Lethal White (A Cormoran Strike Novel, 4)

An amazing new chapter in this book series. Galbraith/Rowling proves they are a great writer, as usual. The book balances well the mystery and the human story and they are both very compelling. The plot is well-crafted and the investigation gives us the opportunity to explore new social environments and to meet interesting characters. This book series is a great exploration of British society in the 21st Century. This time we explore the world of politics, in its ramifications from Tories to the Extreme Left. Galbraith/Rowling has a Dickens-like ability to create secondary characters that are both unique and representative of their society. The other great point of the book is the human life of our protagonists, Cormoran and Robin. While the book could be shorter if it were mystery alone, I am glad it is this long, since it allows me to spend time with them and see their inner life plays out. Just like the third book, this one is an important milestone in their evolution as character. I am looking forward to see them develop further and it is very unfortunate that we have to wait a couple of years before reading the next book in the series.

The long-awaited fourth installment of the Strike series has arrived at last! My greedy hands snatched it up and devoured the near-700 pages in a single weekend. Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott are off on another adventure - this one larger and grander than any of their previous tales. This one took about 250 pages to get going. My friends reading along with me had similar feedback. It's a tediously slow and complicated start and just about the opposite of a page turner. Towards page 300 things really get going and the story veers into movement. I really enjoyed it after that. Have some patience for this one if you feel the same. In the end, it was worth the investment and really paid off. In fact, it may be about my favorite book of the series. And even though the first third was pretty meh, I never mind just being in the company of these characters. And the plot itself is pretty complicated, so I suppose the intense set up was more than necessary. On a negative note, I'm not a fan of the Matthew/Robin side story that's been going on for, at this point, about 1500 pages and four entire novels (someone should have stopped that madness!!). I wish I understood the ultimate aim here or why we've had to sit through the longest, most boring breakup in novel history (or which feels like a break up anyway, and has since book one). I get it to an extent, what with Robin's history, but my patience has worn thin. Unfortunately I can't comment further without giving spoilers. But needless to say I was both satisfied and frustrated with some of the outcomes there. There were a few questions I had after I read it. Perhaps some plot holes, things that didn't quite add up to me. I tend to overthink stories and I'm guilty at trying to connect everything. When I was done, I was not satisfied with Billy's role in the story despite the neatly tied up closure we get. Not to be nit picky, but it's a huge part of the story. Discussion with my friends didn't help anything (they all agreed it was loosey goosey) but overall it didn't detract from the overall story. No spoilers of course, so you have to decide for yourself. On a positive note, this was one of the more exciting books in the series. Tons of undercover work, road trips, treks through the woods, lots of interviews and clues and research, all set against the backdrop of the 2012 London Olympics, which was mildly interesting but served well as a juxtaposition for social commentary. Most importantly, I felt like both Strike and Robin really glowed in this one. I felt like I got to know them both even better than before, with their character development really off the charts. The chemistry between these characters is brilliant, and they are at their best when they are looking out for one another. We meet some new friends, and revisit some old ones, and all is good fun. The mystery itself was complicated and challenging, but felt very real. You have tons and tons of twists and turns and surprises waiting for you in this one. Highly recommended! And can't wait for this one to make it to the series. I just love Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger.

Welcome return to the rich storytelling of a great writer! A fantastic series gets an exciting new edition, cementing not only the writer’s quality but ensuring excellent characters see a lifetime in print. The pacing of the mystery beautifully interweaves with deepening the personal lives of the two primary characters. The clues to the mystery spread effortlessly throughout the narrative, often pulling in pieces previously mentioned in casual conversation, giving the crucial impulse to break the case. Robin’s personal trials are a tough read: painful, forlorn, trapped in competing notions of the “best life.” You want to scream at the “obvious” solution to her problems, worried that you may treat your own difficulties as insurmountable, that your own solutions may be so easily identifiable to others. “…before she could be trapped, as she now saw it, by cowardice disguised as compassion.” The story is set in 2012, so the ease with which Strike completes his preliminary online research into the personal lives of persons of interest would not be possible today, what with the stricter online privacy laws in effect and people learning the dangers of putting so much of their lives on indestructible media. Oh, wait… Matthew. Go f*** yourself. Seriously. Great line: * “Life had taught him that a great and powerful love could be felt for the most apparently unworthy people, a circumstance that ought, after all, to give everybody consolation.” Note: does not apply to Matthew (see above).

