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 never been a massive fan of audiobooks but I've been totally converted by Robert Glennister & now have the whole series on audiobooks.

Strikes mild Cornish accent totally threw me at first but I got used to that. Glennister is a truly masterful narrator.

I imagine JKR sends him a giant
gorgeous hamper every Christmas 🎅🏽

Wasn't he the politician in Lethal White?

Yeah, he was Jasper the MP who was the client in that story.

I’ve just finished watching it. It was ok & there are some really nice touches. But it’s still books all the way as far as I’m concerned, & honestly, it’s so worth starting from the beginning!

Another really good adaptation of the book, which are so good.

loved hearing Nick Drake’s northern sky at the end.

Omg so he is!
I never realised.

It’s it Denmark Street?

Yes it is. Autocorrect strikes again!

I had the book on kindle and ended up missing chunks as I felt she was in need of an editor much like her later Harry Potter books. If books get too long the pace drops. The T V adaptation was excellent. I listened to the next book on audible though and enjoyed it although it was longer but cults interest me more than fan chat rooms. I never really cared who killed Eddie

I enjoyed it, but upon reflection it definitely felt
rushed and so much was left out.

Now that I've started watching them from the beginning (half-way through Lethal White), I can see that in general. That's not having read the books.

An example is I have no memory of whether the TV series properly explained why Anomie did what they did. It must be confusing if you haven't read the books. The ending in particular was rushed. I don't think I felt like that after the other book adaptations.

I thought the TV version showed he was bullied by his Dad, ignored by his Mum and made to stay in his room all the time practising his music. He was a disaffected lonely young man prey to mad ideas.

Must set to watch this.

Thanks to this I've watched Strike 2-5 on player over the last three or four nights..

The book spent a lot of time trying to determine who the web developer- ultimately Morehouse- could be as it’s such a skill. I felt it was an important plot thread and as mentioned, his discovery didn’t have the momentum behind it. It was such a sad story of how he was really the sweetest of all the mods but used and duped. In the episode, in the car, Strike just mentions that Paperwhite urged Morehouse to go to the police, and when he agreed, Anomie knew he had to go. But did they show how Strike would know that? We don’t see them reading those conversations.

In the book it annoyed me so much when Jasmin admits to logging in as Anomie and they don’t ask for the login details! They could immediately get his login history as he’s an admin. Same thing annoyed me in the TV series…..

Knew it would be a tough one to cover so I did wonder how they would do it. Drek’s ‘game’ sounded so lame in the book, thought they tried their best with it.

I polished this off tonight, and I'm half-way through the others in chronological order. Surely it wasn't unreasonable to assume that more than one person could be posting as Anomie? Their idea of writing people off cos they'd been seen out and about when Anomie was in play doesn't sound like great detective work. Also, considering that the cello music you were hearing might be a recording.

This is true, but in a way I liked it as it backed up what Robin told Edie at the start - they didn't really have the proper skills to carry out that kind of investigation!

I think that this would be tricky to adapt due to the type of book it was - so many online chats that held clues but it would be really awkward to depict it in a good way that would hold people's attention (the book was tricky enough!) so there was a lot of telling rather than showing.

I think they made a decent job of it but I'm already looking forward to The Running Grave - hopefully they get an extra episode or two and really flesh out Robin's time in the cult compound!

But in one of the earlier books Robin goes on a self defence course after she's attacked, so it adds up. It's also part of her character arc, she loses vulnerability as she gains strength of character.

I usually listen to the books on audiobook (@RobinEllacotStrike we must have started at the same time with TB haha) but TIBH was a struggle with all the chats - I got so frustrated when he'd read out the whole thing like "at [twitter username] [twitter display name] at [date, time] replying to at [twitter username we just heard about] Crying Laughing Emoji", although I pushed through to the end.

I didn't hate the TV series but it did make me realise how much detail there was in those chats - tempted to now go and get the physical book to appreciate it properly and with the chats in sequence!

I didn't really see the point of any of the Charlotte/Jago storyline in this.

I guess it was to show Strike becoming more disillusioned and falling completely out of love with Charlotte. Before that he always held something of a torch for her but hearing her say she'd get share custody of her twins was the final nail in the coffin.

I think the Charlotte story arc, and the Robin-Strike relationship, and references to side cases (like the couple Strike was watching in the art gallery) are all things that make much more sense if you’re reading the books because there’s so much more room for them.

Yeah, I enjoy all the side stories in the books but somehow it doesn't really work for me in the few minutes space it gets in the show. Although I would have liked to have seen some of the fancy dates in private clubs that Strike and Madeleine go on!

I’ve just seen on Amazon that The Hallmarked Man is being released on 9th September.

Oo, I've just purchased an audible trial (returning customers) for 99p a month and was feeling uninspired. Might preorder!