Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Troubled Blood

The fifth book in the series, Troubled Blood takes readers on a convoluted path that has every suspect looking like a murderer at one point, and simultaneously, the main character looking like a possible runaway instead of a possible victim. The character progression between Cormoran and Robin is intriguing also, as this is the first book in the series where I found their friendship/relationship frustrating to experience as Cormoran’s personal situation has him lashing out, making me quite frustrated in his behaviour. While I did consider deducting stars due to the fact there’s a significant focus on rape in this book which made me uncomfortable, in the end the writing was so excellent and the reveal so shocking, I had to give it 5 stars in the end regardless.

Content Warnings

charlmax's review against another edition

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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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j_sherrill's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

It took me forever to get through this book which really surprised me as I normally go through mysteries pretty quickly and I have really enjoyed this series. I think the pace of this book was just slower than I’m used to and I found all the characters and side plots a lot to keep up with. I also thought this book was unnecessarily graphic. But overall, still an enjoyable mystery in the series.

Content Warnings

tgilmore's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

samanthaxe's review against another edition

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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.

Spoiler

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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