[Firstly, disclaimer: I don't agree with J.K. Rowling's transphobic views, I think she's awful. I did pay for this book, but before she revealed herself as a bigot, I certainly won't be buying anymore of her work and giving her my money. This was read with a critical perspective, fully aware of Rowling's shitty views and how it may have bled into her work.]
The book itself was good. Complex, gripping and interesting.

Pros:
- the thing Rowling does best is characters, and character voices, in my opinion. Compared to the Lee Child I read previously, the different was stark. Every person Strike and Robin spoke to had a distinctive and well-written voice, with their own class inflections, accents and ways of speaking. It's part of what makes the book feel so real and I liked that part a lot. This also made all of the side-characters interesting, with their own personalities and motivations which all slotted together interestingly.
- similarly, the characters resist questioning, give obfuscating answers and generally act like real people, which Child's witnesses don't really - they either cooperate or they don't, there's no realistic mid-ground.
- the two main characters were well-written as always. I like both Strike and Robin very much, they're distinctive people and they act in realistic, sympathetic ways even when they're not being perfect.
- I really do appreciate how seriously Robin's PTSD was treated, and that Strike's injury/loss of limb was never forgotten. They're obviously more than that as characters, but their struggles are intrinsic to them and it was consistently brought up and made a part of their lives.
- the plot was complex and fascinating and the foreshadowing is very good. I didn't put any of the pieces together until it was spelled out for me, even though I could see where it had all come from, on hindsight.

The details of the gallows, Billy's story, all the different characters (which I still managed to keep track of because of how they were introduced), the past and present, the politics - was all very original and felt distinctive, even though, as my dad said, money is the oldest motivation in the book.

- I liked the horsey details, that was fun, and if I ever knew exactly what defines a bay horse, I'd forgotten. I also didn't know that pure white foals can't digest food and die soon after birth, so that was interesting and also offered a theory for why pure white animals, incl. horses, are so linked with death and the supernatural in mythology, which I looked at in my uni diss.

Cons:
- the plot did get too dense right near the end.

I got confused between the point of Robin and Strike going to the police station and Robin getting kidnapped. Robin seems to realise Raphael was the killer by then but I didn't understand when the 'reveal' was and I first thought it was Jimmy that'd done it. Strike clearly knew earlier because he was telling Robin to 'figure it out' herself. I thought there was going to be a big reveal or realisation but there never was. It was all neatly explained in Robin's "explanation" to Raphael, though.

- the politics felt somewhat off to me, esp. what I know of J.K. now. There was an obvious and not surprising dig at old, rich, white Conversative politicians who're hypocrites, but there was also a big dig at the extreme left. Jimmy and Flick were figures of mockery and it became clear that Jimmy was a hypocrite and womaniser, too. They're obsessively occupied with how middle-class others are and seem to worship the "real" working class. There was lots of talk about feminism and the patriarchy, communism and capitalism which was clearly meant to be sneered at by the reader and I was thinking about how Rowling must sneer at leftists on tumblr, including trans people and ppl who support trans rights, presumably. Flick is proclaimed to be pansexual but Robin says something about not believing it, giving the impression she's said it just to 'fit in' with the leftish crowd. Flick also says that monogamy is the trap of the patriarchy and Robin thinks that she got that from Jimmy, encouraging the reader to think that polyamory is just a way for the man to get his rocks off wherever while the woman pretends she's fine with it. It generally felt like a 'fuck you' to people who are genuinely pansexual and living in non-hetronormative relationships.
- oh and whilst Robin's PTSD and panic attacks were dealt with, there wasn't much attention paid to the clear signs she shows of having an eating disorders. It's repeatedly mention that she doesn't eat, gets thinner, isn't hungry, etc. but no-one seems to worry too much about it.
- in that vein, I didn't the treatment of Billy was the best. The characters/book are clear that Billy is mentally ill when he comes to see them in the office, but then only lists the evidence of him being disheveled, a bit manic and having a tic. This tic is repeatedly mentioned and seems to "represent" his psychosis episodes, but plenty of perfectly mentally healthy people have tics, so this pissed me off a bit.
- finally, Robin's waffling around with Matthew did get a bit frustrating, and Strike wasn't the kindest to Lorelei either.

This was acknowledged with both of them, Robin thinking she was stupid for not realising that Matthew was cheating (which was pretty damn obvious) and that Strike had been a shit to Lorelei in leading her on a bit, but was still frustrating.

anyway, as much as I hate Rowling, she unfortunately is still a damn good writer. The plot was impressive and the book kept me reading and interested even as it was over 700pgs, and i still like Robin and Strike a lot.