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Available
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Series
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Publication
Mulholland Books (2015), 497 pages
Description
When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman's severed leg. Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible--and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality. With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Romonko
This third book in the Cormoran Strke series is another page-turner. As we all know, this series is penned by the incomparable J. K. Rowling, and her talent as a writer is indisputable. This book is a bit different than the other two. For one thing, we get very good background on both Strike and
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his assistant Robin. In fact, the background of both of these protagonists makes up the whole premise behind the book. Cormoran is on the trail of a particularly brutal killer who he knows is tied up with his own past. Robin is also personally involved with the killer's modus operandi because of the nature of his crimes. A horrific event from her past is brought to the forefront of her mind as she and Cormoran find out more about this killer, They both put themselves at great risk trying to trap this violent killer. There are lots of twists and turns and not a few red herrings lining the pages of this book. My only complaints about the book were that it was a little too long and I also thought the numerous chapters written from the killer's point of view should not have been included. They actually helped me determine who the killer was long before the book ended. It was an enjoyable read nonetheless, and I look forward to the next one. Show Less
LibraryThing member arielfl
My favorite novel in the series so far. Things start off with a bang when Robin is gifted a leg in the mail. Strike knows way too many unsavory people so there are plenty of suspects to choose from. What I loved most about this book is how much more is revealed in the personal lives of Robin and
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Cormoran. The mysteries were always secondary for me but I think this book steps that up too. What I enjoy reading about is the personal lives of the characters. Will or won't Robin get married. And if she doesn't will she finally hook up with her boss. That question at least seems to have finally been answered with this book. There were parts of this book where I didn't want to put it down which hadn't happened with the previous novels. Besides the advancement of personal relationships, JK did quite the exploration of nasty topics such as, pedophilia, murder, and body integrity identity disorder. All of this makes for a very dark book filled with nasty characters. Show Less
LibraryThing member lauralkeet
Private Investigator Cormoran Strike has built a reputation solving cases that baffle London law enforcement. In Career of Evil it gets personal, when Strike's assistant Robin Ellacott accepts delivery of a parcel that turns out to contain a human leg. Clearly, there has been foul play. And equally
Meanwhile, Robin is weeks away from her wedding with Matthew, whom we met in the second book. Matthew is far from the ideal fiancé, and their relationship is strained. Matthew provides little support for Robin's career, and the severed leg certainly doesn't help matters. He is suspicious of her partnership with Strike, and not without reason, as there's a little frisson of romantic tension between Robin and Strike which both try to suppress. Strike makes a valiant effort at romance with a classical music radio presenter, despite the demands of his work.
And then there's the killer who is given chapters of his own to showcase his general creepiness and very scary obsession with violence against women. This man has killed before, and will kill again before this book is over. And as if that weren't enough, he has Robin in his sights and secretly follows her as she goes about her duties. The suspense builds gradually, in a way that had me stealing moments to read "just a few more pages" throughout the day. Strike and Robin aggressively pursue their three suspects until Strike has an "aha moment" where all of the pieces fall into place for him, but of course not for the mere mortal reader. From that moment on you'd better just stop whatever else you should be doing and finish the book.
Now, when will the next one be published?
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clearly, the person responsible is out to harass them ... or worse. While the police work to identify the victim, Strike focuses his investigation on three people from his past that may have reason to target him and Robin. Meanwhile, Robin is weeks away from her wedding with Matthew, whom we met in the second book. Matthew is far from the ideal fiancé, and their relationship is strained. Matthew provides little support for Robin's career, and the severed leg certainly doesn't help matters. He is suspicious of her partnership with Strike, and not without reason, as there's a little frisson of romantic tension between Robin and Strike which both try to suppress. Strike makes a valiant effort at romance with a classical music radio presenter, despite the demands of his work.
And then there's the killer who is given chapters of his own to showcase his general creepiness and very scary obsession with violence against women. This man has killed before, and will kill again before this book is over. And as if that weren't enough, he has Robin in his sights and secretly follows her as she goes about her duties. The suspense builds gradually, in a way that had me stealing moments to read "just a few more pages" throughout the day. Strike and Robin aggressively pursue their three suspects until Strike has an "aha moment" where all of the pieces fall into place for him, but of course not for the mere mortal reader. From that moment on you'd better just stop whatever else you should be doing and finish the book.
Now, when will the next one be published?
