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A review by varunob
Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
On a rainy night in autumn 1974, Dr Margot Bamborough vanished into thin air minutes after having left her practice in Clerkenwell, Central London. Forty years later, her daughter Anna spots in a pub a man she thinks might be able to uncover the truth behind her mother’s disappearance.
For Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott, the cold case at the heart of Troubled Blood presents an opportunity like no other. What’s more – among their suspects, alongside Margot’s husband, colleagues, and ex-lover, is one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers.
The size of the book (at 888 pages [Kindle], Troubled Blood is the longest book of the series, and of JK Rowling’s career) inspires awe. Initially. The awe soon gives way to a feeling that nobody told Rowling to take it easy. I’m not saying the book is long; the Nile said so. Any other writer would have been pulled up about a mystery novel this long, but not one who has sold over half a billion copies worldwide.
Troubled Blood is not a rambling mess, but it isn’t a focussed novel either. The intention with both this one and the predecessor is to establish a new, sprawling kind of crime novel, the likes that appear once in a blue moon and seldom more than once from the pen of the same author. The trouble is that there are only so many “moments” between Strike and Robin one can take. There are only so many times one of them will do something outlandish without telling the other. There are only so many near misses one can tolerate. There are no more such sentences you, dear reader, are likely to take, so let’s move on.
The decision by Rowling to have the mystery share centre stage with the Strike-Robin relationship mystified me in Lethal White, and it annoyed me here. With the setup of Margot Bamborough’s disappearance and the work they do, the novel flows organically, only for Rowling to interrupt with Strike pondering over his feelings for Robin and their precise nature, and the similar musings Robin seems to have. I’m probably one of the few people following the series who would much rather they didn’t get together, but even if that wasn’t the case, the constant cutaways would make me jump ship hastily.
The book isn’t helped by the fact that the character arcs developed over its four predecessors seem to have been forgotten, never more evident than in Strike and Robin’s interactions – personal and professional. No reader would think these characters have known one another and worked together for around four years and, it seems, nor does Rowling.
The mystery itself is extremely compelling. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it is the best case the duo have had to tackle so far, even if the book as a whole falls smack in the middle of the series. This is old-school proper detective work. The amenities of the twenty-first century are only occasional tools. To get to the bottom of Margot’s disappearance, Strike and Robin have to wade through police reports, the first investigating officer’s strange diary, and a flock of ageing suspects whose memories are fast fading and nearly all of whom have something or the other to hide.
The investigation is what tides over many of the novel’s hiccups, and the only detour I actually thought worthwhile was the sub-plot involving Strike’s uncle and aunt. When Rowling tried to mine both characters’ pasts, however, either through side characters or incidents, she failed to keep things interesting.
The book is also laden with several dull, lifeless passages of writing, almost as though Rowling was bored with writing them. Those should have been the first thing to go when the draft encountered the editor’s pen, but maybe, as she has done with the Wizarding World rules in the recent past, Rowling thinks she can turn Galbraith into a below-par writer.
There is also the massive cloud that hangs over Troubled Blood about Rowling’s transphobia and the way it rears its head in the book. While some reviews claim the novel features a trans serial killer (this is not a spoiler, worry not), said serial killer is actually a cis man who, on a couple of the many occasions on which he took a life, abducted women in the garb of a woman. While I support Rowling’s right to write a character this way, and though there is evidence that such a technique was adopted by some serial killers in the past, it’s not difficult to see that the outrage is justified. And that Rowling has done this deliberately. She has had time since her rant on Twitter (let’s be clear – it was a rant and nothing more) to think things over. The offending part of the book isn’t even a character trait, really, more of a minor aesthetic choice. And yet it’s dangerous. It continues to feed the hysteria that Rowling fanned on social media. It would have done no damage to the novel had the serial killer not been an occasional crossdresser designed in a manner that Rowling could prove her point. Sadly, she chose to take the route she did, and for that, she has justifiably earned the ire of many people.
