Strike: The Ink Black Heart - airs 16 Dec

[KiIIingMeDeftly]

Seems like we've been waiting ages for this but it'll finally be shown on BBC One on the 16th.

I don't think the book was as good as Troubled Blood or The Running Grave but I'm still looking forward to it. I wonder what they did with the numerous online chats that appear in it?

I've seen the first two episodes now (I think they're all in iplayer). Enjoyable. Much compressed, but frankly that's no bad thing. Casting good so far, but tbh my memories of the book are a bit hazy now. Nice use of the cemetery.

Good to see Emma Fielding using a natural accent, not the abysmal American one she adopted for her recent appearance in The Archers.

I'm watching now. The chat room stuff works very well on TV. I found it very difficult to read on my Kindle.

I too found it hard to read on my Kindle but did persevere and managed to get the gist.

I loved The Running Grave, it was so tense when Robin was in the cult compound.

Watched 2 episodes of Ink Black Heart, I'm enjoying it.

(Am watching episode 1, do chatrooms like this actually exist?)

Finished the first episode. Won't be watching any more.

why not?
I'm in middle of episode 3

Ah I didn't realise it was out! But I'm in bed now and can't be bothered to get up so it will have to wait until later in the week. I love Highgate Cemetery so I'm looking forward to seeing those parts and I enjoyed the book although not as much as The Running Grave. The online chats were a challenge on the kindle app on my phone!

Looking forward to this, great series, books and TV. This one was the only book I had to give up on so as I just couldn't follow it.

@Figgygal - just found the plot too boring and confusing. And the whole thing visually too gloomy.

It’s confusing and there’s too many characters.

@Figgygal

The Guardian gave it 2 stars and their review says it all really -

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/dec/16/strike-the-ink-black-heart-holliday-grainger-tom-burke-review-bbc?CMP=ShareiOSAppp_Other

Watched the first two episodes this evening and planning to watch the other two tomorrow or Wednesday. The TIBH animation is almost exactly as I imagined from reading the book and several of the characters are also spot on. And I am utterly in love with Pat.

We’ve watched the first episode and I think yes, it feels rushed but also the casting is bang on. Pat is brilliant as ever.

That Grauniad review is trash. The journalist dislikes JK Rowling. Calling her detective novels ‘not well regarded’ is m, well, untrue. I do agree this novel was a hard slog and I was disappointed it… but to suggest Rowling isn’t talented when she deliberately published under a pen name is reductive and petty.

It’s a mean review. I don’t mean mean as in unkind. It’s just scanty with no depth.

Agreed. It shows quite an embarrassing misunderstanding of the themes of the novel, and how popular these books genuinely are. They wouldn't sell as well as they do 7 books into the series if
people were only attracted by JK Rowling's name.

What about the Telegraph then that says, 'tiresome politics make this the worst series yet'.

Although to be fair The Times has given it 4 stars.

I'm only one episode in.

I love the book on Audible. It really is clever and worth a second read/listen.

I liked most of the TV adaptation. But I am not enjoying Strike's new coat or his ridiculous 'following' get up. The books make a point of subtlety but I suppose TV has to convey 'I am following a target ' visually.

The bit I never felt the TV series captured properly is Strike's military background. He comes across as scruffy rather than fastidious.

I assumed the giant coat was to give him the bulk the character has which the actor doesn't.

I absolutely love the series of books and am not a particular HP fan.
HP is fun for kids sure, but I will re-read the Strike books and enjoy them each time. And I'm a massive reader of all kinds of 'literary' non genre fiction too! They have brilliant plotting and characters.

I haven’t read any of the books and caught this accidentally when I was flicking channels. I thought ep 1 was really good, so will watch the rest. It seems the books might be even better so will get on to them too. Do they have to be read in order or can I start with the Running Grave which seems to get top marks?

The book (kindle) was hard to read. I didn't "get" the online chats at all, felt they were extremely tedious so I skimmed most of them. The second read through it made more sense, and I realised that the picture versions on Kindle had them all lined up presumably as they were in the print version, so that you could see which conversations were happening simultaneously, which did slightly make it less tedious.

Kindle is really fiddly to display and zoom pictures, too.

I was OK with skipping over the usernames and timestamps as I do on here - I think it felt tedious because the chats included all the mundane stuff which would never usually be included in a book - like you'd have an argument between a couple, but not the ensuing discussion about who wanted to use the bathroom first or where the other has left the new tube of toothpaste. That stuff is all left out and a lot of the chat part felt like you were reading that kind of thing. Can't remember an exact example, probably "What time will you be at the thing on Saturday?" "OK meet you at 10 at the station" etc.

Also, knowing who was who between the online vs characters encountered IRL helped make sense of it all too. This one I enjoyed much more on the second read through, which is unusual - usually I'm really gripped by the mystery!

And in my head Grant Ledwell was Barry from EastEnders. I had such a clear view of him from the descriptions!

You don't HAVE to read them in order but I wouldn't start with The Running Grave. Start with Lethal White if you don't want to go right back to the start. From there, decide if you want more backstory on the characters or want to know what happens next more!

You won't get the most out of the Running Grave without what comes before but you'd still enjoy it.

I really like them on Audible. Robert Glenister is an excellent narrator

I think it’s best to read them in order as the way in which the relationship between Strike and Robyn develops is fabulous.

Agreed. He’s perfect for it isn’t he? 👌

Thanks both. Think I’ll watch this one on now then either start with Lethal White or go back to the very start. And do them all on audible!