Lethal White is the fourth book in the series. The story line is independent of the first three books but of course we learn a great deal in those about Cormoran and Robin, the major protagonists. Both are very likable, extremely competent and admirable. Robin came to Cormoran, a private investigator, as a secretary from a temp service. But she quickly realizes that she wants to be an investigator. Their working relationship is broken at the end of the third book, so feeling their way back into it adds tension at the beginning of the book. I very much like a strong, competent woman character (I am not a woman) and I adore Robin. She is smart, she is attractive, she is resourceful, she is dedicated and she has some unexpected skills. There are several crimes and several bad guys but the original act/crime about which the novel revolves is well hidden by clever writing; keeping the reader as well as Cormoran and Robin in the dark. Not only was I surprised by the nature of the "crime," I was amazed that there was such a crime. The action and the dialog are both believable to me, as they need to be to rate five stars. This is an excellent and satisfying read. There are also interesting minor characters and some humor.

I am reading the fifth Cormoran Strike book at this time and have really enjoyed the series by Robert Galbraith who is actually J K Rowling. I like this one the best. It is long, very involved and has the twists and turns in a good detective novel. This is not like a Harry Potter book in terms of language, plot and story line (adult reading). In all of her books there is an undercurrent of her views on certain subjects. One that is noticeable is violence against women and the difference in how women are often treated by men, unlike when it is man to man. I am not saying this in a negative way. It actually makes the book more interesting and realistic. The writing is excellent, the characters are solid and the story line is intriguing.

This is a good book which is like a puzzle where there lots of pieces and it all comes together at the end. It is a little long and may have benefitted from not having so many different sub plots. As the complicated personal lives of Strike and Robin developed I appreciated hearing about some of the aspects, but there could have been less scenes of that and more focus on the mystery. I did enjoy the book overall and am going to read the next in the series, even though it is twice the size of this one. I am bracing myself for the padding in that book, but maybe I will be pleasantly surprised and the plot moves more efficiently than this one LOL.

Ah, detective fiction! Is there anything better than curling up with a good whodunnit? It's been 3 years since Galbraith graced us with a new Strike novel (I hear he's been gallivanting around New York and Paris with various beasts over the past few years), and I could not be more satisfied with the newest installment. Out of the first 3 novels in the series, Silkworm was undoubtedly my favorite. I enjoyed Career of Evil, but it lacked the page-turning, sleep is for the weak, I haven't eaten in 12 hours quality that the first two did. Lethal White is now competing with Silkworm for the top spot. It is, however, my least favorite title thus far, and the cover does not match that of the rest of the books which makes my eye want to twitch. But you don't care which one is my favorite, so let's get to the story. I'll try to avoid revealing any real spoilers. We last left Strike and Robin at Robin's wedding to Matthew in Career of Evil. Lethal White takes place immediately after the events of the previous book. Following the prologue, we are quickly thrown into a new case with about 1,032 threads running through it. We dive into the personal lives of both Robin and Strike as the case develops, and the reader is thrust into 600+ pages of deceit, blackmail, and murder (or was it?). Despite it's length, the book is fast-paced and engaging. There is a veritable sea of red herrings (I'm pretty sure I saw a green herring in there as well). The novel concludes with a satisfactory denouement (I was only half right) and then essentially leaves us where we were before picking up the book in the first place, impatiently waiting for a new Strike novel with more questions than answers. Throughout the book, Strike is, well, Strike. He's a smart, somewhat boorish man with a decent heart and a lack of decorum. In Lethal White he's still drinking beer, smoking his cigarettes, and eating rubbish (despite being on a diet). So, yeah. He's delightful (no sarcasm). We do see his character develop more in this installment, but I'll spare you the spoilers. The real shining star is this book is Robin. Her journey and growth in this novel are inspiring. We really get to see what an astute, resourceful, and strong woman she has become. Galbraith's tackling of mental heath and the aftereffects of trauma are handled particularly well through Robin's character arc. So grab yourself a Doom Bar and curl up with Galbraith's Lethal White. If nothing else, you'll walk away with a better knowledge of the coloring of horses.

