Book info

• Title The Silkworm
• Author Robert Galbraith
• Year 2014
• Genre Mystery

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, she just thinks he has gone off by himself for a few days - as he has done before - and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home. But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realises. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were published it would ruin lives - so there are a lot of people who might want to silence him. And when Quine is found brutally murdered in bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any he has encountered before...

Thoughts

Again, in anticipation of watching the TV show, I listened to the audiobook version of this. It’s read so wonderfully but I do think a lot of the warmth and inclusivity that this book gives you comes from how detailed the descriptions are. Sometimes it feels like overkill, but other times it really brings you into the time and place being discussed, so overall it’s probably worth it.

The lovely thing about a second book is you already know the characters, so all they can do is grow on you, rather than taking time for introductions. I wasn’t so keen on the story really, it’s a bit of an odd one and the twists and turns don’t really leap out at you, more just meander along. But the power comes from the brilliant and burgeoning friendship between Cormoran and Robin.

It’s not a nice story, a horrific crime in fact, but it’s told well and I didn’t guess the whodunit side of things even though when it’s revealed it’s so obvious! Can’t wait to read or listen to the third book now.

Rating: 3 / 5