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The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith - NO SPOILERS

298 replies

CrossPurposes · 17/02/2023 21:41

I know we still have a long wait but JK Rowling has announced she has completed the next Strike novel: twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1626688428523016192?s=20

OP posts:
HopRockers · 19/02/2023 14:54

Nimbostratus100 · 19/02/2023 14:30

I dont want that! I want them to be best friends!

Noooo I want Strike to fucking wise up (he's getting there)& be good enough for Robin!

SirSamVimesCityWatch · 19/02/2023 15:41

HopRockers · 19/02/2023 14:54

Noooo I want Strike to fucking wise up (he's getting there)& be good enough for Robin!

Exactly! Bloody get a move on and sort yourself out, Strike!

Hbh17 · 19/02/2023 16:22

I'm looking forward to it, and enjoyed IBH, but dear J K does need a more assertive editor, I feel.
I love the dynamic between Strike and Robin, but it would be a cop out if they end up as a romantic couple. So much cooler for them to stay great friends.

the80sweregreat · 19/02/2023 16:35

I doubt they will get together in this new book somehow. I bet it's right at the end , so a few books time at least.
Just staying best friends is also fine by me too, but I know that the big fans wouldn't be happy with this!

tribpot · 20/02/2023 20:03

I don't think it will be in this next book either, after JKR rather strung things out in this one (although I did appreciate Charlotte hopefully being out of the picture forever). I seem to recall that Robin was already wondering if she was in love with Strike whilst on her honeymoon with the dreadful Matthew. But seemed to have that realisation again in Ink Black Heart.

Whilst I think JKR could have written them to be just good friends, it's a bit of a leap to imagine that they could go from secretly being in love with each other to best pals now. She says she regrets getting Hermione and Ron together because of fan wish fulfilment, but this has been written much more clearly as two people who are in love.

Ratatatatatouille · 20/02/2023 20:09

I watched the show but haven’t read the books but expect to love them. Are they basically identical? I don’t want to waste my money!

SirSamVimesCityWatch · 20/02/2023 20:12

Not identical, though obviously the plot is the same! But the relationship between Strike and Robin is so much better expressed in the books, I think.

If you don't want to spend the money buying them, get them from the library!

BertieBotts · 20/02/2023 20:14

It was her own wish fulfilment that put Ron and Hermione together, that's how I understood that interview, and I don't think she regretted it as such but she acknowledged that it probably wouldn't have been the best fit for either of them long term. (But I hated the way that interview was reported in general and think a lot of the articles skewed it incredibly). The epilogue of Harry Potter was written very early on, by the second or third book IIRC. I think it would have been better if she'd just kept that as ideas of which characters would develop relationships within the story, rather than them all having happily-ever-after marriages with their high school sweethearts, which seems a very simplistic idea of love. I think her knowledge and understanding of relationships has greatly grown and changed since then, it's brilliant the way she writes all the relationships in the Strike books.

Looking forward to a new Strike. I only really understood IBH on the second re-read. It was brilliant how the online world was created, absolutely spot on, but it was quite boring to read through.

BaublesAndGlitter · 20/02/2023 20:34

Oh I'm looking forward to this. I definitely hope there's no more online text conversations though as I listen to the books on audible and IBH was hard going in places.

My prediction for Strike & Robin is a one night stand, then some drama that stops them becoming a couple for a book or 2, then they sort it out and we see their relationship grow over the course of a few books (thinking one or 2 of them dating, then a book where they move in together etc). Not that I've spent a long time thinking about it or anything Grin

HairyKitty · 20/02/2023 20:48

Ink Black Heart was fabulous on Audible. I think if I’d read it in book form I may have skipped some of the interactions and missed out on relishing such a long and complex book.

the80sweregreat · 20/02/2023 21:07

I think that nothing much will happen in the running grave : Robin and Mitch will jog along happily until he hits the bottle again by the end ! She'll split up with him , but stay mates

Strike will go on a health kick and get really fit
I can see it being very bland myself until the book after this one

Nimbostratus100 · 20/02/2023 21:18

How about a little Robling or a Strikelet?

BertieBotts · 20/02/2023 21:22

I wonder if this one will be about his mum's death? Probably not another cold case so soon after Troubled Blood, but surely he's going to go back to that mystery at some point.

I've just found this (might be considered spoilery) - the epigraphs for the first page were leaked:

www.therowlinglibrary.com/2023/02/17/epigraphs-for-the-running-grave-seventh-book-in-the-cormoran-strike-series/

QuiltedHippo · 20/02/2023 21:27

Excellent, hope its out this year!

I'm intrigued how the TV show will replicate all the online chat in IBH

EasterlyDirection · 20/02/2023 21:30

Excellent, think I will audible or kindle the next one though as the IBH is so big and heavy, I'm still only halfway through as I was struggling with the page layout for the online sections, getting used to it now.

SirSamVimesCityWatch · 20/02/2023 21:35

I love a big fat hardback, myself. Can't be getting on with audio books, an by all account IBH was really hard to follow in audio and on kindle. Give me paper any day!

BertieBotts · 20/02/2023 21:48

When I've seen dramas do online chat before, they usually either have the chats visible on the screen - I think that would help with the timing issues, because the whole timing thing was completely lost on me the first time I read it. Or they might have the camera focused over the shoulder of whoever is being the double-chat-agent typing on two chats at once, with the actual person blacked out so that you can't see who they are, but to show that it's one person across multiple chats saying different things.

toffee1000 · 21/02/2023 20:35

We don’t really know how the Harry-Ginny and Ron-Hermione marriages would have been day-to-day. The prologue only covered about an hour in one day. They may have had a few issues but managed to put on a united front when sending two of the kids off to boarding school for the first time.

BertieBotts · 21/02/2023 22:01

I think the whole they would have been in therapy thing was more from their characters/relationship in the 7 books preceding, not from the epilogue itself.

Nimbostratus100 · 21/02/2023 23:13

BaublesAndGlitter · 20/02/2023 20:34

Oh I'm looking forward to this. I definitely hope there's no more online text conversations though as I listen to the books on audible and IBH was hard going in places.

My prediction for Strike & Robin is a one night stand, then some drama that stops them becoming a couple for a book or 2, then they sort it out and we see their relationship grow over the course of a few books (thinking one or 2 of them dating, then a book where they move in together etc). Not that I've spent a long time thinking about it or anything Grin

yea! a one night stand resulting in a Robling or a Strikelet! I am very keen on this idea!

SirSamVimesCityWatch · 22/02/2023 07:17

No no no! No babies!

EmpressaurusOfCats · 22/02/2023 07:24

With Strike’s past he’d be shit hot on contraception.

Nimbostratus100 · 22/02/2023 08:10

ahh ! come on!

SirSamVimesCityWatch · 22/02/2023 10:47

No, Nimbo. Got sit in the corner and think about what you've done. <stern face>

CinnamonSweet73 · 22/02/2023 13:43

No babies!!!

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