We are back with Cormoran Stike and his female sidekick, Robin, a severed leg with three suspects, a pedophile, serial abuser, and serial killer, all three known to Strike as his enemies. It's much more about Robin this time and her fiancee, the misogynistic Matthew, who finds the woman he wooed is not the woman he thinks. And he does not like it. It's about the violence against women, how the media treats this type of victim, how they tend to sensationalize it.
The novel begins with a severed leg being sent to Robin, a threat to both her and Strike. The police get involved and as they often do when dealing with Strike, go off in the wrong direction. Strike tells them about three violent thugs from his past, all who have a grudge against him but the police don't listen. As the novel progresses, we are let into the mind of the serial killer but never discover who he is until the end. Thus, we, like Strike and Robin, follow the trail of the killer and three more victims, all women. And only we, the reader, know that he, the serial killer, wants to get at Strike by making Robin his next victim. Strike senses this and is reluctant to send Robin off on any of the stake outs of the three suspects, but she angrily suggests that it's because she is a woman. And it's true, as Strike fears for her life. Robin, however, ignores Strike's refusal to involve her after the third murder and goes off to interview one of the suspect's abused wife and children and narrowly survives an attempt at her life.
While all of the above is happening, Robin's fiancee, Matthew, is convinced there is something going on between Strike and Robin. And he hates her job, fears for her life, and welcomes anything that might force her to stop working for Strike. This happens, as I mentioned above, when Strike finds that Robin, ignoring his orders, goes into the home of a pedophile, rescues the children and nearly loses her life. He fires her and as the novel ends, with Strike finding the killer, without Robin's help, and we think all is over between them. The final paragraph describes Strike, late to everything, rushing to Robin's wedding, arriving just as she and Matthew are at the altar, taking their vows. To be continued no doubt.
This novel differs in that much of the text allows us into the mind of Robin, her feelings towards her work, Strike and Matthew, how they all try to manipulate her, deny her the freedom that they would easily give to a man A good read, well written of course, and not much fun at times, especially when we follow the sickness of the serial killer as he revels in his crimes by cutting off various body parts as souvenirs. Gristly, readable, and concerned with the way society treats women.
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