This was a long book but it didn’t feel like it, which is just one of the reasons I love this author. Like all of the other books in this series, this story involves a few twists, the end is surprising and you learn quite a lot about England and English ways along the way. It took her longer to write this book of the series, but it was worth the wait.

It’s been some time since a book kept me up late reading, but Lethal White did. J.K. Rowling/Robert Galbraith is a good writer, suspenseful and absorbing. The plot takes some implausible turns (not to mention the clichéd climactic scene near the end), but the plot also took many twists I didn’t see coming. This book was a lot less graphic and violent than Career of Evil, and I’m very grateful for that.

The parts I found the least interesting were those about Robin and her husband and Cormoran and his ex-girlfriend. I hope we see less of that in book five.

In any event Lethal White gets five stars from me because it’s what I’m looking for in a book – something I can’t put down, that I can lose myself in, that is highly entertaining, I eagerly await the next installment!

Could not finish

Cormoran Strike strikes again. This book has all the elements of a typical cozy mystery but gets into the category of a suspense novel. Be warned - the book has almost 1000 pages.
Galbraith does know how to draft a mystery but lacks the talent of making it into a novel. With an over indulgence into trivia, the story extends where it is not required. This one could have very well been written in less pages than it has currently. So much excess information and red herring in the book ensures that you could never guess the killer. But at times, it also put me off especially when it was evident that certain facts could be omitted and the pages could be reduced.
I have read a lot of reviewers writing they wouldn't mind reading a very long Strike novel as they love Cormoran Strike and Robin. I too love them a lot and would love for them to get together soon but adding pages just for the sake of increasing the story length is not something I am in favor of. Quality should precede quantity, and in the latest Strike novel, Quantity seems to have taken a precedence over good quality.
I don't think I shall be looking forward so eagerly for the next Strike novel this time. it may most likely exceed the 1000 pages limit

I read this series more for the characters than for the mystery. Oddly, though, Strike and Robin seem the most one-dimensional.

In almost every instance, whenever Strike goes somewhere, his leg starts to hurt more and more. I can see where that could be the case, but couldn’t some padding have alleviate that problem? And even if not, I want to appreciate Strike’s character, not almost pity him. So I would prefer more Strike the person and less Strike the invalid.

As for Robin, she is more resourceful and confident in this book (despite some panic attacks). But boy, how could she tolerate such a mess-up personal life?

Of course, flawed protagonists are much more realistic and interesting. And I’ve grown to appreciate these two characters.

But the best part of the book is the realistic-sounding descriptions of London, its establishments and the surrounding countryside – as well as the natural “feel” of the conversations between the characters. Perhaps it’s simply the lack of exaggeration that gives this book its “tone”.

As for the mysteries, the reader can’t really figure them out early because you aren’t given enough information to do so. You may correctly guess “who”, but not “how” (and probably not “why”).

Bottom line: It’s the characters and the setting that distinguish this book – even if Strike’s leg hurts too much.

I really enjoyed this book. It started a little slow, but after that has had me captivated till the end.

My least favorite of the series. A bit disappointed, but still excited for the next book.

Where is JK's editor?

I like this series. I felt the first two books to be brilliant—then it began to fade. This was an entertaining read, but it lost me with the heavy, emphasis on the Strike/Ellacott long-term romantic sub-plot, along with the additional 150-pages of meandering story sub-plots written in a more literary style than previous stories in the series.

This book is a doorstop, weighting in at 650+ pages. It’s about 150-pages longer than the serie's, (still thick) norm of 500-pages.

This series seriously is beginning to tragically remind me of the TV show Moonlighting (1985). That show sustained itself for several seasons on the unspoken sexual tension between the male and female PI partners. It tanked when they hooked-up. This same device in-use here is getting tedious. I know the series will be over when Strike and Endicott finally get together.

Thankfully, this story is sparse on backstory, although it’s only sparse on case backstory. However, there is a large amount of romantic backstory on both Strike and Ellacott. I’m not seeing the point of the constant (re-)introduction of Strike’s ex-fiancé (Charlotte) when his current paramour does a better-than-average job of describing Strike’s intimacy issues. Ellacott’s train wreck of a marriage was tediously predictable. Frankly, it was just tedious. Note that that because of the large long-term plot line romantic component of the story, this book will likely be unintelligible to folks not following the series. Also note that, as he appears in every story, Ellacott's childhood pony, Angus receives honorable mention.

I found the overly literary narration of the story to be annoying. I’ve always liked the author’s ability to create atmosphere. In The Cuckoo's Calling she was straight forward in its writing, but with some clever turns and a satisfying dollop of detail-porn. This book contains epigraphs suggesting themes that many times eluded me and Latin quotations that likewise befuddled me. The vocabulary is also more highfalutin than previous stories. (I lack a Public School education, you see?) I also thought that it was more expositional than earlier stories in the series. Ellacott’s gunpoint reveal being particularly egregious. Finally, this book seems to have backed-off on the gore-fest of the Career of Evil (my review). That doesn't really bother me. However, I still find the author's handling of the sexual aspects of the serie's plots to be prudish.

A book this long, gives the author a large sandbox. What starts out as the blackmail of a political figure morphs into a suicide that can’t fool the reader it’s not a murder. The author takes you down at least three, long, meticulously written rat holes. I found the amount of verbiage used to develop single-use characters to be really annoying. I was fatigued by all the potential perps by page 500. At which point, I just wanted the story to be over, rather than whodunit.

This book had too much a romantic melodrama and was too long for me to enjoy as a detective mystery. In the past, I liked the way the author intertwined the past and personal life of the protagonists with the case. However, I felt this story was a romance that wasn’t going to end between these covers first and a detective mystery secondly. Personally, I would have preferred a story where Strike and Ellacott just solve a case in 350-pages without Latin quotations, epigraphs, many jaunts out of London, an Epilogue and with only a single, modest exposition at or near the end to leave the reader with their Ah Ha! feeling of satisfaction.(less)