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The Silkworm

(Cormoran Strike #2)

Robert Galbraith

4.04 · Rating details · 227,288 ratings · 17,438 reviews

Private investigator Cormoran Strike returns in a new mystery from Robert Galbraith, author of the #1 international bestseller The Cuckoo's Calling.

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, Mrs. Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days—as he has done before—and she wants Strike to find ...more

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Hardcover, First North American Edition, 456 pages

Published June 24th 2014 by Mulholland Books (first published June 19th 2014)

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· 227,288 ratings · 17,438 reviews

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Jul 19, 2014 Jayson rated it really liked it

Shelves: 400-499-pp, genre-detective, genre-crime, read-in-2014, genre-mystery, author-british, subject-books

(A-) 82% | Very Good
Notes: Wherein there are many meals, and nearly every important chat occurs in a restaurant, pub, or over tea and biscuits.

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Nov 02, 2013 Mohammed Arabey rated it it was amazing

Welcome back to 12 Bar Cafe.. to Cormoran Strike's.

Welcome back in London,and to actually Being Strike.

I still see him as "Hugh Jackman" :),with some hair style to match, & Emma Watson as his adorable blonde, smart secretary, Robin.

And Welcome to The Case of the Manuscript of..

..Bombyx Mori

“..writers are a savage breed, Mr. Strike. If you want life-long friendship and selfless camaraderie, join the army and learn to kill. If you want a lifetime of temporary alliances with peers who will glory

And Welcome to The Case of the Manuscript of..

..Bombyx Mori

“..writers are a savage breed, Mr. Strike. If you want life-long friendship and selfless camaraderie, join the army and learn to kill. If you want a lifetime of temporary alliances with peers who will glory in your every failure, write novels.”

―Robert Galbraith, The Silkworm

The case this time is bloody strange, mysterious, full of twists , and yeah .. full of blood.
It forces Strike to enter the nest of the Literary community, Which is Never as calm as you may think..

It's full of envy, bloody parodies...indecent metaphors , and in this case,A carcass that slaughtered brutally ,viciously and , somehow, symbolic..

It's the Silkworm Case...

A worried wife comes to Cormoran Strike's to investigate the usual disappearance of her husband the writer after some troubles with his agent about publishing his new novel.

Strike discover that the manuscript of his unpublished novel is awfully describes every one in the author's life in a sarcasm, indecent bloody metaphors, some of it'd even ruin lives and reputations.

The problem is , the manuscript get leaked, and most of London literary community knows all about, the people involved are important ones, powerful and some of them, as many people of the literary circles, weirdos or even worst, maniacs..

“The whole world's writing novels, but nobody's reading them.”
“We need readers,” muttered Daniel Chard. “More readers. Fewer writers.”

― Robert Galbraith, The Silkworm

Well don't look at me just like that...it's ~~J.K.Rowling~~ Robert Galbraith's opinion about them...and sure knows better than us about the habitants of this nest of Writers, Authors' Agents ,Editors, Publishers..
And really what she said is shockingly bold..

“I said that the greatest female writers, with almost no exceptions, have been childless. A fact. And I have said that women generally, by virtue of their desire to mother, are incapable of the necessarily single-minded focus anyone must bring to the creation of literature, true literature. I don’t retract a word. That is a fact.”

― Robert Galbraith, The Silkworm

And I called it 'nest' because Owen , that poor author,founded brutally viciously murdered by a cold blooded murderer..

And we'll wonder the whole novel Who did it? You may suspect -as I did all the characters, even his little daughter :) , But you won't ask why, you'll read big parts of 'Bombyx Mori' that can be enough reason for any one who get metaphorically mentioned in it to do so.
And remember my friend...not all writers are as sane as you may think..

******************************

The Characters
---------------
As book one, every character ,main or secondary, is deep enough to feel like it's a real person.
And again you'll be able here to read their body language and could tell their moments of confidence, or disruption..
You'll know if they're hiding something...even before Strike would clear that out..
BUT STILL, you'll never tell who did it before him saying so.

