★ 11/30/2020
In Galbraith’s superb fifth novel featuring London PI Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott (after 2018’s Lethal White ), his two leads land a cold case while dealing with major personal problems: the aunt who raised Strike is dying of cancer, and Robin is going through a painful divorce. In 1974, GP Margot Bamborough walked out of her London practice to meet a friend, and was never seen again. The case was originally assigned to Det. Insp. Bill Talbot, who believed Bamborough fell victim to a serial killer, Dennis Creed, but Talbot suffered a mental breakdown while pursuing that theory. Creed, who was arrested in 1976 after a failed abduction attempt, refused to say whether he snatched Bamborough. Almost four decades later, the doctor’s daughter, who was one at the time of her mother’s disappearance, persuades Strike to try to solve the mystery. As Strike and Robin follow up the slimmest leads and seek to trace any living witnesses, Galbraith (the pseudonym of J.K. Rowling) never loses sight of the tragedy at the heart of the assignment. The painstaking, prosaic investigative work keeps the reader engaged for the duration of this doorstopper. Galbraith will surely have lost some fans due to a controversy that preceded the book’s publication, with critics calling the novel transphobic because Creed had dressed as a woman while committing some of his crimes. Those still in the author’s camp, though, will likely consider this to be the best series entry to date. Agent: Neil Blair, the Blair Partnership (U.K.). (Sept.)
A Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2020Troubled Blood . This hefty volume is stuffed with intrigue, surprise, action, violence, social comedy and romance: “value for money,” as the British say…. Our pseudonymous author sorts everything out by the end with the skill of a world-class storyteller.”—Tom Nolan, The Wall Street Journal Bill Sheehan, Washington Post Clare Clark, The Guardian Lethal White ( 3.5/4 stars), a behemoth of a novel that flies by in a flash. This is a crime series deeply rooted in the real world, where brutality and ugliness are leavened by the oh-so-human flaws and virtues of Galbraith's irresistible hero and heroine."—USA Today Sarah Lyall, The New York Times Joyce Sáenz Harris , Dallas Morning News Bustle Vox People Seattle Times Publishers Weekly, Starred Review Tablet Magazine
A scrupulous plotter and master of misdirection, Galbraith keeps the pages turning.”
At times you might feel as you did when reading the Harry Potter books, particularly later in the series, when they got longer and looser. You love the plot, and you love being in the company of the characters, and you admire the author's voice and insights and ingenuity, and you relish the chance to relax into a book without feeling rushed or puzzled or shortchanged.... Long live the fertile imagination and prodigious output of J.K. Rowling.
If you love the intricate, character-driven mysteries written by Tana French and Kate Atkinson, then chances are good that you'll enjoy the ones by Robert Galbraith. . . . Robert Galbraith knows how to tell a story every bit as deftly as does J.K. Rowling. Cormoran Strike, who lost a leg in Afghanistan, may limp painfully through much of the book, but the tale being told never misses a step.
Dallas Morning News Joyce Sáenz Harris
Rowling's wizardry as a writer is on fulsome display in Lethal White ( 3.5/4 stars), a behemoth of a novel that flies by in a flash. This is a crime series deeply rooted in the real world, where brutality and ugliness are leavened by the oh-so-human flaws and virtues of Galbraith's irresistible hero and heroine.
Addictive, murderous fun.
One of contemporary crime fiction's most delightful partnerships.
Compulsively readable.
"Troubled Blood ’s central mystery is a strong one, and watching it unfold over the course of a protracted investigation is one of the novel’s great pleasures.”
Even if the world is the seedy underbelly of contemporary London and not Magical Hogwarts, cracking the cover of a Galbraith novel is like stepping through a portal. You're immersed all at once.
