I’ve been a huge fan of J.K. Rowling since my brother gave me the first Harry Potter book when I was younger.  When those books came out, I would devour them in a couple of days.  I got sucked into the world and the characters and not want to stop reading.

When that series ended, I wondered what was going to come out next from Rowling and while we had to wait for a while, I’m happy with what we got.

The Strike series seemed to almost be a grown-up version of Harry Potter with murder instead of magic.  While I haven’t devoured the Strike books with as much fervor as Harry Potter, these books still rank around the top of my list.

I have just finished the newest edition in the series Lethal White and I thought I’d share my opinion.

Story

The story in Lethal White is a much more complex mystery than the past novels.

After having solved the case of the Strangler from the previous novel, Strike’s agency has been thrust into the spot light.  Everyone seems to know who Strike is now and that makes his job tougher.

It also brings with it Billy, a troubled young man with a mental affliction who thinks that Cormoran Strike is the only one that can solve a murder that he thinks he remembers from years ago.  It doesn’t take much for Billy to become scared and run away from Strike leaving him without much information.

What follows leads Strike down the perverbial rabbit hole.  The book tackles politics, the class system, sports, and even family.  The complexity might have been a bit much for Rowling to handle completely, but for the most part the novel doesn’t stray too much into biting attacks on anyone.  Rowling still drops clues as she goes but I had no real idea who did it until the last few chapters.

Characters

What I really come to the stories for is the characters. As far as this story goes it’s one of the best character peices in the entire series.  The story picks up right where Career of Evil left off, at Robin’s wedding to a man that no reader likes.

During the novel, we get to see how these characters react to the new situation of that marriage and what it means to the something more than friends relationship Strike and Robin have developed.  We get to see the pinning, excitement, fear, and jealousy as Strike and Robin both explore life with their respective new relationships.  Many hate the pining, but it’s so human to me.

We also get to see the pain they go through solving the mystery.  We can see the frustration on Strike as he hits road blocks; and on Robin as she feels like she deals with personal issues.

The new characters also bring in a bit of spice, each with a unique personality and tortured background.  Finding out bits of these people’s lives is just as interesting as finding out who-done-it.

Writing

Rowling’s writing is easy to understand and clips along at a pretty good speed.  The plotting did come to some slow points, especially in part 1 while she was setting up everything.  Still, her prose are so easy to read and often beautiful.

Some things got lost in the translation from Britian to America.  If you don’t have a grasp of how their political system works, (I don’t really) you might have to do some research.  I can’t fault her for any of that, since it wouldn’t make sense to slow down and talk about it.

The other things that got lost in translation were coloquialisms.  I was lucky enough to be reading on a digital device that could define these terms for me.  I think the translater could have done a better job of it.

Wrap-up

If you weren’t a fan of J.K. Rowling before, I don’t think this book will win you over.  If you do enjoy her works though or you’re already invested in the series, you’ll enjoy it.

If you are a fan of mysteries or character pieces, I think you’ll also enjoy this book.

At the heart of this book are characters and a solid mystery.  If you’re looking for political satire look some where else.  If you are looking for a mystery with twists and turns, you’ve got the right book.

Purchasing the book from the link above does help the site.  So if you haven’t bought it yet, think of us when you purchase.

As always make sure you’re following the site on Twitter and Facebook.  There’s also a Facebook Group that I’m hoping to get going as well.

You can also sign up for our mailing list and get the weekly update sent directly to your e-mail so that you don’t miss any of the important things happening during the week.