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LibraryThing member Meredy
Six-word review: Fast-moving sequel proves unsatisfying and forgettable.
Extended review:
I read this book in March, a scant two months ago. Here's the start of a review draft that I wrote right afterward:
Decidedly mixed feelings on this one. I pumped through the nearly 500 pages in 3 days, which is
The telling clue was so obscure that it made Sherlock Holmes's analyses of tobacco ash sound mainstream...and it took one of those Jessica Fletcher moments--someone's chance word and a sudden "That's it!"--to reveal the solution to Strike.
And now, trying to recall what I meant to say, I find that I can scarcely remember a thing about this novel. Not the main characters (other than Cormoran Strike), not the main storyline, no major events, never mind any plot details. I can't even remember what the mystery was.
That's not so good, Robert.
I'll consult my penciled notes, then. I take a lot of notes when I read--good lines, striking thoughts, new vocabulary, grammatical lapses, factual statements to check, self-contradictions, excessive repetition, all kinds of things. I generally don't write down what the book was about, though, because I don't expect to forget it immediately.
Here are a few excerpts that I transcribed in my notebook, all instances of something well done:
6, [Someone male] "imitated her, using the generic voice that stood for all women, high-pitched and imbecilic."
34, "His vague memory of the place...lay like a faded transparency over the scene in front of his eyes."
311, "...he knew how to terrify and intimidate with words alone, with body language, with a sudden revelation of the beast inside."
331, "How many times had their relationship fallen to pieces, and how many times had they tried to reassemble the wreckage? There had been more cracks than substance by the end: they had lived in a spider's web of fault lines, held together by hope, pain, and delusion." (And habit--inertia--the author might have added, but she didn't.)
But these did not remind me of what happened.
And then there was this line, on page 477: "Ill-advisedly, Strike grabbed for the carving knife..." Oh, come on, Robert. That adverb is indefensibly absurd. And it's not as if this were the only lapse. Some authors never leave such sloppiness in their final drafts.
I did write that I liked the character of Shanker, although right now I'm not any too clear on who he is.
Quite a few miscellaneous notes follow, including some egregious editorial misses, and then I see this, written immediately upon completion:
Ending: Fie.
Characters hard to keep track of.
Red herrings sort of more like red whales.
And finally (possible spoiler) I wrote:I don't believe that Robin wouldn't have checked her calls or noticed her missing call history in 48 hours' time, which is how long before the wedding Matthew deleted them. How bad is it if I'm not sure whether it's a spoiler because I don't remember what I might be spoiling?
For some reason, and maybe just because there's so much of it and I was so eager to read it and I wanted to like it, I gave it 3½ stars. That's the same rating that I gave to the next book I read, Fer-de-Lance, the original Nero Wolfe mystery, and that delivered a much happier experience. At this point I'm not sure that I want to follow Cormoran Strike any further.
Extended review:
I read this book in March, a scant two months ago. Here's the start of a review draft that I wrote right afterward:
Decidedly mixed feelings on this one. I pumped through the nearly 500 pages in 3 days, which is
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much faster than my usual pace or even my usual accelerated reads. It kept me turning pages. But in the end I was dissatisfied.The telling clue was so obscure that it made Sherlock Holmes's analyses of tobacco ash sound mainstream...and it took one of those Jessica Fletcher moments--someone's chance word and a sudden "That's it!"--to reveal the solution to Strike.
And now, trying to recall what I meant to say, I find that I can scarcely remember a thing about this novel. Not the main characters (other than Cormoran Strike), not the main storyline, no major events, never mind any plot details. I can't even remember what the mystery was.
That's not so good, Robert.
I'll consult my penciled notes, then. I take a lot of notes when I read--good lines, striking thoughts, new vocabulary, grammatical lapses, factual statements to check, self-contradictions, excessive repetition, all kinds of things. I generally don't write down what the book was about, though, because I don't expect to forget it immediately.
Here are a few excerpts that I transcribed in my notebook, all instances of something well done:
6, [Someone male] "imitated her, using the generic voice that stood for all women, high-pitched and imbecilic."
34, "His vague memory of the place...lay like a faded transparency over the scene in front of his eyes."
311, "...he knew how to terrify and intimidate with words alone, with body language, with a sudden revelation of the beast inside."