I have two auto-buy thriller series going right now: Galbraith’s Cormoran Strike series and Jussi Adler-Olsen’s Department Q series. Both get gritty and have well-layered plots. Their protagonists have interesting backstories and there are enough books in each series that you really feel like you know the characters well, especially the supporting ones. One big difference is that the Strike novels spend a bit more time in the characters’ personal lives than the Department Q books. In a one-off, the author only has so much ink, but a series frees up the author to expand the character arc over many books. This can be a challenge at times in terms of balance between the current case and the protagonists. This is particularly true in Lethal White, which runs approximately 200 pages longer than the others in the series. Btw. I’m going to suppose in this review that you have read at least one of the Strike novels before, because I think it’s essential to understanding the happenings in this one. In LW you will find four threads fighting for the forefront: Robin’s personal life, Cormoran’s personal life, a decades old murder, and a blackmail case related to the promotion of the ’12 Olympics. Good: I enjoyed where Robin and Cormoran’s characters’ stories went in this one. There is definitely a deepening of their relationship as partners in the agency, and a clear look into their individual characters. The intertwined cases were more complex than in the other three books. There were more leads to track down, more suspects to tail, and more opportunities to go undercover. And because the agency is growing due to Strike’s increasing celebrity, some new fun characters have been added to help out with the work load. Bad: I felt there was some imbalance in keeping each thread moving along. There was a little bit of a lull in the second half of the book; maybe there needed to be a couple more clues teased out to keep interest up. Overall: Lethal White is a very good addition to the series, and while I enjoyed each individual thread, I felt there was too much of a fight for each to get to the forefront.

Mi è piaciuto molto e la trama non è per niente scontata. L'unico difetto secondo me è la quantità di nomi/personaggi presenti, che spesso si finiscono per confondere o dimenticare anche perché tanti personaggi hanno anche un soprannome.. e soprattutto se lo mettete in pausa per qualche giorno rischiate di non ricordarvi nulla; avrei quindi apprezzato almeno una sorta di albero genealogico per diciamo la famiglia 'più importante' per la storia. Comunque il libro è consigliatissimo, soprattutto se avete letto i precedenti. Se non avete mai letto un libro intero in inglese e/o non avete una comprensione ottimale dell'inglese probabilmente è meglio evitare di prenderlo in lingua originale ( considerate che ci sono termini strani, a me è successo di cercare la traduzione del termine e poi il significato del termine in italiano.. XD ).

このシリーズが好きなので購入しました。 レビューは内容ではなくこの本の大きさについて。 この本、いつものペーパーバックと同じと思って購入したのですが、 何と大きさはタテ、ヨコ、厚さが 23cm x 15cm x 5cm と大きな本でビックリしました。 文字も多少ですが大きくなっている様に見え、老眼の身には読み易く感じます。 家で読むにはとても良い大きさです、嬉しい誤算でした。

Brilliant. Love her books.

