Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith

6 reviews

wytherwytch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book...!

So I have really wrestled with reading the Strike series after everyone saying at how transphobic JK is. I have tried to educate myself on this matter to understand it. While I do understand some concerns - mainly surrounding the women's shelter that JK funds - I also think that the argument as it were is more nuanced than the majority give credit. I wish it something more open to discussion - the downside of cancel culture is that it takes away the ability to discuss, to understand, to find middle ground. But none of this is about the book so I digress - apologies

I recovered my guilt from reading this while crying about the storyline involving Strike's Aunt Joan. It was powerful and relatable. 

My main criticism of this series is that the books are so long but a lot happened in this one and I have idea where I would have cut any of it. It was a joy to read. It made me laugh, and cry. Brilliant stuff.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Death of parent, Death, and Cancer

Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Abortion, Alcohol, Blood, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Infertility, Miscarriage, Racism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

dorsetreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Grief, Mental illness, and Misogyny

Moderate: Cancer, Infertility, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Addiction, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Abortion, and Blood

charlmax's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Robert Galbraith is a master at spinning a tale full of toxic and unhappy relationships.

It would easy to mistake this book for a sloooooow burn romance instead of the murder mysetery it should be. I miss the days of Cuckoo's Calling and Silkworm.

If the focus of this book was the investigation into the doctor that went missing and not the many, many relationships Strike has, it would be 400 pages and not over 900.

As far as the investigation side goes, there was plenty of time spent on discussing clues and ideas in an attempt to lead the reader on. And it also highlights the challenges that can arise during a cold case

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

sauvageloup's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Complicated feelings over this one

Pros:
- Rowling is an exceptional writer; the complicated but satisfying plot, the mixture of straightforward tone interspersed with moments of lyrical descriptions and reflection, the characterisation and development, the slowly eked out relationship development, the depth of every single side character, how each character's dialogue is made distinct and accents rendered realistically, the research that's clearly gone into it... just so much to admire in the actual writing and her skill.
- I like Robin and Strike and many of the other side characters. They feel real and Rowling puts across their emotions very well. There's a very real feeling of being as harried and pressured as Strike clearly is with everything piling up and then the release at the end.
- the plot was complex but wrapped up very neatly at the end. It was complicated by various characters' mixed motives but it didn't feel forced.

Cons:
- My only complaint about the writing was that it was *massively* confusing at the beginning. SO. MANY. NAMES. Got super confused. Also later on completely forgot who

Joanna Hammond

, which might be due to it being 3am right now, but still. Took the punch out of the revelation at the end because I couldn't remember who the hell they were talking about.
- Rowling's views... Rowling as a person... that was just in my head the whole time I was reading.
- her views then come through in this book, more than the others I think. This is the first book to come out post Rowling revealing herself as a massive transphobe and I think there's a lot of elements of that that come through in this.
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There's the killer, Creed, dressing up in women's clothes to lull his victims into a sense of security, which is the most transphobic bit. Then there's a good bit of fatphobia in there with obvious scorn and disgust angled towards fat people, including Creed being obese. A point I hated a lot was when it's made fun of that Irene has IBS. The condition is given to an already dislikeable character and it's encouraging the reader to laugh at her during that whole episode, which I thought was really cruel. No-one, however dislikeable, should be subject to mockery because of a chronic and painful medical condition. There were other bits too and I can't speak for disabled people but I wasn't sure how some of the portrayals of disabled people would come off to them. Then there's points where I felt that Rowling was hammering home other points, about women's safety, about Robin's rape, about domestic abuse, manipulative men, feminism, and about people who arguing for changing language rather than actually making a difference (the students Strike has a rant at in Max's flat over a so called 'slutwalk'). None of that was wrong, but I felt it linked back to Rowling's perception of herself within the world.

Anyway, the book was written excellently, but Rowling is a piece of shit. Unfortunately, I am also very jealous of her writing abilities and wish they'd been given to someone more worthy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Sexism and Misogyny

Minor: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

andyincolour's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

samanthaxe's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I picked up this book because JK Rowling is a master plotter, and I continue to love the dynamic between Strike and Robin. As with past books, the interaction between the two of them was the best part. The story is a little convoluted--the agency is now very busy, with multiple cases going on at once, and it's hard to follow all of those details as well as the main mystery of Margot Bamborough. I enjoyed the astrology subplot, but was ultimately too confused by it to see how it impacted the ending or solving of the case.

I was also wondering whether Rowling would use this opportunity to make a statement about trans people, and she does.

One of the main suspects, a man, dresses as a woman in order to gain the trust of his female victims and enter their spaces.

While Rowling does not use the word trans or identify this character as trans, she's obviously trying to spin a story where the fears she spouts on Twitter are manifest, however unrealistic or unfounded. There are also several conversations between characters where Robin or Strike think about the naïveté of young people and their desire to control the narrative and language around their experience, and how ultimately that doesn't change anything. 

So, trigger warnings for what you'd expect in a gritty thriller, with an emphasis on almost unrelenting violence against women, and I'd also add a trigger warning for Rowling's seemingly benign use of things like cross-dressing to make an insidious and harmful point about gender identity.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, and Torture

Moderate: Cursing, Dementia, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Transphobia

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders