The Silkworm

So regular readers of my reviews will know how much I raved about the first Cormoran Strike novel by Robert Galbraith, or as we now all are aware J K Rowling. I was literally champing at the bit to get started on The Silkworm and so by 9am on publication day I had dove in.

I loved the clever narrative of the first Strike novel, the weaving of a story from the interrogation of the major players. In this second book in the series we have more of the same, the key characters are introduced through observations or recollections and then we meet them one by one throughout the book. This is still a very clever writing style as again reflective of the old fashioned writing of Agatha Christie.

There is a little more gore in this book. It has more discussion of the science of murder than in book one. This was necessary due to the fact this book clearly felt with a murder whereas book one was based around a suicide and one that happened prior to the book starting.

I didn't find the story in this book flowed so easily as the previous novel, this I found was down to the characters. I can hand on heart state that I found almost no redeeming qualities in any of them. They were hands down the most unsavoury, unscrupled and downright unlikeable group. This meant that it was difficult to want to spend time with them reading about them. It was a slower read, the characters were at times so similar in characters and nastiness that I had to keep checking who was whom.

The two main players, Cormoran and Robin are still excellent central characters and hold the story together well. They play excellently off each other and make great reading. Strike is still a somewhat man of mystery on which further Galbraith novels can be hung.

I could only give 4 stars due to the slower pull of it and it's storyline. It was difficult to find empathy for the murder victim who is portrayed as a sexual deviant with a penchant for the obscure and a thirst for revenge. It made for less sympathetic reading than that of supermodel Lula Landry.

Rowling has penned what will doubtless be one of THE beach reads of the year. It will be talked about many times over and deservedly so. I am keen to spend more time with her enigmatic detective and his assistant in novel number 3