a medieval castle in the city of Ghent, East Flanders in Belgium. The current castle dates from 1180 and was the residence of the Counts of Flanders until 1353. It was subsequently re-purposed as a court, prison, mint, and even as a cotton factory
Rodolphe Lemoine (page 701) - alías Baron de Koening, Rodolphe Lemoine, Fritz Kolmann, Alberto Colman, Federico Stagni or Von Rosdbel, codename REX, was a spy, con man and hitman in service indistinctly to France and Germany who starred in the time of gunfighting in Barcelona in the period immediately after World War I and played a key role in the decipherment of Enigma
Sidney Reilly (page 701) - a Russian-born secret agent employed by Scotland Yard's Special Branch and later by the Foreign Section of the British Secret Service Bureau
Laurel Rose Willson (page 701) - an American con artist and author. She authored books as Lauren Stratford alleging Satanic ritual abuse, and later assumed the guise of a Holocaust survivor as Laura Grabowski.
ashlar (page 787) - masonry made of large square-cut stones, typically used as a facing on walls of brick or stone
Hat mentions (why hats?):
his ancient fishing hat (page 4)
white chef's coat and hat (page 32)
Ted's two old hats (page 38)
"Wiv 'is beard an' 'is glasses. . . if 'e'd 'ad an 'at, hahaha..." (page 135)
drop-of-the-hat trip to Marrakesh (page 283)
beanie hat (page 402, 591) - I would say hat or beanie, but never both. Here it is used TWICE in that way.
pale pink hat (page 541)
"He was wearing a hat." (page 553)
top hat (page 685, 686)
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Have you read any of JK Rowling's non-Harry Potter books? Did you know what Gravensteen is?
I read her first galbraith novel, found it depressing if written well enough, and never read another. Her books would be so much better with stricter editing. We're not in the Victorian Era with serial publishing and the author being paid a penny a page. ( at least I assumed that's why some of Dickenson books are so long.)
ReplyDeleteI’ve read all of the previous ones in the series. We have the audible version of this one, but I didn’t get very far.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I only skimmed this review, because I'm starting this book in a couple days- I'll come back and read this again when I've finished. But I did see you only gave it 2.5 stars- no, I refuse to believe it!!! I love all the Cormoran Strike books! I think I remember you didn't like the one about the cult as much as I did, so hopefully I'll like this one. I'll report back soon!
ReplyDeleteOMG - I just started this series because someone raved about the entire thing, someone I trust but CC is soooo slow. very boring. Now I'm going to read your review about it.
ReplyDeleteWell, although I maintain that Rowling / Galbraith is in SERIOUS need of an editor, I still like this series and enjoyed this book. I am SO OVER the will they / won't they stuff though. Like, so over it. Be grownups and talk to each other about your feelings, for PETE'S SAKE. I always like these mysteries, too, but in this case I felt like maybe the mystery was a little too convoluted? Some aspects of it had so much potential, but I felt like there was a lot of rather disappointing bait and switch. Also, you mentioned Robin not dealing with her PTSD and I just want to SHAKE HER. Ha, it sounds like I didn't like the book, but I sped through it in two days despite its vastness, so I really did enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteI've not read any of her books apart from Harry Potter, and I only read the first one of those to the boys when they were tiny. I'm not a big sci-fi fan, but of course I thought Harry Potter was amazing. This is not likely gonna be a series that I read. I did not know what Gravensteen was. That's a ton of hat mentions.
ReplyDeleteI get antsy if a book is 400 pages. Can't imagine trying to read something more than twice as long, no matter how compelling it is! Sounds like Galbraith/Rowling could really use an editor. And an editor to edit the editor's edits.
ReplyDelete