331, "How many times had their relationship fallen to pieces, and how many times had they tried to reassemble the wreckage? There had been more cracks than substance by the end: they had lived in a spider's web of fault lines, held together by hope, pain, and delusion." (And habit--inertia--the author might have added, but she didn't.)
But these did not remind me of what happened.
And then there was this line, on page 477: "Ill-advisedly, Strike grabbed for the carving knife..." Oh, come on, Robert. That adverb is indefensibly absurd. And it's not as if this were the only lapse. Some authors never leave such sloppiness in their final drafts.
I did write that I liked the character of Shanker, although right now I'm not any too clear on who he is.
Quite a few miscellaneous notes follow, including some egregious editorial misses, and then I see this, written immediately upon completion:
Ending: Fie.
Characters hard to keep track of.
Red herrings sort of more like red whales.
And finally (possible spoiler) I wrote:
For some reason, and maybe just because there's so much of it and I was so eager to read it and I wanted to like it, I gave it 3½ stars. That's the same rating that I gave to the next book I read, Fer-de-Lance, the original Nero Wolfe mystery, and that delivered a much happier experience. At this point I'm not sure that I want to follow Cormoran Strike any further.
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LibraryThing member CherylGrimm
Lots of turns I never expected and for sure, more graphic than anticipated.. but certainly an enthralling read. Never one to let us down, this chapter in Cormeron Strike's busy PI life had me guessing even after the perp was exposed. Body parts are taken (and gifted to lovely Robin) as a serial
I sure hope there is another book in the works, as I've become quite attached to our main characters.
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killer sets his sites on destroying Strike. Oddly, there are 4 instant suspects, soon narrowed down to 3, one as disgustingly violent as the other and affiliated with Strike via his colorful past.I sure hope there is another book in the works, as I've become quite attached to our main characters.
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LibraryThing member Bruce_McNair
After his partner, Robin, receives a severed leg, private detective Cormoran Strike attempts to discover who from his past might have sent it before his business folds from lack of customers. What ensues is a cat-and-mouse game with apparently little progress made as fewer and fewer customers are
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prepared to give Strike their business. The pursuit of the perpetrator seems to be endless, particularly as finding the likely suspects is difficult. This is a well-crafted mystery with many moments of suspense as the various suspects are approached and/or confronted. The by-play between Strike and Robin is a nice counterpoint to the main action. In my opinion, Galbraith/Rowling appears to have fully grasped the crime genre with this book. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars. Show Less
LibraryThing member nbmars
This is J.K. Rowling’s third pseudonymous book in a crime series featuring London private investigator Cormoran Strike and his attractive and eager assistant Robin Ellacott.
Strike is a 37-year-old ex-military policeman who lost a foot in Afghanistan, and is now running a private investigation
“He looked exactly what he was: a large ex-boxer who smoked too much and ate too much fast food. He had heavy eyebrows, a flattened and asymmetrical nose and, when not smiling, a permanent expression of sullen crossness.”
And yet, as one of her friends observes:
“He is strangely attractive, isn’t he? Bit beaten-up-looking, but I’ve never minded that. . . ..”
Robin, 26, loves working with Strike; she originally wanted to be a psychological profiler for the police, but dropped out of college for reasons we learn in this installment. Nevertheless, she is a talented and valuable member of the team, becoming much more than the secretary she was when she began working for Strike.
Robin and Cormoran have a complicated relationship. Robin is engaged to be married to Matthew Cunliffe, but she and Cormoran have endured life-threatening experiences together and confided long-held secrets to one another that they hadn’t shared with anyone else.
How they feel about each other is something each of them pushes away from the front of their minds. Cormoran, for example, muses to himself:
“He had known, almost from the moment they had met, that Robin represented a threat to his peace of mind, but endangering the best working relationship of his life would be an act of willful self-sabotage that he, after years of a destructive on-off relationship, after the hard graft and sacrifice that had gone into building his business, could not and would not let happen.”
This particular story revolves around a serial killer who has a fixation on getting revenge on Strike, and decides to get to him through attacks on Robin. When Robin receives a severed limb delivered to her at the office, Strike immediately suspects four men who would hate him enough to do such a thing. (Robin is appalled: “You know four men who’d send you a severed leg? Four? Strike backs down: “To tell you the truth… I think it’s only three.”)
