Rene Hasekamp

I have hesitated between 2, 3 and 4 stars. It has become 3. Why? Although Rowling definitely knows how to write, I found this book too long. And thetre is so much talking! The fact that it took me a month to finish this detective novel is proof for that. Although the plot is good, too many pages are filled with the interviews of the possible suspects and witnesses. These interviews also are very similar in style. From most of them you might have to conclude that the half of London says "fuck" or "fucking" in every second sentence. And always everybody says "yeah" instead of the "yes" I always hear in London.

I also would have been happy to see more of Robin in the book. She is a really interesting side-kick who deserves more attention. I think she is Rowlings alter ego. But as I said, the plot is good and consistent. The book is written in the Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot tradition, in which the detective does not give a shred of his ideas to the reader, until he has solved the case completely. In the last chapter the detective gives an extremely detailed analysis of the case. I doubt if the reader of this book gets all the information, while reading the book, that is necessary to come to the analysis of the crime. Anyway, the book was pleasant to read. I hope that in the next Cormoran Strike novel Robin plays a larger part and that Strike will be a bit more communicative about his findings so far.