*SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS INK BLACK HEART *SPOILERS*

One thing that amused me was the way she really went to town on Cormoran's amputated leg. After the first one came out, apparently loads of people complained that she spent too much time describing how his amputated leg affected him, how much it hurt, how he looked after it etc. She seems to have cheerfully ignored all that and decided to give Cormoran a really hard time of it with the leg. It's very effective, though, because it's an opportunity to show us Cormoran's character as he ploughs on regardless. I also found it quite educational - how many of us have ever really thought about how it feels to live life with an amputated limb?

I remember!

Ruth Sheen

Annoyingly I don't know her name nor remember the names of what I've seen her in but if it jogs anyone's memory the woman I envisage as Pat has been in a lot and remember her in a crime drama of a few years ago (Itv?) Where she played the mentor of a young black boy who discovered she'd once been a member of a far right group...

???

She was married to /living with a black man too and completely regretful in later life. Eventually her relationship survived but in early scenes she was trying to get to the young boy to his exams (gcses or maybe a levels).

Anyone know??

I can't help thinking JKR has taken the "smelly strike" comments a bit to heart. (Just for the record I think ecigs are a bit smelly too...)

The kid at the art collective has 100% killed that cat

For some reason I thought Gus was 14 ish until he was driving his dad.

Thought Kea might attempt suicide too

Assumed Anomie was multiple people from the start.

Loved it, didn't mind the Twitter threads or in-game chats being read out loud but it's the first one I've felt I want to have a paper copy of to check what they are actually saying. I don't have any in actual book form, maybe I'll treat myself to a set of hardbacks to celebrate Strike and Robin's wedding

Listened to it faster than I would have liked to as I saw there were spoilers about. I've already started re-listening to catch all the bits I missed first time round.

I still like TB best, then CoE, IBH, CC, LW, SW.

Who was the lady doing the excellent podcast on the Strike books? (in real life!)

Linda Bassett is too old to be Pat, though I'm sure she'd be great if they were a little flexible with ages between the books/TV series.

I've just seen photos of Helena Bonham Carter as Noele Gordon &, hair colour & dress sense aside, she looks more like the Pat in my head than anyone else mentioned so far. I'm going to have to go through all the female cast announced for TB & see who's closest to Pat's age...

I knew it was an Upcott but I kept changing my mind which of them it was.

re casting - Linda Bassett is in Troubled Blood but I don’t know if she’s Pat or not.

I wonder how good Worm28 was as a mod? It’s hard to imagine her banning people or dealing with disputes, for instance.

Shankar's text ! 😂
Really made me lol

It would be a great plot twist if Sarah thinks Mathew is cheating on her and hires the agency to follow him!

Would also like to see more of Shanker again

Katya was a very good red herring.

I've just finished - loved every bit of it. She is so good at capturing the way people talk on the internet, particularly the trolls and the people who sanctimoniously judge others for supposed offences of racism, ableism etc.

I love the way she can maintain a huge cast of characters and a complicated plot over 1200 pages - I don't know how she does it. Just the sheer complexity of holding all those in her head and keeping the whole thing moving along. Most crime novels don't do that.

And once again I didn't get who did it. I was fairly confident it was going to be Katya (the references to being a carer for someone who was disabled, the fact it had to be someone who had access to all that information about Edie, the fact it was someone who was old enough to use Beatles references, the fact that Rachel thought Anomie was a woman). I suppose I didn't take into account the virulent misogyny.

I did work out that Anomie and Paperwhite was the same person before Strike and Robin did, though, so there was that.

Strike might start digging at her a bit over Ryan Murphy.
Jealousy is a nasty streak to have and he could make it awkward for her if she wants a bit of leave for a romantic weekend away ( to a spa )
Although , as a partner, she might not have to ask ( Ive no idea how that works )
It's not going to be easy for her.

I always thought Ron and heroine in the potter books was a good pairing! But she could have built up the romantic tension with them better in the run up to them getting together, as it was it felt like she kind of just stuck them together without much romantic build up. Think we needed to see more of why they were a good fit for each other beforehand.

With the strike books, if they got together and then had blazing rows resulting in a temporary break up of their business partnership and agency would be a great read. You can see it happening, they work well together until they rub each other up the wrong way.

Donald Laing for me.... poor Matthew, coming out top with such stiff competition.

Oh yes. Tom Turvey
He was sweet.
A nice partner for him , maybe Robin will run into him again one day.

Dennis Creed in TB who was in prison was the worst villain. Nasty vile manipulative serial killer that he was. Strike getting one over on him was gold.

... Then Mathew ! 😂

I agree with you @babyjellyfish, as much as I like the complexity and red herrings I like the side plots with the other investigations too. I wanted to know more about what Fingers's stepdad did next etc.

Postcard and Shifty in TB were great complimenting story lines.

One of the things I liked was seeing Robin move on with her life and buy her own flat, and the fact that the agency is going from strength to strength, giving them a bit more financial freedom.

But I think The Ink Black Heart and Troubled Blood both had too many suspects, and I wonder whether the agency being bigger and having more staff gave Rowling more scope to make the investigations more complex and have more red herrings, knowing that there were more people to follow different suspects and so on.

When the agency was just Strike and Robin, or Strike, Robin and Barclay, the number of suspects had to be smaller and so I felt more invested in finding out who the killer was because we'd had more time with each one.

Although I like the new characters, I'd like to see Rowling resist this temptation a bit more in the next book and have a more pared down main plot, whilst keeping characters like Barclay and Midge in the picture but mainly working on other cases.

Totally agree re it being Robins turn to have Strike pining for her; he's at his sexiest best when he is brooding and sulky!!

@the80sweregreat I at least want her to know he isn't happy given how she worked out Sarah had got pregnant on purpose etc.

Your plan is better though! I always remember a question from the publisher on Facebook 'who is the worst villain in the Strike series so far' and everyone said Matthew.

I don't think Robin would have Matthew back under any circumstances.

It'll be interesting to see if he tries though.

I hope poor old Tom Turvey found someone nicer after the appalling Sarah.

Harry Potter is a children's book though. I know they have much broader appeal now but the fact they were written for children explains the Ron / Hermione pairing for me.

I think the tables are turning and it's Strike's turn to be single and longing for Robin in the way she has watched his relationships for a long time. Feels as though he's headed for a tough time in the next book.... bit ominous they didn't get to the bottom of the muscle spasms.

Love the idea of Matthew being kicked to the kerbs ! Maybe she could ' string him along ' a bit , then bam ! Off you trot ( after filming him with his pants down then ready to send off the video to Sarah )
Robin is way too nice to do this though!

I really want a Strike and Robin themed name change now!

No, I guess having too people together in similar long hour jobs won't be a recipe for much fun unless they book time off together as annual leave!
I hated Ron and Hermonie ( sp?) together too
That should never have happened !
But is what it is.