Lethal White

by Robert Galbraith

Ebook, 2018

Library's rating

Library's review

One-legged investigator Cormoran Strike returns in the fourth entry of a series ghost-written by J.K. Rowling. Strike and his resourceful partner Robin Ellacott (now married to her insufferable fiancé Matthew) are hired to protect a government minister from extortion by finding something

incriminating to hold over the people who initiated the schemes — blackmailing the blackmailers, essentially. And there's a possibly related case involving a schizophrenic young man who is off his meds and babbling to Strike about having witnessed the murder of a small child years ago.

If all that wasn't enough to be going on with, Robin is coping with symptoms of PTSD following the traumatic events at the conclusion of the last book, Career of Evil, without letting anyone know she's having anxiety attacks. Despite that, she manages to juggle two completely different undercover assignments to help gather evidence — as the government minister's posh goddaughter and as a working-class member of the socialist resistance. Apparently colored contacts are more powerful than I thought.

I enjoy the interactions between Strike and Robin, both on and off the case. I always feel like the plots have one or two more twists and complications than they need, strictly speaking, and the result here is an absolute doorstopper of a book. Having said that, I still raced through it in pretty short order because whatever her other faults Rowling sure knows how to keep a storyline humming merrily along. It will be interesting to see what she comes up with next.

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Description

"When Billy, a troubled young man, comes to private eye Cormoran Strike's office to ask for his help investigating a crime he thinks he witnessed as a child, Strike is left deeply unsettled. While Billy is obviously mentally distressed, and cannot remember many concrete details, there is something sincere about him and his story. But before Strike can question him further, Billy bolts from his office in a panic. Trying to get to the bottom of Billy's story, Strike and Robin Ellacott--once his assistant, now a partner in the agency--set off on a twisting trail that leads them through the backstreets of London, into a secretive inner sanctum within Parliament, and to a beautiful but sinister manor house deep in the countryside. And during this labyrinthine investigation, Strike's own life is far from straightforward: his newfound fame as a private eye means he can no longer operate behind the scenes as he once did. Plus, his relationship with his former assistant is more fraught than it ever has been--Robin is now invaluable to Strike in the business, but their personal relationship is much, much trickier than that."--Amazon.… (more)