Troubled Blood
Author: Robert Galbraith
Published by: Sphere
Pages: 1075
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★★
Published by: Sphere
Pages: 1075
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★★
Private Detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwall when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, Margot Bamborough, who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974.
Strike has never tackled a cold case before, but intrigued, he takes it on, adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency, Robin Ellacott, are currently investigating. Plus, the pair are still battling their feelings for one another, while Robin is also juggling a messy divorce and unwanted male attention.
Strike and Robin soon find themselves up against a fiendishly complex case with leads that include tarot cards, a psychopathic serial killer and witnesses who cannot all be trusted. And they learn that even cases decades old can prove to be deadly…
My thoughts:
In Troubled Blood, private detectives Cormoran Strike and his partner in the agency, Robin Ellacott have been tasked with investigating the disappearance of GP Margot Bamborough which took place more than 40 years earlier. As the pair look into the disappearance – and this is a spoiler – one of the avenues they investigate is the possibility Margot was murdered by Dennis Creed, a now-imprisoned and notorious serial killer who once tricked some of his female victims into his van by wearing a wig and a woman’s coat to appear unthreatening.
Without too much hope, the pair agrees to investigate and for the next one year and a bit they try to dig into the past while struggling to solve the other cases they have on their hands.
Strike and Robin have a lot to contend with on this case, including the notes of a delusional police officer obsessed with astrology, lost witnesses, those who tried to profit off of Margot’s disappearance, as well as her widow, his new wife, and the notorious killer, Creed. Much has been made of Creed's penchant for cross-dressing as a method to lure in his victims, but after reading this for myself, I can say this element of the controversy has, in my opinion, been overblown.
I enjoyed every moment, and the character development between Strike and Robin felt expertly weaved into the story. There are lots of incursions into Strike and Robin's personal lives, most of them unhappy but necessary for the evolvement of the characters and their relationship. In many ways, the book really revolves around the character development of the pair.
Despite its length, it was still a wonderfully written mystery. The case itself builds gradually and feels very realistic in how the investigation becomes more and more complex over time, with the introductions of various people and several different theories about what really happened to Bamborough. The events of the narrative take place over a year, and the way Galbraith plots out the events made the timeline feel real. The pacing was appropriate and enjoyable.
The Strike novels, of course, are in fact written by JK Rowling, who has said that she enjoys working under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith. Rowling has explained that she originally took the name from one of her personal heroes, Robert F. Kennedy, and a childhood fantasy name she had invented for herself, Ella Galbraith.
When I got to the final pages, I was sad to see it was over as I genuinely could have read more. The plot was complex and full of twists and turns. I also hope to go back and work my way through the previous books in the series sometime soon. Considering this is the fifth installment in the series, I was delighted to find it works remarkably well as a standalone read too. If you like a good mystery, this one does not disappoint!
Overall reaction:
In Troubled Blood, private detectives Cormoran Strike and his partner in the agency, Robin Ellacott have been tasked with investigating the disappearance of GP Margot Bamborough which took place more than 40 years earlier. As the pair look into the disappearance – and this is a spoiler – one of the avenues they investigate is the possibility Margot was murdered by Dennis Creed, a now-imprisoned and notorious serial killer who once tricked some of his female victims into his van by wearing a wig and a woman’s coat to appear unthreatening.
Without too much hope, the pair agrees to investigate and for the next one year and a bit they try to dig into the past while struggling to solve the other cases they have on their hands.
Strike and Robin have a lot to contend with on this case, including the notes of a delusional police officer obsessed with astrology, lost witnesses, those who tried to profit off of Margot’s disappearance, as well as her widow, his new wife, and the notorious killer, Creed. Much has been made of Creed's penchant for cross-dressing as a method to lure in his victims, but after reading this for myself, I can say this element of the controversy has, in my opinion, been overblown.
I enjoyed every moment, and the character development between Strike and Robin felt expertly weaved into the story. There are lots of incursions into Strike and Robin's personal lives, most of them unhappy but necessary for the evolvement of the characters and their relationship. In many ways, the book really revolves around the character development of the pair.
Despite its length, it was still a wonderfully written mystery. The case itself builds gradually and feels very realistic in how the investigation becomes more and more complex over time, with the introductions of various people and several different theories about what really happened to Bamborough. The events of the narrative take place over a year, and the way Galbraith plots out the events made the timeline feel real. The pacing was appropriate and enjoyable.
The Strike novels, of course, are in fact written by JK Rowling, who has said that she enjoys working under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith. Rowling has explained that she originally took the name from one of her personal heroes, Robert F. Kennedy, and a childhood fantasy name she had invented for herself, Ella Galbraith.
When I got to the final pages, I was sad to see it was over as I genuinely could have read more. The plot was complex and full of twists and turns. I also hope to go back and work my way through the previous books in the series sometime soon. Considering this is the fifth installment in the series, I was delighted to find it works remarkably well as a standalone read too. If you like a good mystery, this one does not disappoint!
Overall reaction:
