Cormoran Strike - is the series any good?

[Tootingbec]

I need a new set of books to get into. Are the Strike books good? I see lots of threads here raving about them!

My absolute favourite author is Ruth Rendell but love any well written psychological thriller. Like some of the early Nikki French stand alone books (hated the Frieda Kline series though!) Was also a fan of Dick Francis back in the day 🙂

On this basis would you recommend Strike? Never into Harry Potter so no idea if JK Rowling can write!

Yes, brilliant.

And I didn't read Harry Potter.

Love them. Smart and interesting.

Fantastic series.

Yes. They are fantastic. She's a great writer.

Really enjoyed them. I thought they were quite cleverly drafted.

I love the Strike books. Very well developed characters and excellent plotting. Never read the Harry Potter books but based on the Strike books JKR is an excellent writer!

Amazing and the latest one was the best yet

Critical adult HP readers usually say her writing isn't brilliant, conversations/characters talking can be a bit stilted, but my god, JK can plot.

And I'm a fan of the HP books, and am not as harsh as that, because I think the woman's amazing

I loved Dick Francis too! I'm really into Strike but more for the relationship between him and Robin than the plots. Occasionally they feel a bit over long (which I would say is also true of Harry Potter). I'm saving the latest for my holiday but it's a struggle!

They are very good books but The Ink Black Heart was really hard going because there are pages and pages of chat room conversations.

I've read them all this year. They aren't perfect I have issues with them but they are addictive

Ok that’s a hard “yes” then! Love a well plotted book so will get started - thank you!

Make sure you read them in order - it makes all the difference!

Love them and I listen on audiobooks and even liked the inkblack heart after I got my head round the chatroom 'scenes'. Currently listening to the running grave and I honestly am tempted to take the day off work to finish it!

They are all great books, except for this one.

They are amazing and I didn't think much of the HPs. I recommend listening to them on audible, just finished the most recent one and am feeling a bit bereft. The Ink Black Heart was heavygoing due to the online chat layout (I had the book for that one) but you have to read it for continuity with the ongoing characters.

Yes, JKR can write

I’m reading the tales of Beedle the Bard to DC right now (they are HP obsessed). I was expecting childish nonsense - they are excellent, fascinating and with a lesson or two in each

I liked the Strike book except Ink Black Heart as it was too long with the chat room stuff

I’m so envious that you have them all ahead of you (and you don’t have to wait 1 or 2 years between books).

Its a yes from me.

The audiobook version is really good if you prefer listening to reading. Robert Glenister who narrates them does a brilliant job.

They're great. I audiobook them because they're so well narrated by Robert Glenister.

I'm looking forward to giving them a try. I read all the Harry Potter books to my children when they first came out (the books, not the children. Well, .. both actually ) but haven't read anything else of hers.
I loved the HP books at first, because they created such a lovely escapist parallel world for my children. But then when they were soooo hyped, and when the real world sucked all the joy out of them by converting them into garbage merchandise in muggle shops, I fell out of love with Rowling. I was unfairly angry with her for all the oversellling of the world she created.
I feel it is time for me to come back to her now, shorn of my unfair irritability and desperate for some more escapism!

I don't like the HP stuff, but I LOVE the Strike books!

I read two, maybe three of them a few years ago. They were fine: readable but forgettable. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend them.

@toastofthetown What would you recommend in that genre instead?

Good plotting, good twists, good characters BUT I don't like how she writes people's speech if they have a working class accent. Abigail's speech seemed lampooned, a bit, in Running Grave. I also didn't like the text-speak in Ink Black Heart.