****************

And in the second novel we get to know more and deeper into Strike and Robin's lives ,more of the family and friends of Strike and Robin appear in this one, which really enrich the characters and the novel overall.
And again Rowling is keeping us on edge to know whether they will be working together till the end of this case or not.

********************************

The Writing Style
------------------
I really adore the writing style of ~~J.K.Rowling~~ Robert Galbraith... although it's really a bit difficult to me, too much describes with 'classic' language mixed with new expressions ...But it always worth the long hours read with the clever plot..

Here, there's more pages about Strike's other cases he works on in the same time of the case of The Silkworm..
That may be a bit boring for some, But I think it's good as we actually live with Cormoran Strike for the 3,4 weeks that the main case takes.
It's like we not reading just A case and that's it, we experience Full Time of the detective's life 'both personal and professional' in the time of the main case.

One more thing, The Amazing London life style experience ... I mean since the sample of first 2 chapter here, I felt I'm actually in London, by dawn's early light in the perfectly described Smithfield Market..

not only describing the places, BUT also a glimpse of its history...

The novel as the first one is like a tourist guide for the pretty traditional London.
I enjoyed so much reading about The Simpson's restaurant and loved when I googled it and saw it's as I imagined while reading the fine description.

The part when Robin drive Strike,the car travel in the snowy weather, and trying to get to Kings Cross in time was awesome part too.

And for making the novel even more Real.... check these 2 Real magazines covers of Dec.2010, you'll find them hidden in the novel.

And I shocked when I read about the sinkhole in Germany was real..I saw the pictures 3 years ago but thought it's fake..

Do you think it's got something to do with the Magical community? are Deatheaters back? Potter must know about. :)

Well, finally , it's a shame this review appears in Wikipedia,

Val McDermid from The Guardian gave the novel a positive review, but criticized the descriptions of the different London settings, which she considered superfluous: "I suspect that having spent so many books describing a world only she knew has left her with the habit of telling us rather too much about a world most of us know well enough to imagine for ourselves".

Well, the novel isn't selling Only in UK... AND not all the readers worldwide know London streets "well enough" to imagine..
It's good to visit and see London's streets, Bars, Cafes...etc by Rowling's writing style..as Dan Brown does also when he takes us into different countries by his novels pages...and so she does here.
PS: check my illustrated Book One's Review

Rowling is a master of visualizing her novels' settings..whether it's Hogwarts, Bagford ...or London.

A novel that you really Must Read...enrich with characters, setting and fine Thriller.

Mohammed Arabey
Actual Read :
from 31st July 2014
To 15 Aug. 2014

**************************************************
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
First 'Preview' is hidden(view spoiler) ...more

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Jun 24, 2014 Alejandro rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, novel, detective

Wicked brilliant! ( Yes ;) Pun intended! )

HERE COMES CORMORAN & ROBIN AGAIN!

If you are respectably active on the reading community, it will be no surprise that this "Robert Galbraith" is really the mega-famous writer J.K. Rowling, author of the ultra-mega-famous book series of Harry Potter. Why bother on making up the pseudonym when it was revealed after like two weeks when the first novel of this different series got out, that's a mystery to me! (Yes, another pun intended :P ).

Evidently ...more

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Aug 27, 2013 Ais rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery, contemporary, crime, maledetcrime

J.K Rowling releases a novel under a pseudonym? Then announces that said novels sequel is already written and will be released in 2014??

This is how I imagine she looks right now.

Edit Feb 2014: We have a name, release date AND a synopsis?!?! Bloody hell! ...more

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Jun 25, 2014 Ferdy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, mystery, disappointing, detective-detecting, dual-pov, daddy-issues-mummy-issues, doormat-heroine, boring-main-characters, poor-female-characters

2.5 stars - Spoilers

Disappointing, it wasn't awful but it wasn't good either. It was all rather predictable and generic, I wouldn't have minded the cliches and obviousness of it all if the main characters (Strike and Robin) had stood out in some way. Sadly, they didn't. I didn't care about either of them… I actually kind of hated both.

