Sam:
Having read 'The Cuckoos
Calling' earlier in the year, I was eagerly anticipating the release of
Silkworm and it did not disappoint.
At the end, I just could not
believe that I had not worked out the culprit earlier. All the clues are there
in the book, Rowling has tied everything up yet I think, like many I hope, I
just made one presumption at the beginning of the book about events which
distracted me from the culprit and their motives. I did not have a clue until
that final showdown who had done it or why. I found the motive and the
characters very believable. Occasionally I did get confused between the
characters as there were so many which probably reflects the busy world of
publishing and all the 'big' personalities, Rowling has encountered in her own
experiences.
The development of Robin and
Strike's relationship and the revelations about their other relationships
seemed to ring true and add dimension to the character. I found myself
intrigued by what we found out about Charlotte and I hope Rowling explores this
further in future instalments.
The final point I'd like to mention is my great admiration in the way
Rowling sets the scene and almost 'paints' contemporary London and England. The
extra little details about the snow and news stories just made me feel more
involved with the book. I can't wait to find out what Strike gets up to next!
Nick:
It’s still hard to believe that J.K Rowling writes these
books when you think about the language in ‘Harry Potter’. Unlike those fantasy
epics, these characters speak with unyielding brutality and the characters, the
place and story are all as convincing as the idea that it might rain in
England. Don’t get me wrong, ‘Harry Potter’ is believable in its own right, but
it’s called fantasy for a reason. ‘The Cuckoo’s Calling’ introduced the chubby,
pube-like haired, amputee, ex-army detective, Cormoran Strike onto the crime
scene and now he’s back with a brand new case, new problems and an obsession
with tea.
A venomous writer, Owen Quine has gone AWOL and his wife
asks Strike to bring him back. It’s a simple starting point, but ‘The Silkworm’
invites you, well, more like yanks you into the literary world of scolding
agents, arrogant writers, clueless wives and sadistic editors where nobody can
be trusted. ‘Cuckoo’s Calling’ did this with the modelling world, but it’s more
frightening in this because writers can be the worst enemy you can find. As
demonstrated by Owen’s book which has stormed its way through the wordy world.
‘Bombyx Mori’ has become the BOOK THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED. You won’t find
anything new with Strike’s character here, he visits more pubs than he ever did
before and chats with everybody connected to the chunky writer’s disappearance
and just like in ‘Cuckoo’s Calling’, I lost track about the who’s and what’s.
It’s not J.K Rowling’s fault I can’t follow crime.
With that said, there’s a decent story here. It’s
interesting that Strike has to find a man that made it so easy for everybody to
hate him, and as the hero of the story, you need to root for Strike to bring
back the beans. Well, for me, Strike is a great character but I feel that
Rowling tries too hard sometimes to paint the picture that he is a loser. She’s
made him sound as unattractive as possible and sometimes, I felt like it didn’t
need reminding. His relationship with Robin I found was the main attraction.
They collide more this time, Robin, the voice of reason argues with him from
time to time and since he’s, you know, a BLOKE, he’s got to be stubborn and
insistent on how right he is. Strike’s attitude got tiresome sometimes, but
that’s the nature of his character. He won’t be easily swayed no matter what.
And in ‘The Silkworm’, he does plenty dumb things.
It’s all about suspense, crime novels. ‘The Silkworm’ has a
lot of that, but the first half struggled to get going for me. Once Strike found
Quine’s body, (NOT A SPOILER, it’s all in the blurb) the story got interesting.
However, the second half kept me reading, I wanted to find out who killed him
and then ‘The Silkworm’ pulled out what I felt was a cheap trick. Robin and
Strike openly talk about the killer, but their name is never mentioned and I
understand it’s all about suspense with a capital S, but seriously, the reader
is right there! Stop hiding! The actual ending though caught me off-guard,
right when it looked like it was someone, and it turned out it was somebody
else. The actual discovery of the killer sounded like it was built from a whole
lot of luck rather than true detection, but I guess every detective gets lucky
once, right? The story is a great one, some fantastic thinking went into it and
I’ve never read anything like this before. Shame that it took a while to get
there.
J.K Rowling writes bloody well. Sometimes I wished she
wouldn’t use such unknown words when a simple word would do instead, but that’s
a small thing. She writes crime incredibly well, hard to believe for somebody
so well-known for magic, but that’s being judgmental. Just because she speaks
English doesn’t mean she only knows one language. She has a great writing voice
that suits the dark, gritty world of crime and private investigation and it’s
amazing how convincing her characters are. Each one as dark and self-centered
as the next. London is home to leeches of media and vanity, and she nails it.
If not for a few story elements that I didn’t like and the slow start, annoying
words instead of smaller ones and over-playing Strike’s ugliness, I may have
preferred it over ‘Cuckoo’s Calling’. Still, this and ‘Cuckoo’s Calling’ make
fantastic precursors to a series J.K Rowling has said to continue.
David:
I preferred Cuckoo’s Calling to this one, however I found
the book had yet again been beautifully written, especially the development of
Robin and Strike’s relationship. Rowling sets the scene so well in her story
telling that you literally imagine the surroundings, locations and characters
well.
I will defiantly read the next instalment, however if the
rumours are correct are there are going to be another 5 in the series, I would
want something substantial and gripping to happen to hold my interest.
Sharon:
Although I enjoyed this instalment I much preferred Rowling’s
first book. I found this book to laboured, with the characters confusing and
the plot too formulaic. I did like the development of the characters though; I
got more of a sense of Strike and Robin’s characters and background. Rowling
always does a stand up job in her writing, however I expect big things to
happen in the next book for me to remain interested.
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