He and Robin were once again mostly on their own, since the police were not apt to take Strike’s suspicions seriously. But Strike felt that the killer was hiding in plain sight:
“Strike knew how deeply ingrained was the belief that the evil conceal their dangerous predilections for violence and domination. When they wear them like bangles for all to see, the gullible populace laughs, calls it a pose, or finds it strangely attractive.”
Strike knows better, and as the body parts keep coming, and he and Robin get closer to exposing the killer, Rowling delivers a breathtaking dénouement reminiscent of the baptism crescendo in “The Godfather.”
Discussion: Rowling excels at fleshing out the concerns and emotions that drive her characters. For example, in this passage, she describes Strike’s reflections about the difference between the London of his girlfriend Elin, and that of his mother:
“Nobody who had not lived there would ever understand that London was a country unto itself. They might resent it for the fact that it held more power and money than any other British city, but they could not understand that poverty carried its own flavor there, where everything cost more, where the relentless distinctions between those who had succeeded and those who had not were constantly, painfully visible. The distance between Elin’s vanilla-columned flat in Clarence Terrace and the filthy Whitechapel squat where his mother had died could not be measured in mere miles. They were separated by infinite disparities, by the lotteries of birth and change, by faults of judgment and lucky breaks. His mother and Elin, both beautiful women, both intelligent, one sucked down into a morass of drugs and human filth, the other sitting high over Regent’s Park behind spotless glass.”
And in this brief but impassioned passage, we hear Robin’s reaction to what women must regularly endure:
“A vast unfocused rage rose in her, against men who considered displays of emotion a delicious open door; men who ogled your breasts under the pretense of scanning the wine shelves; men for whom your mere physical presence constituted a lubricious invitation.”
Evaluation: There are so many clever aspects to this novel, from the Wikipedia posting full of statements with “citation needed,” to the excellent pacing; the combination of noir elements with layered nuance and thoughtful character explorations; and in the way the author absolutely makes you care about her characters.
J.K. Rowling’s writing continues to wow us. We both loved this book, and can’t wait for more installments of this crime series.
Strike is a 37-year-old ex-military policeman who lost a foot in Afghanistan, and is now running a private investigation
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business. As Robin notes about Strike:“He looked exactly what he was: a large ex-boxer who smoked too much and ate too much fast food. He had heavy eyebrows, a flattened and asymmetrical nose and, when not smiling, a permanent expression of sullen crossness.”
And yet, as one of her friends observes:
“He is strangely attractive, isn’t he? Bit beaten-up-looking, but I’ve never minded that. . . ..”
Robin, 26, loves working with Strike; she originally wanted to be a psychological profiler for the police, but dropped out of college for reasons we learn in this installment. Nevertheless, she is a talented and valuable member of the team, becoming much more than the secretary she was when she began working for Strike.
Robin and Cormoran have a complicated relationship. Robin is engaged to be married to Matthew Cunliffe, but she and Cormoran have endured life-threatening experiences together and confided long-held secrets to one another that they hadn’t shared with anyone else.
How they feel about each other is something each of them pushes away from the front of their minds. Cormoran, for example, muses to himself:
“He had known, almost from the moment they had met, that Robin represented a threat to his peace of mind, but endangering the best working relationship of his life would be an act of willful self-sabotage that he, after years of a destructive on-off relationship, after the hard graft and sacrifice that had gone into building his business, could not and would not let happen.”
This particular story revolves around a serial killer who has a fixation on getting revenge on Strike, and decides to get to him through attacks on Robin. When Robin receives a severed limb delivered to her at the office, Strike immediately suspects four men who would hate him enough to do such a thing. (Robin is appalled: “You know four men who’d send you a severed leg? Four? Strike backs down: “To tell you the truth… I think it’s only three.”)
He and Robin were once again mostly on their own, since the police were not apt to take Strike’s suspicions seriously. But Strike felt that the killer was hiding in plain sight:
“Strike knew how deeply ingrained was the belief that the evil conceal their dangerous predilections for violence and domination. When they wear them like bangles for all to see, the gullible populace laughs, calls it a pose, or finds it strangely attractive.”
Strike knows better, and as the body parts keep coming, and he and Robin get closer to exposing the killer, Rowling delivers a breathtaking dénouement reminiscent of the baptism crescendo in “The Godfather.”