-I wasn't a fan of the writing, there were a number of times where I came across sentences that didn't flow very well. Some of the more 'difficult' words seemed t ...more

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May 31, 2014 Nataliya rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014-reads

"...Writers are a savage breed, Mr. Strike. If you want life-long friendship and selfless camaraderie, join the army and learn to kill. If you want a lifetime of temporary alliances with peers who will glory in your every failure, write novels."

And just like that, J.K. Rowling under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith takes on the familiar to her world of writing and publishing, bringing to light the petty conflicts, backstabbing attitudes, hurtful gossips and inflated egos. The bared claws an ...more

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Jun 25, 2014 Karl rated it liked it · review of another edition

As much as I enjoyed the first Strike book this second venture was rather a let down. What we have in "The Silkworm" are alternating chapters of the main character lamenting about the pain he is suffering from his injured leg, and his assistant Robin suffering from angst about her relationship with her soon to be husband. These concepts were rather new and interesting in the first installment, but have grown weary and tiresome being constantly replayed in this second. The pair travel from bar to ...more

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Jul 10, 2016 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it

Shelves: 21th-century, mystery, fiction, british

The Silkworm (Cormoran Strike #2), Robert Galbraith (Pseudonym), J.K. Rowling

The Silkworm is a 2014 crime fiction novel by J. K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. It is the second novel in the Cormoran Strike series of detective novels and was followed by Career of Evil in 2015.

Several months after solving the Lula Landry case and seeing a sharp improvement in business, Cormoran Strike is tasked by Leonora Quine with locating her novelist husband Owen.

Owen, a former lite The Silkworm (Cormoran Strike #2), Robert Galbraith (Pseudonym), J.K. Rowling

The Silkworm is a 2014 crime fiction novel by J. K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. It is the second novel in the Cormoran Strike series of detective novels and was followed by Career of Evil in 2015.

Several months after solving the Lula Landry case and seeing a sharp improvement in business, Cormoran Strike is tasked by Leonora Quine with locating her novelist husband Owen.

Owen, a former literary genius whose attempts to recreate his past success have failed, disappeared around the same time his latest book, Bombyx Mori, was leaked to London's literary community. ...

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز نوزدهم ماه جولای سال 2015میلادی

عنوان: کرم ابریشم کتاب دوم از سری کورمون استرایک؛ نوشته: رابت گالبریت؛ جی.کی رولینگ؛ مترجم: ویدا اسلامیه؛ تهران، تندیس، 1394؛ در 805ص؛ شابک 9786001821769؛ موضوع داستانهای نوجوانان از نویسندگان انگلیسی - سده 21م

کتاب نخست این اثر «آوای فاخته» است؛ «آوای فاخته» عنوان کتابی جنایی، به قلم «جی.کی رولینگ» است، که نخست با نام مستعار و گم‌نامِ «رابرت گالبریث»؛ در ماه آوریل سال 2013میلادی به چاپ رسید؛ «آوای فاخته» نخستین رمان از مجموعه داستان‌های جنایی «کورمورن استرایک» است، که به گفته ی نویسنده، بیش از هفت جلد خواهد داشت؛ موضوع رمان درباره ی «کورمورن استرایک»؛ کهنه‌ سرباز زخم‌ خورده در جنگ افغانستان است؛ «کرم ابریشم»، کتاب دوم از سری «کورمون استرایک» است؛ که نخستین بار در سال 2014میلادی منتشر شد؛ در «کرم ابریشم» آنگاه که رمان‌نویسی به نام «اِوِن کویین» ناپدید می‌شود، همسر او «اِوِن» کارآگاه خصوصی «کورومون استرایک» را به خدمت می‌گیرد؛ خانم «کویین» در این اندیشه است، که شوهرش خود خواسته برای چندین روز ناپدید شده، کاری که پیشترها هم از وی سر زده بود، و از «استرایک» می‌خواهد، که او را یافته، و به خانه برگرداند؛ ولی در نتیجه پژوهشهای «استرایک»، مشخص می‌شود، که موضوع فراتر از فرضیه ی خانم «کویین» است؛ رمان‌نویس گمشده، دست‌ نوشته‌ ای با قلم تندی به پایان رسانده بوده، که بیشتر آشنایان او را هدف قرار می‌داد؛ در صورت انتشار رمان، زندگی بسیاری، در آستانه ی فروریزش، قرار می‌گرفت، در نتیجه، افراد بسیاری مایل به سکوت وی بودند؛ هنگامی‌که «کویین» به طرزی وحشیانه، و در موقعیتی عجیب، به قتل رسید، همه‌ چیز تبدیل به مسابقه‌ ای علیه زمان شد، تا انگیزه ی قاتل ظالم، قاتلی که تا به حال «استرایک»، با امثالشان روبرو نشده بود، مشخص شود؛ «کرم ابریشم» دومین کتاب از سری «کورومون استرایک» و دستیار جوانش، «رابین الاکوت» است

