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?

Funny you should mention this, but I will never not be convinced that the character Flick Pardue in Career of Evil (the leftie activist who fakes being working class but keeps forgetting to drop her T’s and H’s) isn’t almost entirely based upon Jack Monroe 😄

I mean the names are VERY similar for a start.

I don't know if Kea will make an appearance in the IBH adaptation but I thought her character was a very accurate portrait of your average Twitter social justice warrior who claims to have an illness that defies diagnosis. And then of course there was the transabled character in Career of Evil!

I think Career of Evil is the only one I haven't read for some reason.

Agree. JKR really nailed spoonie / “chronic illness warrior” culture. It’s a real testament to how well she understands internet subcultures.

Wonder when the next one is out - anyone know? It’s not available to pre-order on Amazon. The Hallmarked Man, it’s called.

Hopefully by next summer. It's been too long!

JKR today confirmed that she’s finished the manuscript. I reckon it might be another September release like the last two.

I started listening to The Running Grave on Spotify but it's soo long, I lost the will to live! I found it hard to follow with so much superfluous detail that I found boring. I see a lot of pp on here saying how it's their favourite book, should I persevere?

Have you read the others? I don't know if it would be as good if you don't have the backstory of all the others.

To someone who asked do chat rooms like this exist - do you mean animated ones? Yes, that's basically (one) entire premise of Roblox. (Also Habbo Hotel if anyone remembers that). However there aren't usually computer generated voices reading things out. That's probably just for TV.

Neopets also - though there were more game aspect type things.

Or do you mean where everyone is in this sort of "inner circle" thing and the leaders of that circle are anonymous and lord it over others? Yes there were/are absolutely chat rooms/forums like that. For an extreme example watch the documentary about 4chan, on Netflix.

Halfway through the series and enjoying the adaptation immensely!

I flew through Ink Black Heart. It's one of my absolute favourites because JKR completely gets people and the Internet.

Charlotte was really Charlotteing this episode! She felt more like the character than in previous series.

The mod chats are full of clues in the book so I wonder if they'll be doing them in show.

It was one of the most gripping books I'd ever read. It was like book heroin. Maybe something is lost via the medium of audio, in this case?

Yes, it was book heroin! Couldn't stop reading.

I did find in the IBH the author seemed to be letting her personal feelings on internet warriors come through a lot. Not that the portrayals aren't accurate but I'd have preferred some of the characters like say Kea to be slightly more multi dimensional.

The casting so far is excellent. Pez is absolutely perfect as are Pat and Edie. I've only seen one episode but it was quite rushed compared to the book. I hope they give the Running Grave more episodes as it should be more of a slow burn.

No, it’s not worth your time @PromoJoJo . I’ve watched all episodes and none of them were in any way exciting to watch. The problem is the underwhelming source material - just like in the book, there’s nobody to hate and nobody to root for. And the general story is all very ‘who gives a shit?’.

I thought it was oddly clunky. I know I am in a minority but the online chats were really important in the book and gave lots of clues and links. Without them it seemed disjointed - like vilechopra and morehouse had no context.

I did like Strike looking dodgier and dodgier as things progressed and I loved Charlotte (and her coat) but the Jago storyline seems to get covered in less than 5 mins.

I thought it was quite badly acted as well. Very jerky.

I'm with you.
I thought it would be better
Like the previous Strike series have been.

To be honest, I think such incredibly long books (as much as I love JKR, I think the books are overlong and she’s too much of a sacred cow for an editor to do much with), adapting for TV is a really difficult task.

Agree that some of the characters had such little screen time, their storyline was a bit meh. I don’t think Morehouse’s death had very much impact because he was only ever mentioned in passing, and Vilepechora’s story was confusing if you haven’t read the book.

@Jellycats4life She's needed a strong editor since the The Goblet of Fire! I don't mind her Strike books being so big because I'm not reading them for the mystery but for her take on recent modern times. That's why I really liked The Casual Vacancy.

I think any adaptation of The Ink Black Heart was going to struggle.

I was quite surprised that Nils got a scene early on and alluded to his troublesome child who, as I recall, was quite prominent in the book, but then he was dropped from the story and the child didn't feature at all. I'd forgotten a key plot device and DH had forgotten who the killer was so the last episode still managed to surprise both of us.

I enjoyed the views of London. Loved Pat, am pleased with how they've done Midge, and an honourable mention to Robin's car.

Pat got some brilliant lines! Enjoyed Midge as well, although IIRC it was Midge who rumbled Jago Ross hitting his daughters in the book? Sometimes I think Robin is too perfect (in the books and in the TV version) and personally I found her martial arts throw and punching him in the face a bit silly.

Sounds like I chose the wrong time to start watching Strike...

I’m finding the TV adaptation much better than the book.

We are so enjoying this.

I've now watched the whole thing and I enjoyed it. I don't know what I would have made of it if I hadn't read the book, but I felt it worked very well on TV with minimal use made of the chatroom stuff. Anyway, here's hoping the budget stretched to more than four hours to cover The Running Grave as that really merits it.

I’m 2 episodes in and feeling bored with it. And I’m a huge fan of the books. I’ll watch till the end tho.