Discussion: Rowling excels at fleshing out the concerns and emotions that drive her characters. For example, in this passage, she describes Strike’s reflections about the difference between the London of his girlfriend Elin, and that of his mother:
“Nobody who had not lived there would ever understand that London was a country unto itself. They might resent it for the fact that it held more power and money than any other British city, but they could not understand that poverty carried its own flavor there, where everything cost more, where the relentless distinctions between those who had succeeded and those who had not were constantly, painfully visible. The distance between Elin’s vanilla-columned flat in Clarence Terrace and the filthy Whitechapel squat where his mother had died could not be measured in mere miles. They were separated by infinite disparities, by the lotteries of birth and change, by faults of judgment and lucky breaks. His mother and Elin, both beautiful women, both intelligent, one sucked down into a morass of drugs and human filth, the other sitting high over Regent’s Park behind spotless glass.”
And in this brief but impassioned passage, we hear Robin’s reaction to what women must regularly endure:
“A vast unfocused rage rose in her, against men who considered displays of emotion a delicious open door; men who ogled your breasts under the pretense of scanning the wine shelves; men for whom your mere physical presence constituted a lubricious invitation.”
Evaluation: There are so many clever aspects to this novel, from the Wikipedia posting full of statements with “citation needed,” to the excellent pacing; the combination of noir elements with layered nuance and thoughtful character explorations; and in the way the author absolutely makes you care about her characters.
J.K. Rowling’s writing continues to wow us. We both loved this book, and can’t wait for more installments of this crime series.
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LibraryThing member Kathy89
Wow, okay! Looking forward to the next one in the series. Comoran and Robin are bickering throughout this book like a married couple and Mathew's jealous and Elin is clueless. Robin receives a severed right leg of a woman at the office and Comoran is convinced it's someone from his past and yet
Career of Evil is a page turner. The plot was intriguing and the relationship of Comoran and Robin is very interesting. Even tough this book was violent and gruesome at times it was much better than the 2nd one in the series.
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Robin was targeted. While handling their few bread-and-butter cases and searching for the 3 people believed to be the possible suspects in the murdered woman's leg, more women are being stalked and mutilated and body parts are being sent to Robin. Career of Evil is a page turner. The plot was intriguing and the relationship of Comoran and Robin is very interesting. Even tough this book was violent and gruesome at times it was much better than the 2nd one in the series.
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LibraryThing member danhammang
A good whodunnit, a great, clever twist in the road to get there. Cormoran and Robin are engaging, believable characters. Having finally made it to the end I can't help but wonder whether she really needed 500 pages to get there. And the bad guys were one dimensional, every one of them, pointy
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nosed, beady eyed,overweight or foul smelling. Show Less
LibraryThing member iansales
I forget why I read the first of Rowling’s pseudonymous crime novels (her disguise had been rumbled before I read it, so I knew it was by Rowling). Possibly it was because my mother had a copy and asked me if I wanted to read it and I said, go on then. And then she got hold of the second book in
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the series… And now the third… The prose is a little better than average for the crime genre, but not quite good enough to be called literary. And the crime elements are not especially well put together or convincing, perhaps about as poorly done as you’d expect in a literary novel. So the Cormoran Strike novels fall uneasily between two stools, without being quite good enough to be one or the other. Having said that, they’re easy reads, and the two protagonists – Strike himself, and his business partner, Robin – are engaging characters. In this one, an old enemy of Strike’s sends Robin the leg of a young female murder victim by courier, and clues suggest the perpetrator is an enemy from Strike’s past – two men he investigated when in the RMP, and a stepfather he hated. Rowling drags out the mystery for far too long, sending Strike and Robin up and down the country in search of clues. Meanwhile, Robin’s relationship with her fiancé hits a rocky patch – as the fiancé thinks Robin and Strike are attracted to each other (Rowling has been doing a Mulder/Scully thing with them). Oh, and the reference to Blue Oyster Cult in the title? (I spotted it immediately, I’m a BOC fan.) The entire book is filled with references to the songs and lyrics of Blue Oyster Cult. As a fan of the band, that was a draw, but I can’t see it being the same to those who aren’t. It’s not like the references add anything to the plot that could not have been done by a fictional band (and, let’s face it, Rowling could hardly write worse lyrics than some of Sandy Perlman’s). Of the three Strike novel so far published – and more will undoubtedly appear – Career of Evil was more likeable than its predecessors, but less satisfactory as a crime novel. I suspect that may be the series’ future… Show Less
LibraryThing member foggidawn
Cormoran and Robin have another case to solve, and this time, it's personal. A serial killer stalks London, one with an old grudge to settle against Cormoran Strike. And what better way to do so, than to target Strike's assistant?