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 15/10/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

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Aug 03, 2013 Jill rated it liked it

Shelves: mystery

The Silkworm is the tenth J.K. Rowling novel I’ve read. I believe that after ten often gargantuan novels I can make fairly accurate generalizations about her writing. And it saddens me to say that she keeps making the same mistakes.

Most glaring is her treatment of female characters. In the Cormoran Strike mystery series, we have another female character of much greater intrigue shunted to the side in favor of a male protagonist, aka Hermione Granger Syndrome. Robin is Strike’s young personal ass The Silkworm is the tenth J.K. Rowling novel I’ve read. I believe that after ten often gargantuan novels I can make fairly accurate generalizations about her writing. And it saddens me to say that she keeps making the same mistakes.

Most glaring is her treatment of female characters. In the Cormoran Strike mystery series, we have another female character of much greater intrigue shunted to the side in favor of a male protagonist, aka Hermione Granger Syndrome. Robin is Strike’s young personal assistant who could definitely contribute to mystery solving but mostly answers phones, schedules appointments, makes coffee, and provokes male gazing. The thing is, Robin is much more fascinating to me than Strike! Robin is desperate, unsure, diffident but ambitious—she would have been a fabulous heroine for a detective series about a woman trying to break into a traditionally male profession. Strike, on the other hand, does not interest me as a protagonist: he’s arrogant and infallible (sorta reminds you of a character whose name rhymes with Barry Lotter, non?), meaning that whenever Strike eliminates a suspect from contention, I know him to be absolutely right, simply because J.K. Rowling writes Strike in a way that he is always right. For all of Rowling’s characterization skills, Strike is lacking. He has a cool backstory—missing leg, missing rockstar father—but none of it manifests itself in his psyche or quotidian actions. They are just things we know about him; like, oh hey, that’s Cormoran Strike, he lost his leg in Afghanistan and his dad is a famous guitarist.

In general, I find J.K. Rowling’s characterization maddeningly brilliant. She’s super into the physicality of her characters. In The Silkworm the first few chapters serve no other purpose than to introduce the story’s players. But we are told who these people are, with special emphasis on their attractiveness and one-word descriptors: he’s the ambitious one and she’s the daffy one. Rowling is an expert at character portraits but you can only know the characters on her unique terms; there’s no room for personal interpretation. It’s as if she is this master dollmaker. Each character is impeccably painted, you can admire the surface details for hours, but if you cracked the dolls open, they’d be hollow. Nothing murks beneath the detailed yet limited picture Rowling has painted us.

And yet, she’s a magnificent plotter, a skill really well-suited to the mystery genre which gives me hope for any subsequent installments (though I will perpetually groan about Strike’s usurpation of the protagonist role in lieu of Robin). She carefully charts her reveals and includes tons of clever but useless information to throw you off. I’m not the biggest fan of how she writes climaxes—this isn’t participatory mystery where you can solve alongside the detective; you must wait for Mind-Numbingly Boring Detective Genius Cormoran Strike to figure it out and share his conclusions with you—but the underlying plot structure is solid. I’d just love to see her combine this knack for plot with deepened characters and themes. Otherwise, it’s forgettable. ...more

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Apr 25, 2017 Adina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery, british

4.5* When I finished The Silkworm two weeks ago I was planning to give it 4* for reasons that I will discuss later. I decided to upgrade my rating when I went to visit my mum and I saw the novel on the nightstand, halfway read. “It’s really good, isn’t it”, I asked her with excitement in my voice. I realized then that I enjoyed this more than I did other mysteries so why not give it full recognition.

