SPOILER ALERT Hallmarked Man (Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott)

[Civilservant]

Spoiler thread for posters who have read or listened to The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith (J K Rowling) and would like to discuss it!

The article further up this thread mentions Ilsa as sabotaging their relationship because she’s secretly in love with Strike too.

I thought Ilsa was inappropriately indiscreet about Strike & Ilsa to Robin and, as a lawyer, should not have been fooled by ‘I already know all about it’ before disclosing.

Ilsa in love with Strike? I don't see that at all. They are childhood friends. She cares about him and thinks he's a bit of a twat with women but I don't get unrequited love at all! What's the evidence presented for that theory?

I cannot get onboard with the Ilsa being secretly in love with him at all, I don’t see this in any of her behaviour.

I did get the ick with Strike’s Lake District plan though, it definitely came across as childish and manipulative. All the other times they’ve ended up on an overnight road trip it’s been organic rather than by design.

I really want them to have proper conversations throughout the next book and not end up squished into the end again. Also I want them to discuss the bracelet-
Robin: what was the inspiration behind such a thoughtful, personal gift Cormoran?
Strike: Shanker.

I’m being very pedantic but OnlyFans was relatively new in 2016/7 yet everyone seemed to know what it was, there was no kind of ‘hmm what’s that?’ moments.

I think because the 2025 reader knows exactly what Only Fans is there just wasn’t any need to have a character ask what it is. It didn’t even occur to me that it wasn’t around then.

It was this article about Cupid and Psyche, and Ilsa as the jealous sister

On a different note, I think Murphy’s character was really well done. There was very little overt criticism of him, even when he fell off the wagon. Nonetheless JKR managed portray him as being pretty unlikeable, imo.

I think that JKR actually writes men rather well. How she describes Strike's inner monologue is uncannily similar to how I suspect DH's mind works (and having been together for 34 years I often know him better than I know myself).

They both have a very direct, masculine, pragmatic view of the world and themselves, that is quite transactional, really. Strike's reasoning is very much 'Right, so if I do XYZ then Robin will probably do ABC.' There's very little of the slightly flowery, second-guessing inner dialogues that Robin wrestles with all the time.

This is very true actually, and reminds me of when I first got together with DH, I mentioned in my long post earlier about one of my early bfs who was an alcoholic and his behaviour, even when drunk was always quite sweet. But DS1's dad, when he got drunk, his behaviour was atrocious and really unpleasant. He'd go through phases of insisting that he stop drinking because of how bad it would get but then he'd just end up drinking again anyway. I remember reading a lot of MN threads at that point about men who would do things like wee in wardrobes or become violent (often sexually violent) while drunk and the whole thing had really put me off men drinking ever.

In the early days with DH, we went to a Russell Howard gig and he did a bit about how his girlfriend was so glamorous when she was drunk but when he was drunk he just went really soppy and wanted hugs. He was presenting it in this sort of "I am so hilariously un-masculine" way but I thought it was sweet. And DH is very much an affectionate, non-aggressive drunk.

Absolutely!

I started last Sunday, and finished sometime between 3 and 4 am this morning. Did not see the villains and the Decima and Rupert plot twist coming!

I think this is the point though. Their relationship is best when it's organic (often following bad situations rather than good).

By trying to force it, he moves it further away from where it should be rather than closer.

Robin's past experience means she feels pressure in relationships badly. This is much the same as Strike in earlier books. His heart sinks every time the normal parts of relationships move on (e.g spending consecutive nights with Lorelei).

Strike has now decided what he wants but is executing it badly. Robin is doing it right at surface level but nothing beyond that. Strike still has father issues to work through but it's improving.

Robin's perhaps rest somewhere with her mother and her easy child mantle.

I think we'll see her progress in the next one. She's where Strike was in the Ink Black Heart in this book.