My takeaway from this book was: never go anywhere, ever. I'm hoping
I listened to the audiobook, and would recommend it, as I found it almost impossible to turn it off!
My takeaway from this book was: never go anywhere, ever. I'm hoping
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to avoid nightmares about serial killers, but I'm not particularly sanguine on my ability to do so at this juncture. Like the first two books in the series, this was definitely more gory and suspenseful than my usual fare. I could have done without the chapters from the psychopath's point of view -- but, on the other hand, I did think that the author did a good job of constructing the plot in a way that had me thinking it was each of the suspects in turn. I also admired the character development, particularly on Robin's part, and I'll most likely continue the series (whenever the next installment is available) in order to see what happens next with her.I listened to the audiobook, and would recommend it, as I found it almost impossible to turn it off!
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LibraryThing member -Eva-
When a woman's severed leg is delivered to the office and the news of it plays havoc with the business, Cormoran has to rack his brain to figure out which of the unsavory people in his past would be capable of not only perpetrating the crime but to come up with the clever plan. This is the third
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installment in the Cormoran Strike series and thing just keep getting better and better. Not for the characters, of course, but for the reader; the main characters are engaging and likable and their relationship has a lot of great tension, the mystery itself has a great arc and the suspects are all equally suspicious until the dénouement, and the locale descriptions are good enough that the reader feels as if they're walking the streets with the characters. And the ending is SO good! I am so happy that Rowling keeps writing this series - she is a solid plotter and writer of mysteries and, if she plans on continuing the series in this manner, we're all better off for it. Show Less
LibraryThing member pgchuis
Cormoran and Robin seek a man who is killing women and mutilating their bodies after Robin is sent a severed leg. Cormoran is convinced the perpetrator is one of three men from his past who bear him a grudge. In the background they do bread and butter custody and adultery work, Robin and Matthew
This was an excellent story - better than the second one in the series as it is much easier to follow. It keeps you guessing all the way through and the chapters from the point of view of the perpetrator are well done and help you guess (and include a certain amount of misdirection). I got very excited when Robin broke off her engagement and will be interested to see how the next in the series picks that storyline up.
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quarrel and Cormoran dates Elin. This was an excellent story - better than the second one in the series as it is much easier to follow. It keeps you guessing all the way through and the chapters from the point of view of the perpetrator are well done and help you guess (and include a certain amount of misdirection). I got very excited when Robin broke off her engagement and will be interested to see how the next in the series picks that storyline up.
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LibraryThing member amylee39
Can't wait for the next one in this series!
LibraryThing member librarylord99
If Robert Galbraith was really a man, Jennifer Weiner would lose her shit over how he writes about women. Thankfully Robert Galbraith is Harry Potter and not Franzen!
About 200 pages too long.
About 200 pages too long.
LibraryThing member MarlaAMadison
Best suspense book I've read in a while. Excellent plot and characters. When Robin receives a severed leg in the mail, PI Cormoran Strike suspects someone from his past sent the leg to his assistant. Cormoran and Robin delve into the whereabouts of the men while the police take the case in another
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direction. Very interesting study of the relationship between the two. I thought the author shortchanged Robin at the end of the book and I would have liked a better resolution for them at the end. Show Less
LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
Another page-turner in the Cormoran Strike series. This time, a psychopath with a grudge against Strike targets Robin to satisfy his twisted urges, and to wreak vengeance on Strike. But which of several potential perps from his past is responsible, and can Corm and Robin figure it out while keeping
Review written in November, 2015
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his floundering business above water? There might have been one too many suspects here...the threads get mightily tangled and snarled. But as usual, Galbraith is supremely skillful at keeping track of all the ends and making them meet tidily in the end. Naturally, there are developments in the Robin/Matthew romance as well. He is still not much of a character, as we see him mostly through Robin's reactions to his behavior, but he has been fleshed out a bit now, and he's not a bad guy, really. Review written in November, 2015
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LibraryThing member Doondeck
More in depth info on Cormoran and Robin. Complicated plot but resolved satisfactorily in the end.