J.K. Rowling (also known as Robert Galbraith) can do no wrong. She is a brilliant story teller a ...more

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Jun 20, 2014 Krista rated it it was amazing

I love a good detective story and Galbraith really delivered on this one. Either she is a master of the red herring or I am an incurably gullible old sod because I was firmly convinced I knew who it was for two thirds of the book, only to have it turn out to be someone I never even considered suspecting. There were several twists that were surprising and intriguing. She plays with the concept of the manor house mystery by staging a convenient party for all of the suspects to attend where the det ...more

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Nov 10, 2013 Ingzi Yan added it

How did the people rate a book not yet published? I am confused.

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Aug 20, 2013 Jason rated it really liked it

Shelves: most-anticipated-books-of-2012

Reading J.K. Rowling’s writing for adult audiences reminds me irresistibly of bumping into grade-school teachers on the street. There’s the obvious comparison, of course, which is not having to pretend that sex and crass language don’t exist anymore, realizing your former educator is an actual human being, an experience, for some, that can feel surreal. If you’re really lucky, of course, you make friends with your old teacher, have coffee together. You start to view them complexly. Now that you’ ...more

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Feb 19, 2014 Kelly (and the Book Boar) rated it really liked it

Shelves: whodunit, liburrrrrry-book, read-in-2014

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

I read this book MONTHS ago and never got around to writing a review . . .

Thanks for the reminder. Now that all of my friends are reading/have already read Book #3 I figured it was time to get off my butt.

The Silkworm is the follow up to “Robert Galbraith’s” bestseller The Cuckoo’s Calling. The difference this time around is everyone knows the author is really J.K. Rowling. The leading male, Cormoran Strike, is a little different ...more

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Jun 18, 2014 Lazaros rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: mystery fans

Shelves: adult, mystery, thriller, crime

I remember being in a trance after reading the first book in the series. And now I am again at the same emotional state. I don't know what makes J.K. Rowling's books so charming to the eye and mind but when you start a book of hers you get lost in it. The main characters, Cormoran and Robin, they're both incredibly well-structured. I'd also like to add that there's quite a lot of character development, something rarely seen in detective novels, or at least that's my opinion. Cormoran weans off C ...more

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Sep 23, 2013 Ashley rated it really liked it

Shelves: addictive, anglophilia, christmas, murder-most-foul, bloody-and-gross, not-quite-five-stars-but-sooo-close, books-about-writers, class-gender-race, mysteries

Re-read February 2018: Okay, so now having finished my first re-read of this book, I am so tempted to up the rating to five stars. A large portion of that desire comes from listening to the audio this time around. There’s something really satisfying about Robert Glenister’s voice narrating this story; it most definitely increased my enjoyment.

Another part is that this just feels like the ideal murder mystery to me right now. It was exactly what I was craving, plus some. I love all the clues and ...more

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Jun 03, 2014 Shelby *trains flying monkeys* rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-2014

An author decides to put out a tell all book bashing some of his fellow authors and even some of the women in his life. His wife then contacts my lovely Strike to help her find him. I'd have left his arse gone but what do I know? Strike ends up finding his dead body and decides to stay on the case.

I love Strike and Robin. This team is just so much fun to read about. I keep wanting them to hook up but then I don't want them to either. I remember that ruined several other great relationships and I ...more

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Aug 23, 2017 megs_bookrack rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Did I never review this book?

Let it be known, here and now, that I loved The Silkworm. It was a risque mystery; taut and intriguing.

This may, in fact, be my favorite of the series thus far. Looking forward to the 5th installment.

...more

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Mar 31, 2015 Matthew rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015, audio, library, gr_awards_2014, mystery

I enjoyed this more that The Cuckoo's Calling. I think that Galbraith/Rowling is getting better at this type of writing. I remember reading somewhere that it was easy to tell that it was Rowling because her style came through - but I cannot see any similarities between this and Harry Potter at all.

