Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith - 5 stars (and many, many hearts)

[Teodora]

What a book! What a book! Fantastic. Her best as Robert Galbraith and, dare I say, if not Rowling's best ever, one of her best.

What do I say in this review? First of all, let me tell you that anyone who calls this book transphobic hasn't read past chapter 3 (or something like that), so if this was one of your worries that kept you from reading it, it is not founded. In no way I found this book discriminatory towards any social category. The main message of this book, I think, is how often we misjudge people based on their appearance, social status, or occupation. People are more inclined to see a man as dangerous than a woman, for example. There are certain occupations (like doctors, nurses, priests, etc.) that automatically create a certain image in people's minds and it's hard for them to see if a person with that occupation is evil (although it had been proved that psychopaths often choose such professions). Also, I think the ending shows very well how we shouldn't judge a whole social category based on a single bad specimen.

Rowling's writing was exquisite in this one. It reminded me of the classic English literature in terms of style. It was a strange (but good) experience reading it after Leigh Bardugo. Both are authors I love, but they have such a different style. Bardugo has this modern writing style, which seemed almost the opposite of Rowling's, and yet, both are so great. It proves that greatness can be achieved in so many ways.

I found this book quite complex. Apart from the main mystery that pushed the plot of this story forward, there were several other mysteries, more than one killer involved, plus the personal lives of the detectives, each with their own problems, and Rowling handled them so well. They merged together to perfection. The book has 888 pages, but let me say that nothing seemed to be there when it wasn't necessary. There was a perfect balance, everything blended so well. I've always been a fan of Rowling, but for everyone in doubt, I think this book proves she has a place on the writing scene. She knows how to handle adult subjects just as well as she did with children's stories. Maybe even better.

I could say more. A lot more. I could talk about this book for ages. Actually, I feel somehow sad that it ended and the 888 felt too short (if anyone imagines something like this is possible!).

I recommend this book to anyone. If you have doubts, I say that you definitely shouldn't. Especially for those people that are fans of mysteries and suspense, this book will be a treat. Don't let the public opinion bully you out of reading this one. It's much better to have your own opinion about something than to adopt that of the others.

[Olivermagnus]

I'm hoping to read this soon. I bought the audio but I'm doing a couple of long audios that I need to finish first. I have enjoyed all the other books in this series so much.

[Jgrace]

What a good review! I just finished listening to this one. I couldn't agree with you more.

[Susan]

Thanks for this enthusiastic review. Definitely makes me interested!

[annapi]

Thanks for reminding me about this! I'd forgotten its release date was this month!

[Joi]

Interesting, I definitely was in the 'I heard this book was transphobic, and will NOT be reading because of that' boat- so to hear that you didn't feel it was definitely opens me up a little more to this. I'm still not sure if I will read- this whole separation of art and artist thing with JK Rowling is complicated for me.