LibraryThing member bookworm12
This is my favorite book in the series so far. It delves into the personal lives and histories of the two main characters, Cormoran and Robin, much more than the previous novels did. The mystery is more graphic than I prefer, with a Jack-the-Ripper style murderer on the loose. I could have done
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without some of that, but the rest of the novel was excellent. Show Less
LibraryThing member Vicki_Weisfeld
Devotees of the heavy metal rock band Blue Öyster Cult will recognize that its allusive and sometimes violent lyrics give this book its title, chapter titles, and break headings. Chapter 1, for example, is “This Ain’t the Summer of Love.” Nor is it.
Former Army Special Investigator Cameron
Kinky theories also emerge, and Robin uncovers in their file of “nutter” letters one from a young woman who wanted to cut off her leg. Robin, a psychology major before leaving university, recognizes the syndrome. Her exploration of Internet sites for transabled people and Body Integrity Identity Disorder yields more leads.
Two of Strike’s suspects are people he encountered in the military. The third, Jeff Whittaker, is the much younger second husband of Strike’s mother. Strike is convinced Whittaker orchestrated her death from a heroin overdose, but he was acquitted. Strike and Robin reconstruct the decades-cold trails of their three suspects. They have plenty of time to do so, as publicity about the leg business has discouraged any other would-be clients. They are inevitably brought into conflict with the police, still smarting from previous cases in which Strike out-investigated them.
Meanwhile, Robin proceeds half-heartedly with her wedding plans, perpetually annoyed at fiancé Matthew’s repeated attempts to get her to quit her job and his apparent jealousy of Strike. Even her stalker can detect the chill between them. When Matthew reveals a secret of his own, she calls the wedding off. The book’s early action takes place around the time of the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, and those festivities are a painful counterpoint to the couple’s unhappiness.
Galbraith has constructed a well paced, compelling narrative. She leaves a few clues on the table and could have had the main characters learn more about themselves, but few thrillers do that. It works well as an audiobook, narrated by Robert Glenister, because there is not an overabundance of characters and the pacing keeps the listener well engaged throughout its nearly 18 hours.
Former Army Special Investigator Cameron
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Strike runs a not-exactly-thriving London private detection business, aided by his attractive factotum Robin Ellacott. They have only two cases going when a delivery man shows up with a package addressed to Robin and containing the severed leg of a young girl. Strike can think of three people from his past with the misogynistic leanings, brutality, and sufficient grudge against him to make them suspects in such a crime and desirous to involve him in it. Sending a leg—instead of some other body part—seems a cruel reference to Strike’s own leg, lost in a land mine detonation in Afghanistan and replaced by a prosthesis. Kinky theories also emerge, and Robin uncovers in their file of “nutter” letters one from a young woman who wanted to cut off her leg. Robin, a psychology major before leaving university, recognizes the syndrome. Her exploration of Internet sites for transabled people and Body Integrity Identity Disorder yields more leads.
Two of Strike’s suspects are people he encountered in the military. The third, Jeff Whittaker, is the much younger second husband of Strike’s mother. Strike is convinced Whittaker orchestrated her death from a heroin overdose, but he was acquitted. Strike and Robin reconstruct the decades-cold trails of their three suspects. They have plenty of time to do so, as publicity about the leg business has discouraged any other would-be clients. They are inevitably brought into conflict with the police, still smarting from previous cases in which Strike out-investigated them.
Meanwhile, Robin proceeds half-heartedly with her wedding plans, perpetually annoyed at fiancé Matthew’s repeated attempts to get her to quit her job and his apparent jealousy of Strike. Even her stalker can detect the chill between them. When Matthew reveals a secret of his own, she calls the wedding off. The book’s early action takes place around the time of the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, and those festivities are a painful counterpoint to the couple’s unhappiness.
Galbraith has constructed a well paced, compelling narrative. She leaves a few clues on the table and could have had the main characters learn more about themselves, but few thrillers do that. It works well as an audiobook, narrated by Robert Glenister, because there is not an overabundance of characters and the pacing keeps the listener well engaged throughout its nearly 18 hours.
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LibraryThing member DavidO1103
Superb volume 3 in the Cormoran Strike series by JK Rowling. As usual, the relationship between Cormoran and Robin is front and center, and I love both of these characters, and the detecting... This volume is pretty darn grisly, but I loved it all the same.
LibraryThing member DowntownLibrarian
The best yet from Galbraith/Rowling.