I will say, though, that the first two Strike books use a similar formula. All the players are laid out at the beginning and then Strike goes through meeting with each of them throughout the book. In e ...more

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Jan 09, 2014 Jonetta rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-suspense-thriller, audiobook

Cormoran Strike's business is now better than afloat following his last high-profile case. When the wife of a missing writer asks for his help to find him, Strike opts to take the case even though he probably won't get a fee from the seemingly down and out woman. What appears to be a cut-and-dried investigation turns into something much more.

I enjoyed this so much I hated seeing it end. There's nothing ordinary about the writing, the story slowly unfolding while expertly crafting vivid character ...more

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Jul 31, 2014 Barbara rated it liked it

Shelves: 2014-wom-flipping-the-pages

3.5 stars

This is the second book in the mystery series that begins with The Cuckoo's Calling.

Private detective Cormoran Strike - an Army veteran who lost a leg in the Afghanistan war - is hired to find eccentric writer Owen Quine. Quine walked out after a dispute with his agent and hasn't been home for two weeks. Before long Strike finds Quine's rotting body - trussed, disemboweled, and burnt with acid.

Quine was an unpopular guy who had recently written a book maligning almost everyone in his o ...more

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Jun 24, 2014 Prity Malhotra rated it did not like it

Imaginery Conversation that must have happened between J.K Rowling & her Publisher after Submitting the First Cut of this Book:

Publisher: Good God Rowling, What is this ? You have summed up the whole. Novel in Just 150 pages ??
JK : Yes, wanted it to be fast paced & Thrilling.
Publisher: ROwling if you want money to be Rolling, you ought to atleast make this a 450 pages book. Less pages mean less pricing range means less profit Sweety.
JK : So how the hell should I increase your fucking pages ? ...more

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Mar 25, 2014 Denisse rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Slow Mystery hardcore fans :)

Good slow mystery is probably my favorite thing to read. The author knows about the publishing industry. Any famous author most know about it, the good, the bad and the ugly. And oh my God this story was an ugly succeed. The book is not your normal mystery novel. It has no action at all, tons of dialogs and inner thoughts, but I love these characters with their positive and negative attitudes. Plotting and creating not perfect personalities are some of the strongest virtues of this author and we ...more

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Feb 11, 2014 Vicky rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: adult, contemporary, own-paper-copy, 2014-reads, that-ending, i-like-big-books-and-i-cannot-lie, mystery, british-authors, detective-detecting

Update 21/09/14:
Rating: 4,25 stars.

My overall thoughts on The Silkworm were similar to those I had about The Cuckoo's Calling. It started out pretty slow-paced (the course of the investigation requiring many descriptive parts) and for a while there was a lot of random-sounding information, but once it picked up and I started connecting dots and making predictions (all of which turned out to be wrong; I royally suck at solving mysteries) I was totally HOOKED.

The mystery was very intriguing (a mi ...more

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Jul 06, 2014 Margitte rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-novel, detective-story, reviewed, drama, fiction, suspense, thriller, british-author, british-novels, 2015-read

"Ha, ha, ha, thou entanglest thyself in thine own work like a silkworm, John Webster" ~ The White Devil

Owen Quine was the man. He was the author who thought a day was wasted if he hadn't made his readers gag at least twice, according to Jerry.

Owen Quine's books was simply gory and disgusting. His final book was a tribute to the equally gory and disgusting people in the publishing world, disguised as six prominent characters in the plot. Appropriate names, describing their secrets, was ascri ...more

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Feb 19, 2014 Phrynne rated it it was amazing

I think I probably enjoyed this even more than I did The Cuckoo's Calling because now I know and like the characters, especially Cormoran and Robin, and I love the interactions and dialogue between them all. The English setting of the book made me a little homesick for the land of my birth! I know Yorkshire and Cornwall very well so as the action moved from London to Masham to St. Mawes I was in my element. As well as all this The Silkworm is a great story, full of intriguing twists and turns an ...more

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Oct 13, 2017 Kristina Horner rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adult, audiobooks

Genuinely liked this book even more than the Cuckoo's Calling, which is saying something. Loved the initial dive into the main character's personal lives, loved the central mystery in this one, and honestly can't wait to keep reading this series. I am so pleasantly surprised and can't believe I waited this long to read them.

