After Hours

novels so far and plans to write ten more in the series. Can it last that long or will it peter out? Book by book she develops Robin’s relationship and sexual tension with Strike, as they maintain a professional distance from one another while handling their personal relationships with family, friends, and lovers. How will this attraction resolve itself over that many books? I am already impatient.

The Cormoran Strike series is characterized by a deliberately rude, occasionally over-the-top focus on the detectives’ personal lives as they solve complex mysteries. As readers may have noted so far, Rowling is not a restrained author. She will hammer home a description of a person or place multiple times throughout the books, in part for the readers who haven’t read other novels in the series, and in part because that is her style. Emotions run high in the Harry Potter series, which features a developing story about pre-teens growing up to face severe adult problems. A detective series can encompass some similar emotions, and the Cormoran Strike series does.

Rowling certainly features more shades of grey than she has in her previous work. After his breakup with Charlotte, Cormoran Strike is focused on his job, not relationships. He maintains a skeptical distance from his lovers and does not always accede to their emotional needs. He is grumpy, sometimes volatile, and

occasionally less complicated than he seems on the surface. He dislikes children. He is real.

Robin develops independence over time, facing her post-traumatic fears by hunting criminals with Cormoran. She evolves by shedding her need for others’ approval, maturing in the process. While playing second fiddle to Strike, she is still more likable and skillful when playing parts to find information.

If I have a complaint to make, it is that the later novels become too long, and I love long books. Rowling provides plenty of gore and drama. She focuses primarily on the P.I.s’ private lives, along with their intuitive step-bystep sleuthing. That emphasis is engaging, and she also adds in some fun recurring characters. Yet in the process, her description of their small day-to-day life actions grows tiresome. We do not need to hear repeatedly what they have for dinner, and how Strike’s leg hurts, and what Robin is doing to prepare for her wedding.

Why have I not even lasered in on the criminals? Perhaps it is because they are not particularly subtle or interesting. They are paradoxically both part of the book and an afterthought. Actively, excessively repellent, they are, quite simply, boring. There are no real anti-heroes, or even heroes, in these novels. Robin and Strike’s travels through the UK, and their interviews with witnesses or sources of information, tend to be much more absorbing than the

915 King Street, Old Town Alexandria | 703-684-1435 murderers at the heart of their mysteries.

Robin and Cormoran display the ambition Rowling had when she was a poor single mother writing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. They live their dreams, however precarious and dangerous their circumstances. Rowling loves creating complex but obscure riddles. If you are addicted to doing puzzles, know that most of these are a thousand pieces or more.

While this series features engaging main characters, I would prefer more subtlety, with tighter plots and more complicated murderers. J.K. Rowling has a wonderful sense of humor, and I want more of it here. That being said, I did read each book for fun, and they are decent suspense novels. I advise you to read them because you want to zoom through escapist thrillers, not because you think that they will become classics.

TAGS for Blog: J.K. Rowling, Cormoran Strike, Robin Ellacott, thrillers, murder mysteries, suspense, British, Harry Potter

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