LibraryThing member 06nwingert
J. K. Rowling (alias Robert Galbraith) has written another beauty! In the third installment of the Cormoran Strike mystery series, Strike and his assistant, Robin, are sent a severed leg. Strike has three potential suspects in his mind, men who have a history with Strike; meanwhile, the police are
In this book, Robin's character is in full-focus. She takes the lead on investigating the suspects, plus a few other personal motives. However, her work (and the reception of the severed leg and toe) riled her, and causing strife in her relationship with her fiancé, Matthew. At one point, Robin removes her engagement ring and calls off the wedding .
I loved Robin's growth and development. I loved how she took the lead in solving the crime. I was thoroughly upset when Strike dismissed her. I hope she can become an even bigger character in the next tome.
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focusing on a fourth suspect. While he and Robin begin investigating the suspects, there are several more murders and Robin receives a severed toe. In this book, Robin's character is in full-focus. She takes the lead on investigating the suspects, plus a few other personal motives. However, her work (and the reception of the severed leg and toe) riled her, and causing strife in her relationship with her fiancé, Matthew.
I loved Robin's growth and development. I loved how she took the lead in solving the crime.
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LibraryThing member wardemote
On a whole, I enjoyed Career of Evil, the third installment in Robert Galbraith's mystery series. Detectives Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott receive a severed leg at the office and it soon becomes apparent that someone from Strike's past is trying to destroy him through Ellacott. The plot twists
The complexities of the plot allow Galbraith to highlight various kinds of violence against women and the different ways women react to it. While none come away unscathed, it was a relief to see some of the women fight back. Ellacott particularly shows unexpected strength, extricating herself from an attack from which we at first expect Strike will have to rescue her.
The narrative suffers, though, from too many ostentatious lacunae, too many places where we are told someone will do something in a way that almost taunts us with the awareness that vital clues are being withheld. And in the end, the resolution rests on Strike failing to see something that turns out to have been too much right before his eyes for us easily to believe he could have missed it.
Despite these flaws, Career of Evil is still a good read and, as a part of the kind of longer story that unfolds in a series, provides another layer of foundational information on which to continue to build more exciting mysteries for Ellacott and Strike to solve.
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several strands into the tale of a serial murderer and provides the reader with welcome information about the histories of the protagonists. We learn about some of the old SIB cases Strike believes have come to back to haunt him and find out the details behind Ellacott's withdrawal from college. Interwoven into this tapestry are the impending nuptials of two couples: those of Prince William and Kate Middleton, and the later ones of Ellacott and her fiancé, Matthew Cunliffe. The complexities of the plot allow Galbraith to highlight various kinds of violence against women and the different ways women react to it. While none come away unscathed, it was a relief to see some of the women fight back. Ellacott particularly shows unexpected strength, extricating herself from an attack from which we at first expect Strike will have to rescue her.
The narrative suffers, though, from too many ostentatious lacunae, too many places where we are told someone will do something in a way that almost taunts us with the awareness that vital clues are being withheld. And in the end, the resolution rests on Strike failing to see something that turns out to have been too much right before his eyes for us easily to believe he could have missed it.
Despite these flaws, Career of Evil is still a good read and, as a part of the kind of longer story that unfolds in a series, provides another layer of foundational information on which to continue to build more exciting mysteries for Ellacott and Strike to solve.
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LibraryThing member ecataldi
Another great installment in Robert Galbraith's Cormoran Strike series. Honestly, they keep getting better. I don't know if this or the first one (The Cuckoo's Calling) is my favorite. As all good mystery stories start, this one begins with a murder. Of who, it's not entirely sure. A package
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containing a severed human leg is sent to Robin at the detective office. Quickly other body parts start mounting up and it's clear that someone is trying to take down Strike and his reputation. He's convinced that it's one of three people from his past so Strike and his beautiful assistant, Robin, start doing a little sleuthing on their own. They're worries that the police will blunder (as usual in this series) and Strike is worried for Robin's safety as the killer is targeting young women. Amidst all this, Robin is having a trying time with her fiance, Matthew. Is her work life going to interfere with her wedding? Fast paced and intriguing, I didn't solve the mystery until a chapter before it was revealed. I already can't wait for the next one! Show Less
Awards
Audie Award (Finalist — Mystery — 2016)
Theakstons Old Peculier Prize (Longlist — 2016)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2015-10-22
Physical description
512 p.; 6.38 inches
ISBN
0316349933 / 9780316349932