Joe and I have been listening to these books together on our commute and it's been the perfect series for both of us to enjoy, and puzzle around who we think is behind the mu ...more

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Aug 13, 2016 Brenda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own-read, 2015-release, mystery, crime, gift-from-gr-friend, 5000-books

4.5★s

Private Detective Cormoran Strike is back in The Silkworm, 2nd in the series by Robert Galbraith, with an intriguing and dark crime, which involves an author, a manuscript and a brutal murder.

Strike was hired by the wife of the author when he went missing – she just wanted him found. But the involved deception of his disappearance was more than it seemed. The manuscript was libelous and should have been burned instead of seeing the light of day; was that what the strange and convoluted circ ...more

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Oct 11, 2015 Robin (Bridge Four) rated it liked it

There are some things that I think this series has really got going for it. It totally has that old school detective story vibe going for it along with engaging characters and settings even the plots are really pretty good. This reminds me a little of a T.V. series though where the detectives solve a case an episode.

But will this story be for you? Well I guess that depends on a few things. There is something about Robert Galbraith’s (aka J. K. Rowling) that will forever feel a little bit like c There are some things that I think this series has really got going for it. It totally has that old school detective story vibe going for it along with engaging characters and settings even the plots are really pretty good. This reminds me a little of a T.V. series though where the detectives solve a case an episode.

But will this story be for you? Well I guess that depends on a few things. There is something about Robert Galbraith’s (aka J. K. Rowling) that will forever feel a little bit like coming home for me. After all my time in the wonderful wizarding world of Harry Potter it is hard not to love the base of the writing involved no matter what the actual story is. Because there is a certain style and knack to telling the story that is inherent no matter what pseudonym is used. There are a lot of extra details about the many of the characters and some of them are really important to the story but others are just important to making the characters seem like regular people you might meet on the street.

I have enjoyed this series so far for a couple of reasons. The plot of who-dun-it is interesting and there are enough clues that you can figure it out along the way. I actually knew who the killer was really early in this book (mostly because of my job as a chemist) but still it is about the journey and even though I had figured out the who I enjoyed going about with Strike and Robin to figure out the why of it. The other reason I have liked the series is because of Strike and Robin. I like their dysfunctional relationships with other people, there slightly charged professional relationship, the way that they seem to understand a lot about the other without necessarily talking about it. They aren’t a couple and probably won’t be for a long time in the series but there is just enough there that I’m hoping it goes that direction later.

We have gotten a lot of details about Strike as a person so far. His failed off and on relationship that seemed incredibly volatile and the loss of his leg. I actually really love some of the details put in the story about this and how he struggles with some of his disability and tries to not let anyone see him vulnerable ever. I want to learn more about Robin and her past, why she left university and how the hell did Matthew land her because as far as I can tell most of the time he is a jerk.

A few of the best parts this mystery.

The excerpts from the actual fictional book in question. I’m not sure what genre that was supposed to be or if that is what they read regularly in England but they were part dream, part metaphor and downright strange. I don’t think I could read an entire book like that but it was cool to see snippets throughout the story.

Seeing Robin and Strike’s relationship grow and how both of them have a way of telling the other exactly how it is no filter sometimes. They have a pretty good friendship right now and mutual respect happening that is enjoyable.

The Client, she is a bit messed up and not necessarily a nice person but I liked that she seemed like a real person. She has a disabled daughter at home and a philandering husband and one friend in the world. She is doing the best she can and so if her responses are the social norm so be it.

A peak into this world of authors, agents and publishing houses. I really hope that this isn’t how it has been over the years for Rowling but it did make entertaining reading.

Overall

I was completely entertained and I enjoyed my time in this world. It isn’t the best mystery I’ve read but I do like all the extra details that are thrown in and I like feeling like I’m inside every part of the daily lives of Robin and Strike while reading.
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Nov 26, 2018 Andrew Smith rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Andrew by: Autumn

I’ve somehow contrived to dip into this series randomly and although the stories themselves are stand-alone I do feel that I've missed out a little on the relationship development between London based Private Investigator Cameron Strike and his female assistant, Robin. And there’s probably a few other carry-over elements I've managed to side-step, so it’s back to book two to fill in the gaps.

