Troubled Blood - Book Review

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Troubled Blood is the 5th instalment in the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith aka J.K. Rowling.

The book was published by Sphere Books on the 15th of September 2020.

Troubled Blood sold 64,633 thousand copies in it's first week and was the top selling book in the UK. This was the biggest single week of sales for any Robert Galbraith title and almost double the launch-week volume of the previous Strike novel, Lethal White.

Some media outlets regarded the male villain who dresses as a woman in order to kill women as transphobic, given the author's past comments on transgender people. Laura Bradley, reviewing in The Daily Beast, considered that there were "pernicious anti-trans tropes" in the novel, while Kerridge observed that the book's "moral seems to be: never trust a man in a dress." 

Speaking after the release of the novel, Rowling described it's main themes as "change, loss and absence" and that the book examines the "changing face of feminism." She also stated that the character of Denis Creed was loosely based on real-life killers Jerry Brudos and Russell Williams.

Private Detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwall when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, Morgot Bamborough, who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974.

Strike has never tackled a cold case before, let alone one forty years old. But despite the slim chance of success, he is intrigued and takes it on - adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency, Robin Ellacott, are currently working on. And Robin herself is also juggling a messy divorce and unwanted male attention, as well as battling her own feelings about Strike.

As Strike and Robin investigate Margot's disappearance, they come up against a fiendishly complex case with leads that include tarot cards, a psychopathic serial killer and a witness who cannot all be trusted. And they learn that even cases decades old can prove to be deadly...

A breathtaking, labyrinthine epic, Troubled Blood is the fifth Strike and Robin novel and the most gripping and satisfying yet.

I honestly thought this would be the first case Strike and Robin would never find the answers to what happened, it definitely kept me on the edge of my seat throughout and I can honestly say I would have never guessed who the culprit was it did leave me shocked, but I did like who the killer was as I think it expressed something that many people tend to forget.

I went into this novel dreading what I was going to read especially with all the uproar about serial killer Dennis Creed, in that he dressed as a woman to kill his victims, for people that are transgender I could see why they not only could find it humiliating, but also because in just that description and review it takes away their hard work of trying to get people to accept who they are and gain the same acceptance and compassion that a "normal" person would get, from reading the book, I didn't find Dennis Creed to be as offending as he was made out to be, from what I took away from the book was that, he dressed as a woman to lure his victims into a false sense of security of a friend or someone wanting to help them. While I still think this could be seen in the wrong context, I think people can forget that women can just be a nasty and as vindictive as a man when it comes to things like this, but I can still see why if you are transphobic or someone who is transgender etc, how it could be seen as a dig and offensive to someone who isn't as open minded and as accepting, as it will be seen in a more negative light then possibly intended to be. While this is just my interpretation from it, I know some may still disagree with me.

To come away from Creed, I really liked seeing a new side to Strike, we're used to seeing the private detective being hard-faced, but it was nice to see a vulnerability to him, especially when it came to his family, I'm looking forward to see how his friendship and relationship with Robin continues to change and grow and whether something will actually happen between them.

I think with this instalment, we got to see more growth from Robin, not only as a detective, but also within her personal life, it seems that she's learning about herself all over again, and also learning to live her life the way she wants and not by what happened to her when she was younger, while she still has the fear from back then, she definitely seems to be using it to her advantage and not as a weakness. Like Strike, she also seems to battling her growing feelings towards Strike, you can see they both need their friendship as for them it's an anchor and keeps them grounded, by having that person they can turn to, but you can tell they have that what if? mindset too on whether being together could make their needs greater.

Like all the other Strike novels, I really failed at being able to put it down and it wasn't too long before I had completed it, I enjoyed the plot, the characters and I thought overall it was really well written, like with the others, I look forward to the next instalment to see what's next for the characters as well as what cases they will be trying to find answers to next.

PRAISE FOR THE STRIKE NOVELS:

'The work of a master storyteller' - Daily Telegraph

'A thoroughly enjoyable classic' - Peter James, Sunday Express

'Strike and Robin are just as magnetic as ever' - New York Times

'Outrageously Entertaining' - Financial Times

'Hugely absorbing' - Sunday Mirror

'A page-turner that will keep you up al night' - Observer

'A blistering piece of crime writing' - Sunday Times

Robert Galbraith Strike Series:

The Cuckoo's Calling

The Silkworm

Career Of Evil

Lethal White

Troubled Blood

See you soon!

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