Troubled Blood (Cormoran Strike Series #5)

 The fifth in the Cormoran Strike series, this novel is about a 40-year-old cold case of a young woman's disappearance that Strike and his partner Robin are hired to investigate. The case seems impossible to solve from the beginning - many of the witnesses are dead, untraceable or have relocated to different continents, there is no forensic evidence, and to complicate matters further, the chief investigating officer was ill and therefore often relied on astrology to identify suspects and most of the witnesses have one or the other reason to lie and many have motives to hurt the disappeared doctor. 

If I didn't love the central characters Strike and Robin as I do, I might have found it difficult to finish this 900-page behemoth. It was simply too long. That is not to say it wasn't interesting; it was and it kept me in its grip. I think J.K. Rowling has become such an accomplished author and she can hold such complicated plots in her mind while writing that she does her best to create the most enjoyable and wholesome story, but I think by writing such long novels, she is alienating at least some of the readers who prefer a shorter read. I have read longer books than this one (A Suitable Boy, 1400 pages), but the longer books weren't crime fiction novels and did not need to be fast-paced.

Having said all of this, I loved the personal stuff that Strike and Robin are each going through. Every personal disaster coincides with something bigger happening in their personal or professional life (e.g. Charlotte's suicide attempt coinciding with the day Strike and his family released Joan's ashes in the water, the huge row between Strike and Robin taking place on Valentine's Day). All the big moments in the novel are perfectly timed to create the biggest impact in the lives of the characters and for the readers as well. And it is not coincidental. Rowling is an expert storyteller. 

The personal arc for each character and their relationship arcs are very clearly laid out for each novel in the series. For example, in this novel, Strike's personal journey is of dealing with his feelings and family when his aunt Joan is sick and finally dealing with her death, snubbing Charlotte's attempts to win him back starting with harmless texts and building up to Charlotte's suicide attempt while she calls him to say she loves him and always will, and Strike's half-brother and other half-siblings trying to get him to reconcile with their father, Rokeby, who - it is revealed later - has cancer. I could guess this because the theme of sickness and death runs throughout the story - Strike's aunt's sickness and death, Charlotte's suicide attempt and Rokeby's cancer. 

Robin, on the other hand, deals with a lot of stuff too - dealing with romantic advances from one of the agency's subcontractors, Saul Morris, which increasingly turn into harassment and ends up with Saul putting his arms around Robin's waist - his idea of a joke - and Robin hitting him on his face and Strike finally sacking Saul. This is one of the smaller concerns of Robin. She also deals with the stigma of "moving in a different direction" than her cousin, who recently had a baby, and her brother Stephen and his wife, who also have a new baby. Robin has to face the frequent references to Strike as "her boss" even though she's his equal partner. These references come from the other subcontractors working for the agency who simply do not see a woman as an equal to Strike. But most challenging of all, Robin has to deal with her ex Mathew first drawing out the divorce process (her attorney commenting that she has never seen such a contentious divorce where children were not involved) to finally finding out the reason Mathew suddenly agrees to a divorce - his girlfriend and the woman he cheated on Robin with, Sarah, is pregnant. It's a bittersweet moment because Robin knows that Sarah has trapped Mathew, just as she left her diamond earrings in their bed in the previous novel (Lethal White) so that Robin would find out about their relationship and leave Mathew. Their final parting is sweet - Robin thanks him for being there for her when she really needed him and Matt wishes Robs good luck. 

With all this personal drama in their lives, Strike and Robin's relationship goes through several ups and downs. In fact, after their big argument on Valentine's Day, their relationship reaches its lowest point. But Strike has the good sense to apologize the next day. I liked Robin standing up for herself to Strike, who often treated her with less kindness and respect than she deserved. Towards the latter half to the novel, the romantic tension between Strike and Robin builds up to a crescendo and the reader is left wanting for more. Strike and Robin's big moment, which could have led to the beginning of a relationship between two people who clearly like each other and have gone through a lot together and are likely to be very compatible, is interrupted by the arrival of the agency's subcontractor. A good writer always leaves a reason for the readers to grab the next book in the series and I look forward to it just to know what happens with Strike and Robin. 

I love how the novel ends, leaving the readers with a satisfying scene on Robin's birthday when Strike finally buys her a decent gift. There's a hint of the beginning of something romantic between the two of them. I think the personal drama in the next novel will be about their relationship - it will finally begin after five novels. 

Usually a crime fiction novel is more about the crime and less about the detectives solving the crime. This novel and all the novels in this series are as much about the detectives as about solving the case. Usually, I try to find out who the murderer/culprit is before it is revealed in the story, but with this massively complex story, I did not even try. I just sat back and enjoyed the read. :) 

Also, there is NOTHING transphobic in the novel. People who haven't read the book have rated it a single star. I urge them to read it and then make up their minds. J. K. Rowling is one of my favourite authors and I wish her all the success she deserves!