Lethal White by Robert Galbraith, Book Review

You could comfortably describe the fourth book in the Cormoran Strike series as an accomplished crime novel as in novel.  A crime book with substance, a well written novel with a meaty plot and interesting characters. If you write a book of 647 pages, you have room to manoeuvre, to develop sub plots and to give the side-kick her moment in the sun. 

Lethal White is set in London against the background of the 2012 Olympics and the ongoing subtle class war that the English are so good at and enjoy so much. It involves a blackmailed MP and a dark mystery from the past.

A mentally ill man turns up at Strike’s office and, in a state of confusion, relates fragments of strange memories. Most people would have ignored these words as the ravings of an insane person, but instinctively Cormoran Strike knows they are at the heart of a mystery, a mystery he wants to, or needs to, solve.

In the meantime, an MP who is being blackmailed, turns to the agency for assistance. Promoted from administrative assistant to investigator and now business partner, Robin Ellacott gets to go on an undercover mission. At the same time as she watches, she is being watched – by Striker. He watches Robin from the sidelines, as an interested bystander perhaps, while her marriage implodes. Now that she is free, will they, won’t they …?

Lethal White will keep you highly entertained for a good spell, although it’s not to be recommended for a short flight, at least not if you want to find out whodunnit before the plane lands.

Written by Robert Galbraith aka J.K. Rowling and first published in September 2018 by Sphere in hardback (£20). Also available in Ebook and Audio.