The Running Grave **SPOILERS**

[BaconAndAvocado]

Have just finished this and LOVED it!!

The subject of a cult was really interesting and that ending...holy moly!!

I think it was my favourite of the series.

Have to wait a whole year for book 8 😬😬

Where does everyone think that cliffhanger will lead, if anywhere??!!

Same!! My fave so far. I thought she brought the UHC to life brilliantly. And replicated the feeling of becoming indoctrinated incredibly well. Despite the horrors of the cult I was still shocked by the dragon meadow and the living sacrifice.

I don't know where the cliffhanger will lead. Or what to read next. How do you follow that?

I think the section where Robin is in the UHC dragged a bit - my favourite parts of all the books are the bits where she and Strike are figuring things out together, and the enforced separation didn't engage me as much. Totally understand why it was necessary, though. I loved the final third though! I want to see Tom Burke play out that final scene 😍

Oh god, yes!
Can't wait to see Tom Burke tell Robin he's in love with her !!!!

Just wondering…

If you got a physical copy rather than Kindle, is it a hardback? I bought my copy in WHSmith’s at Heathrow Airport on Monday and it’s a paperback.

That's where I got mine, having thought it would be hardback only!

I pre-ordered mine ages ago, it's a hardback.
Quite the lethal weapon!

Sadly, I believe Robin will still leave for her weekend away with Murphy, on autopilot and in shock at what she’s just heard. She will convince herself that he was only quoting what Charlotte said and that he didn’t actually mean he felt that way.

Strike will wait for her to call (just as he did when she went on her honeymoon) and then when she doesn’t, he’ll come to the self-deprecating and sad conclusion that she simply isn’t interested in him.

Neither will mention it again. And thus another book or two will go by. Until one of them is badly - but not fatally - hurt in the course of an investigation, and the other blurts it all out in fear and desperation of losing their chance. That’s how I hope it happens, anyway!

There is a long thread you might want to read.

Airports stock paperback copies before they're on general release. I don't know why - maybe a hardback is too useful as a weapon?!

Just finished it. I have a question. The bit where Robin reports from the Farm that she had assisted in the delivery of a baby - not the attempted termination. Why is there no actual narrative about that event? I checked to see if I'd fallen asleep and lost my page - I've had a rubbish cold that has had me weary - but I don't think I have.
It's such a huge thing to do and a precursor to finding that girl in the loo. It just kept bugging me as I read on after it.

That makes sense. Thanks for explaining!

Just finished it today as well. I loved it. My favourite one so far. I hate Murphy! Why is she still with him? I am hoping she is going to turn around and leave Murphy.

Does anyone have the link to the longer thread mentioned above? Thanks.

@bellinisurge I thought this too. There were a couple of times this happened- an event was spoken about but no narrative included.

Link to the long spoilers thread: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4906913-spoilers-spoilers-spoilers-the-running-grave-spoilers-thread?page=6&reply=130129771

Oh please no more of this, I will die of frustration 😁 they have been doing this for too long already.

Just kiss 😘

There were quite a few scenes that played out in the narrative but we didn't get to read the letter about it, and things mentioned in letters that we didn't read in the narrative.

My guess is just that the repetition would have been unnecessary - it was already quite a long book.

I actually really liked the parts where she was in the cult, except for the horrible things that happened - that kind of "trapped in an evil institution I have to outsmart and/or escape" is a very very fun trope that I recognise from other books I've really enjoyed. Like A Little Princess, Hettie Feather, and Northern Lights. Oops most of those are children's books 😁 (Probably just because they will be books I've reread several times).

Also the whole "finding out how this new institutional life works" was very reminiscent of Hogwarts in a really delicious way even though obviously the farm was nothing like Hogwarts! Maybe a very evil one where Umbridge or Voldemort was in charge.

BertieBotts
I totally agree, just kiss!!

But with 2 more books to go we may have to wait a bit.

I really really hope they do get together....as a reader the "will they/won't they" element is extremely engaging (and for me the bit I love the most) but we do want some pay off for investing all those hours of reading 😂

It would be so easy and predictable for JK to not rise up her readership's wants....I think it would be a lot less predictable for it to end with them together.

🙏🏼

No but I need some time for them to be together!! I don't want them to ride shagging off into the sunset and leave it to my imagination!

There is a bit where she helps deliver a baby, quite early on in the uhc bit. When she arrives, there is a pregnant lady (can't remember her name) who has a long labour, and Robin offers to step in as "second shift" when the first lot of helpers tire. I think the lady giving birth doesn't want tobhold the baby and just says "take it to Maru", it's one of the early things that makes Robin think there is something weird going on with the kids

Thanks @Uncooperativefingers , I'm about to start listening to the audiobook (always read first but I LOVE Robert Glennister's reading). I'll listen out.

I got my copy from the library the day before I went on holiday for just under 3 weeks.

Reader i lugged that 1kg book across 3 countries, reading 50% of it on the 17 hour flight back!

I was so pleased when robin in the cult finished as I was dreading what May happen to her.

@burnoutbabe warrior reading!