Troubled Blood has its moments, but it truly is a middling book with a great premise at its core but a haphazard execution around said core. Venture into it only and only if the blurb piques your interest, though I’d recommend reading the earlier books to understand a lot of what happens in this one in case you haven’t.
For Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott, the cold case at the heart of Troubled Blood presents an opportunity like no other. What’s more – among their suspects, alongside Margot’s husband, colleagues, and ex-lover, is one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers.
The size of the book (at 888 pages [Kindle], Troubled Blood is the longest book of the series, and of JK Rowling’s career) inspires awe. Initially. The awe soon gives way to a feeling that nobody told Rowling to take it easy. I’m not saying the book is long; the Nile said so. Any other writer would have been pulled up about a mystery novel this long, but not one who has sold over half a billion copies worldwide.
Troubled Blood is not a rambling mess, but it isn’t a focussed novel either. The intention with both this one and the predecessor is to establish a new, sprawling kind of crime novel, the likes that appear once in a blue moon and seldom more than once from the pen of the same author. The trouble is that there are only so many “moments” between Strike and Robin one can take. There are only so many times one of them will do something outlandish without telling the other. There are only so many near misses one can tolerate. There are no more such sentences you, dear reader, are likely to take, so let’s move on.
The decision by Rowling to have the mystery share centre stage with the Strike-Robin relationship mystified me in Lethal White, and it annoyed me here. With the setup of Margot Bamborough’s disappearance and the work they do, the novel flows organically, only for Rowling to interrupt with Strike pondering over his feelings for Robin and their precise nature, and the similar musings Robin seems to have. I’m probably one of the few people following the series who would much rather they didn’t get together, but even if that wasn’t the case, the constant cutaways would make me jump ship hastily.
The book isn’t helped by the fact that the character arcs developed over its four predecessors seem to have been forgotten, never more evident than in Strike and Robin’s interactions – personal and professional. No reader would think these characters have known one another and worked together for around four years and, it seems, nor does Rowling.
The mystery itself is extremely compelling. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it is the best case the duo have had to tackle so far, even if the book as a whole falls smack in the middle of the series. This is old-school proper detective work. The amenities of the twenty-first century are only occasional tools. To get to the bottom of Margot’s disappearance, Strike and Robin have to wade through police reports, the first investigating officer’s strange diary, and a flock of ageing suspects whose memories are fast fading and nearly all of whom have something or the other to hide.
The investigation is what tides over many of the novel’s hiccups, and the only detour I actually thought worthwhile was the sub-plot involving Strike’s uncle and aunt. When Rowling tried to mine both characters’ pasts, however, either through side characters or incidents, she failed to keep things interesting.
The book is also laden with several dull, lifeless passages of writing, almost as though Rowling was bored with writing them. Those should have been the first thing to go when the draft encountered the editor’s pen, but maybe, as she has done with the Wizarding World rules in the recent past, Rowling thinks she can turn Galbraith into a below-par writer.
There is also the massive cloud that hangs over Troubled Blood about Rowling’s transphobia and the way it rears its head in the book. While some reviews claim the novel features a trans serial killer (this is not a spoiler, worry not), said serial killer is actually a cis man who, on a couple of the many occasions on which he took a life, abducted women in the garb of a woman. While I support Rowling’s right to write a character this way, and though there is evidence that such a technique was adopted by some serial killers in the past, it’s not difficult to see that the outrage is justified. And that Rowling has done this deliberately. She has had time since her rant on Twitter (let’s be clear – it was a rant and nothing more) to think things over. The offending part of the book isn’t even a character trait, really, more of a minor aesthetic choice. And yet it’s dangerous. It continues to feed the hysteria that Rowling fanned on social media. It would have done no damage to the novel had the serial killer not been an occasional crossdresser designed in a manner that Rowling could prove her point. Sadly, she chose to take the route she did, and for that, she has justifiably earned the ire of many people.
Troubled Blood has its moments, but it truly is a middling book with a great premise at its core but a haphazard execution around said core. Venture into it only and only if the blurb piques your interest, though I’d recommend reading the earlier books to understand a lot of what happens in this one in case you haven’t.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Mental illness and Terminal illness