Review: Lethal White

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lethal White.

Now THAT is a title.

It's been too long since our last Cormoran Strike story, and now I see why, with the sheer length of this book in addition to J.K. Rowling's other projects (namely, the Fantastic Beasts screenplays) keeping her busy. I hate to say it, but perhaps this book is a little too long and complex for its own good. I mean, when was the last time you saw a mystery novel over 600 pages long? Not that Galbraith slacks in the character department - there's a ton of them to go around, and a ton of potential motives and scenarios to go around too. And of course the personal-life subplots for both Strike and Robin, ongoing as they are. No spoilers, but Robin's storyline in particular will make you feel all the sympathy for her.


I bet a lot of people aren't gonna be fans of this one just for the politics - the usual Rowling center-left stance, though many would be quick to call her, pejoratively, a "smug centrist" because she's not only quick to needle Tories, but far-left socialists as well. Setting the book against the backdrop of the 2012 Olympics adds a bit of fuel to the fire, with the far-leftists throwing out all sorts of chaotic talking points against capitalism and nationalism but also being super-populist as well? Talk about horseshoe theory in action. (And I bet a lot of people - including one of the biggest fans of the Galbraith books I know - won't take too kindly to the symbolism in a leftist club/drug den having a Palestinian flag hanging over a bed.)

That said, though, I somewhat enjoyed the political aspects of the book, if only because much of it, I actually agree with.

I can only hope that the fifth Strike novel doesn't take another three-year summer to come our way - though if Rowling keeps on writing FB screenplays, that might just prove to be the case.

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