*SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS INK BLACK HEART *SPOILERS*

[TheInkBlackHeart]

Right I hope the title gives it away. Spoilers ahoy after / during reading Galbraith's The Ink Black Heart.

I swear if someone complains about spoilers now I'll lose it

I think that was the implication.

I loved it, was v determined to guess the murderer this time after not guessing ANY of the others (and being completely blindsided by TB), and I did!!! I had to keep notes on all the characters, there were so many plus the online aliases and without my notes I would have been completely lost.

However I didn’t guess that Paperwhite was Anomie, so that was a surprise (how did I not see that one coming?!).

Does anyone else wonder how their home would described only the books/judged by Strike and Robin? I like to think it would be one of the quirky, arty ones but realistically it’d be more like that foster family’s toy strewn chaos depicted in TB (I honestly don’t understand how anyone with small children keeps their house tidy).

However I didn’t guess that Paperwhite was Anomie, so that was a surprise (how did I not see that one coming?!).

It wasn't obvious, especially as Paperwhite was talking to Morehouse just before he was killed. Gus must have been on his phone outside the door.

Just re read, and realise that Gus was rushing away from Whitstable to get to Cambridge.

Poor Morhouse

<races in>
just finished, phew.
I have been dying to get on this thread, but wanted to wait until I’d finished.

Yeah, I thought Anomie was going to be two people WRONG
I was dreading that Strike would get back with BloodyCharlotte LUCKILY WRONG
I thought Robin’s lovely flat would also get blown up WRONG-thank goodness
AND I thought Anomie was Inigo and Kea together, which would explain the varied tones of voice WRONG

so basically, I am rubbish at this

Well, Anomie was two people if you count when Yasmin was covering.

Good point! Thank you

Another one here absolutely LOVING Pat’s development. The shopping, the fruitcake, and it made it a little easier for Strike to think “Well Pat smokes these fuckin’ e-cigs, I’ll give it a go”

I do want to know what happened to the Most Obnoxious Child.
can you imagine the AIBU

”AIBU to not expect my art classes to be disrupted by a huge child singing racist songs”
”AIBU to expect fathers to teach their children not to stroke my dog”
”AIBU to expect my DP to parent his own obnoxious child”

It actually worries me that Bram is still on the loose! They'll be avoiding the area round Highgate Cemetery (can't remember which bit of London it is, there are too many) for the rest of time just in case

What if he pops up a few years down the line and is a super rich super villain having bumped his father off.. Doesn't bear thinking about!

He is a child in need of some serious interventions!,
We assume he killed the cat, is inappropriately delighted about the pornographic drawing in the locked bedroom, wants to take a sword to school, has a home life with no solid positive role models, and is an utter pain.

What will he have done by the next book? It will take a LOT to steer him in a positive direction. I can’t WAIT

I could live with Melanie Hill playing Pat, although I don't know what her voice sounds like. It's occurred to me that I imagine Pat sounds like an English version of Roz from Monsters Inc, who was actually voiced by a man. I'm going to be disappointed by whoever they cast who isn't a giant green slug now! 😆

Pat has a gravelly ' manly ' voice.
I didn't listen to the audio version , so no idea how it's done on there.

I definitely hear Roz from Monsters Inc too.

(And I have the audiobook version too)

I loved it, by far my favourite Strike book. I also guessed who Anomie was as soon as they were introduced, but it was still a great read. However, I did start it on audible and the twitter and game stuff was so annoying to listen to that I returned it and bought the kindle version.

I'm wondering why, when trying to find out who Anomie was (before Edie's death and Strike and Robin getting involved) they didn't do a Wagatha Christie and drop false stories. That would have narrowed the field considerably!

(Although possibly they would have discussed with Katya and Gus would have heard, it would have been a blind alley and the book would have been longer!!)

However I didn’t guess that Paperwhite was Anomie, so that was a surprise (how did I not see that one coming?!).

I think the big clue was that Paperwhite was the only person in the game who was allowed to have a name that was a direct match for an Ink Black Heart character, rather than a variation on it. And then of course the fact that Anomie instantly knew that Robin was lying when she said she wasn't talking to Paperwhite on a separate channel - the only way he could really have known that was if he was Paperwhite.

I completely missed Edie's point that Gus was rushing away from Whitstable to get to Cambridge - but that's the joy of re-reading. So much you miss first time round. I imagine that in a re-read you get to appreciate more fully how Anomie, in his guise as Paperwhite, sets a trap for Morehouse by pretending to want a relationship with him.

Bloody hell, I got it!! DH is now convinced I’m a witch

@ElizabethBest I love your username.

I've been waiting impatiently for the next Richard Osman since finishing TIBH!

@babyjellyfish I was too, and I just went to check that my audiobook order was in for the release day tomorrow, and they’ve switched narrator from the other two, so now I feel somewhat trepidacious!

Finished yesterday!

I totally could have listened to more chapters. I love all the ‘domestic’ stuff too and hearing the descriptions of places I know and looking up those I don’t.
Robin’s new flat is round the corner from where I live and she used my local chip shop.

It’s made me want to read Christina Rossetti.

If J K Rowling staked out the area before deciding to put Robin there, it might just mean that she's used your local chip shop too.

I would love to think JK has been in my chippy.

Just finished and absolutely loved it. As ever I raced through without concentrating enough on the suspects as am so riveted by the relationships. Will reread to see how all the detail unfolded.
I found the in-game chats hard to read, but so cleverly written. Can't believe Yasmin did not get more wrong when she was covering for A.
Madeline was dreadful. I think Strike has to learn not to lie to women and not to drift into the wrong relationship.
The agency needs to recruit someone with specific cyber crime detecting skills. A detective I know said to me 'all crimes have a digital footprint ' and I think this is an area of specialist knowledge that will leave them behind.
Do you think she will spin it out for 5 more years and they will finally get together in lockdown?!

Why did Gus tell Strike and Robin about Rachel (when they were in Whitstable)?