Nah. Strong disagree. First, she owns and runs a business with Strike. Yes, she has feelings for him, but she still has to work with him. If she asked MN ‘should I break up my newly successful business, in an exquisitely niche field which I absolutely love, with little likelihood of competing successfully against my old partner should I choose to set up independently, because I am struggling against feelings for him and my boyfriend is suspicious and jealous’ I think MN would say ‘nah, but try to keep your distance and be professional’, which is more or less what Robin is in fact doing throughout THM.
Secondly, Murphy impregnates Robin against her will, either intentionally to try to keep her or through pissed up ineptitude whilst relapsing into alcoholism and not merely lying to her about his drunkenness, which if known would make her less likely to trust his assurances about the condom and more likely to get the morning after pill, but by screaming abusively at her and then emotionally manipulating her with a sob story about his ex wife so she believes his crap. He knows, when he’s texting her to press her on her feelings about losing the baby, that when she got pregnant it was his fault. He knows that his desire to control her, whether through deliberate impregnation or gaslighting her about his lapsed sobriety, nearly got her killed, yet he continues to make it about him and his feeling about the baby and his desire to have kids. He’s an awful person.

Was Mrs Murphy #1 unfaithful? I missed or forgot that. I thought it was implied that he had been wayward himself whilst drinking (chasing everything in a skirt and having a crack at Wardle’s missus).

She cheated on him with a male friend. Which he uses to explain why he gets suspicious of Strike.

@Strellacott thank you ... I think. I hadn't found that particular commentator before and now I'm up to the eyeballs in myth and symbolism and predictions.

He's clearly the IRL model for Dan Brown's Professor of Symbology!

Mm. Until we’ve got external corroboration of that story I’ll assume it has two quite different sides.

I feel like Strike and Robin have moved last potential lovers in this one, they feel more like siblings or maybe I just got the ick with Strike trying to engineer a situation where they could be alone and Robin's poor assessment of partners.

I wish Robin would talk to someone as her own conclusions are irrational at times, hopefully with the therapist she will gain perspective.

In terms of the plot, I listened first time around and had to read it again to hold all the different strands in mind, I enjoyed that part of the book more second time. The first listen I was genuinely gasping at the ectopic, the DNA, the dog bite and the final scene.

I think this book comes in third in terms of favourites after TB and TRG. Can't wait for the next one.

If there is an abduction in the next book, I'd love it if it were Strike, and Robin therefore has to investigate and rescue him (although I'm sure he wouldn't be exactly passive).

He's been her mentor professionally, and it's a trope that at some point the mentor dies or disappears for a while so the protagonist can have the extra challenge of going it alone and proving themselves. E.g. Dumbledore, Gandalf plus many non-wizards elsewhere.

However I suspect she'd be the one abducted. Hope I'm proved wrong.

I also found it a bit weird that she has no friends to call on. I guess it's partly growing apart with different lives, different places. Or they find it difficult to deal with the danger in her life. I have a close friend in a job which is similar in terms of the drama and danger, and it is hard. However, we remain close in spite of my much more conventional life and she'd definitely call me in Robin's position!

I too would like it if they actually got together and the writing could move them into new dilemmas and patterns. Enjoyed the book very much but the relationship didn't particularly move on until the last page!

I also think the chances of Strike being incapacitated in some way (kidnapped, arrested or hospitalised) during one of the last two stories seems quite high, leaving Robin to solve the central case by herself (and prove herself as finally equal). I think seems higher likelihood for the final book of the series though. And I really hope he doesn’t die.

I also think something serious will happen to Strike and he'll be either hospitalised or kidnapped, Robin will have to solve the case alone and the whole time realising she misses him and wishing she'd realised it sooner etc

I don't think she'd kill either of them off - in HP she kept the trio alive whilst killing off nearly everyone else.
I think Pat and possibly Barclay might be killed by the end of 10.

I keep thinking about him saying ‘I’ll leave this agency before you do’ - was it just the words of a desperate man trying to get his point across or foreshadowing something more sinister, I.e. he dies and Robyn has to carry on in his memory at the end of book 10.

She won’t kill him off. She might kill someone else off though.

I agree that Strike will be out of the picture for a while. I think he could potentially go to prison, with Robin having to prove his innocence. He’s come close several times, and could involve Murphy either before or after their break up.

Robin has to heal herself, save Strike, climb the stairs and live happily ever after.

Dog bite? I only read it a fortnight ago and I've forgotten that completely 😂

Strike accompanies Robin to follow Plug, gets rumbled and they set a dog on him which bites his legs before Robin pepper sprays it and Strike.