Cormoran Strike is not your normal private investigator. He doesn't fit the mold that has been set over the years by Hollywood. That's one of the compelling things about him, he seems more real and believable. J.K. Rowling (aka Robert Galbraith) has created a great character in Strike that by now, regular readers of the series have bonded with his roughness and vulnerability. This latest book in the series, Lethal White, is another riveting case full of murder, intrigue, and multiple motives. Lethal White is set in London (2012) before the London Olympics. What starts out as a random case initiated by the foggy memories of a troubled man, soon transforms into a web of deceit and secrets from the rural towns of England to the corridors of power in the Houses of Parliament. My favorite character, Robyn, excels as usual, as she continues to learn the ropes and tries to dodge danger when she goes undercover. This series continues to be driven by solid characters and intricate details waiting to be discovered, it's that understated style that I think makes it so compelling. Red herrings, manipulation, grudges, secrets, money, the plot has it all. With so many threads weaved together as one, the case is like an itchy London sweater waiting to be unpicked. We bear witness to the progress of Robyn's relationship with Matthew, from their marriage to more dramas and whatever lays beyond. And whilst we're entangled in the throes of the case, even more of Strike's own troubled life is revealed. By now, Strike fans already know much of their history, but we learn a little more with each book and our connection to them grows. It will interesting to see how things pan out in the future for this pair of opposites who work together so well. I'm hoping for triumph, not tragedy. Having been such a fan of the books, I was thrilled when I heard the BBC were making them into a series. The problem for me was that here in Australia I didn't have access to the shows. But luckily for me, that all changed this year due to Covid. My streaming tv service gave me extra channels for free to cope with the trials of home isolation. The series covers books 1 to 3 and they are really well done - understated and compelling - just like the book. And now I have faces for Strike and my favorite character, Robyn. Do yourself a favor ... If you've read the books, give the series a go. And if you're not a reader, I suggest the series is a great way to go. Here's some news that Strike fans already know. TROUBLED BLOOD (Cormoran Strike #5) is almost upon us. The book is due for release September 15, 2020, and comes in at a whopping 944 pages. It seems that each new book in the series gets bigger than the last. AND the BBC have announced that filming for 4 new episodes covering LETHAL WHITE started in 2019 and will be on our screens in August 2020. Can't wait! In a Nutshell: This is another worthy book in a great series. RG (JKR) has created another enthralling crime novel full of twists, charm, and vibrant characters. I'd sum up Lethal White as 'understated and compelling'. Strike fans will love it, and I urge others to jump on board.

Lethal White is the fourth novel in Robert Galbraith's Cormoran Strike series and has a complicated plot involving blackmail, murder, hypocritical far-left activists, an obnoxious hard-right Tory minister, the Conversative/LibDem coalition and an appalling family of utterly terrible posh people who have nicknames like Fizz and Pong and wear mustard-coloured trousers. And that's just the mystery element: woven into all this, we've also got the ever-present problem of the relationship between Strike and Robin, who at the end of the previous book, went through with her wedding to her childhood sweetheart Matthew, readers worldwide screaming 'Nooooo!' as she walked down the aisle. It's perhaps not surprising, then, that Lethal White runs to 650 pages - considerably longer than the average detective thriller. Whether Robert Galbraith would have escaped the editor's pencil to quite this extent if he wasn't the alter ego of JK Rowling, I'm not entirely sure - but still found myself perfectly happy with the novel's length. There are so many elements to this mystery, brought together with such remarkable skill, that every page was a pleasure. The mystery plot alone is a remarkable achievement, absolutely packed with clues that build up to a satisfyingly neat conclusion I'd defy even the most seasoned crime fan to predict fully. Added to that, Robin and Strike are such utterly likeable characters, despite their many flaws, that it's a joy to spend so much time with them. As in the previous books in the series, the supporting characters in Lethal White are slightly larger than life: this isn't gritty realism, but it's not supposed to be. I've said of the other Strike books that they're much more akin to Golden Age detective fiction than today's police procedural thrillers, and this is evident in Lethal White too. That said, Galbraith does take the step of introducing an element that is often conspicuously ignored in other detective novels: Strike, having solved three high-profile murder cases, is now a minor celebrity, and with fame comes unwanted attention that plays havoc with his surveillance work. That fame also means he can attract a more prestigious clientele - in this case Jasper Chiswell, the Culture Secretary about to preside over the London 2012 Olympics - but at the same time means he becomes a target for fixated obsessives like poor, delusional schizophrenic Billy. This book also has something of a state-of-the-nation feel. AntiSemitic, gaslighting Marxist activist Jimmy and his patronising, middle-class mockney girlfriend Flick will certainly seem very familiar to anyone who follows left-wing politics on social media. The hideous Chiswells, an over-privileged uber-Tory dynasty, also ring true ... as do the observations on London's rental market, in which working adults are crammed two to a room in properties with no communal living space. As for Robin and Strike - well, we know Robin married Matthew at the end of Career Of Evil, and I found the progress of Robin's marriage very convincing (Strike's own relationship situation is rather less so, although the return of his unstable, abusive former partner Charlotte certainly adds interest). To say any more would be a plot spoiler, but there's a certainly plenty of mileage left in the will-they-won't-they storyline that runs through the series.