In this episode we are thrown deep into the competitive (and back-stabbing) literary world. Yes, this is I’ve somehow contrived to dip into this series randomly and although the stories themselves are stand-alone I do feel that I've missed out a little on the relationship development between London based Private Investigator Cameron Strike and his female assistant, Robin. And there’s probably a few other carry-over elements I've managed to side-step, so it’s back to book two to fill in the gaps.

In this episode we are thrown deep into the competitive (and back-stabbing) literary world. Yes, this is a place the author should know very well. Strike is asked to track down author Owen Quine, who is known for doing a disappearing act from time to time. On this occasion his wife thinks he’s run off a kind of writers retreat but she doesn’t actually know where it is. It sounds like a quick and simple operation. Of course, it turns out to be anything but!

What starts off as a routine set of enquiries quickly develops into something else – something dark and deeply sinister. It seems that Quine was on the brink of launching a new book, a book that blows the whistle on his full circle of friends and literary acquaintances with just about everyone being described in very unflattering terms. Could this in any way be connected to his disappearance? Through Strike, we are introduced to a full cast of characters which includes Quine’s agent, his editor, his publisher and sundry others. Most have crossed swords with the author at one time or another and might have reason to wish ill upon him.

It all turns in to a satisfyingly complex mystery. Maybe it’s a little protracted but, in truth, I didn’t tire of it – it’s all very well executed and I liked the mix of intrigue created by the investigation and the more personal dive into Strike’s personal life. It did fill in some gaps, but these were mainly regarding his long-term relationship with an ex-fiancée. I didn’t really learn anything I hadn’t previously gleaned regarding the reciprocal (but hidden) feelings Strike and Robin have for each other. I’m sure they’ll get it on at some point but in this book both were really only beginning to realise what they feel for each other.

I do like Strike: he’s clever and grumpy and has an interesting history. His partnership with Robin is, I think, pitched just right too – things are developing slowly and, for the most part, it’s easy to understand the attraction each has for the other. Well ok, that is if it’s at all easy to understand what a very attractive woman sees in a big, gruff and untidy bloke with one leg and a beaten up face! I’ll definitely be looking out for book 5 and I hope I don’t have too long to wait. ...more

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About Robert Galbraith

Robert Galbraith

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This is a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series and The Casual Vacancy, a novel for adults.

NOTE: There is more than one author with this name on Goodreads.
Robert Galbraith - Marine Biologist

Rowling was born to Anne Rowling (née Volant) and Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) north This is a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series and The Casual Vacancy, a novel for adults.

NOTE: There is more than one author with this name on Goodreads.
Robert Galbraith - Marine Biologist

Rowling was born to Anne Rowling (née Volant) and Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Bristol. Her mother Anne was half-French and half-Scottish. Her parents first met on a train departing from King's Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964. They married on 14 March 1965. Her mother's maternal grandfather, Dugald Campbell, was born in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. Her mother's paternal grandfather, Louis Volant, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte during the First World War.

Rowling's sister Dianne was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four. She attended St Michael's Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the Harry Potter headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would usually then read to her sister. She recalls that: "I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it. Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee." At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. When she was a young teenager, her great aunt, who Rowling said "taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind," gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and Rowling subsequently read all of her books.

Rowling has said of her teenage years, in an interview with The New Yorker, "I wasn’t particularly happy. I think it’s a dreadful time of life." She had a difficult homelife; her mother was ill and she had a difficult relationship with her father (she is no longer on speaking terms with him). She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College, where her mother had worked as a technician in the science department. Rowling said of her adolescence, "Hermione [a bookish, know-it-all Harry Potter character] is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of." Steve Eddy, who taught Rowling English when she first arrived, remembers her as "not exceptional" but "one of a group of girls who were bright, and quite good at English." Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books.

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“The whole world's writing novels, but nobody's reading them.” — 169 likes

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(Cormoran Strike #2)

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