The Running Grave - possible spoilers

[thevegetablesoup]

I've just finished this and really loved it, felt it was a return to form after the ink black heart which I still Enjoyed but not my favourite.

Anyway, in this one, strike and Robin are investigating a cult called the United humanitarian church and I did notice a lot of parallels between the church and trans ideology.....

For example

The church has a difficult relationship with the truth
It encourages members to cut themselves off from family members
Its emphasis on the spirit over the body- at one point Robin is chastised when she is undercover as a cult member for referring to someone as gay- she is told "bodies don't matter, spirit matters"

It was brilliant and thought provoking and JKR is a genius.

Also, who has heard of a paste that removes permanent hair dye?

There are paste-type products that remove hair dye, I have used them myself when made a complete hash of a hair colour! They dry your hair out something chronic though!

I think the thing I liked best about the ink black heart was the sense of not really knowing who any body on the internet actually is and the disparity between people who are big/important/influential online vs. not being very important or influential irl. But I agree it wasn't my favourite of the series.

There's a quote from Tolkein, about the difference between applicability which is up to the reader and allegory (which he detested). I tend to agree and think the JKR has really nailed it with this one. She writes about a fictional cult with superb detail and insight. IF YOU make a link with any particular current behaviours it's because you've seen people behaving like that, saying those sorts of things.

She's not telling anyone what to think but encouraging people to think.

@MissDiagnosed I feel like that was a question for google but they're available from Sainsbury's for a tenner so not super rare.

There was a big boo boo in the Ink Black Heart when the girl kept calling Edie her aunt but she wasn't, she was her cousin.

I think the thing I liked best about the ink black heart was the sense of not really knowing who any body on the internet actually is and the disparity between people who are big/important/influential online vs. not being very important or influential irl.
I think it is also a fascinating documentation of a specific era of internet cultural history. It changes so fast. There's a lot of research there. I wonder how much based on the behaviour of HP fandom.

JKR's thriller writing reminds me in some ways of Dorothy L Sayers with the topical references for the time it's set and lively documentation of the ways of particular communities each story centres on (Murder Must Advertise in the world of advertising agency, the Nine Tailors and bellringing).

@thirdfiddle yes I think that that's quite an insightful observation. That feeling of the fandom arguing about what you meant by something without listening to you all felt very authentic.

They do say write what you know.

Hi! I love this thread: I finished The Running Grave last friday and I'm still thinking about it. So much so that I've decided I'm going to re-read it, but this time I hope I'll read it with less anxiety! Like some of you have mentioned, this book has been so anxiety inducing for me! I feel I've missed many details because I was anxious and scared for Robin all the time! So, having read it and knowing how it ends, I hope to read it more slowly...

Also, "Troubled Blood" is still my favourite: Janice is still my "favourite" villain, and something about the mystery atmosphere of that case, with the disappeared Marion... Also THAT scene between Robin and Strike, both thinking about the bed!
But I must say, The Running Grave is a close second for me! And the Wayces are... 😖

yeah I want to reread it too but I was thinking I might restart at book 1 to keep me going longer

I never saw Janice as the villain in Troubled Blood, and when the villain (the villain aside from the cult) was revealed in RG, I thought she’s bloody done it again! Totally flummoxed.

Thanks. Who knew. It felt like a chemical impossibility but I stand corrected.

@MissDiagnosed Nay problem. I think they're pretty bad for your hair on the whole but they're sometimes applied before a salon dye job to de-colour the hair ready for the new dye.

That's exactly what I'm going to do! I haven't finished TRG yet, have a few hours left (listening on audio). I was actually tempted to start from book one before starting this one but was too impatient so just re listened to IBH then this one.

I should finish TRG tomorrow so it's back to book one from Wednesday 👍🏻

I am in the middle of it so won't read any more of the thread. However there's one passage where Strike apologises for letting her go in and says he should have sent one of the men instead. Robin says something like "no, it had to be me, had to be a woman, only a woman would have been exposed to and seen what I saw" and by that I think she means the constant threat of rape and sexual coercion, which of course the men in the cult experience too but it's unlikely anyone could physically force them in the way they could Robin. Robin and the other women are so much more vulnerable due to their sex. Which is of course the whole argument behind not allowing TIMs into female spaces.

Oh did you all get total goose bumps when Robin suddenly knows that Strike is at the blind spot in the fence and makes her escape? I'm listening on audio and rewound that bit about 10 times!

Yessssssssssssss :___)

Same here! "Chapeau", Ms. Rowling.

The reveal of troubled blood is just spectacular. Everything just comes together so perfectly all these threads and then suddenly you see where they all wove together to make a whole.

Ha yes I thought the same on the cult. Thought this was rather apt and funny.

Potential Gaslighting? You have to see it from different perspectives and think about it, rather than just be narrow minded. I can see both sides of the debate as rather cultish at times!

Well, Mishi, if you'd engaged your brain and actually read the thread, you might have noticed several posters saying they thought an earlier book had weak points, and some highlighting the need for stronger editing. Cults aren't famed for allowing criticism of their leaders.

I think the Strike series is amongst the best modern crime fiction, but thought Fantastic Beasts was dull and clunky and couldn't believe Rowling wrote the screenplay. Am I allowed into the cult or not?

No need to get personal.

My brain is well engaged. I just see both sides of the debate and the cult theme is rather fascinating!

Well @MishyJDI I suppose we can agree that how to spot the tactics cults use to recruit isolate and manipulate people are a good lesson for everyone.

Off topic, I find it interesting and hopeful that even an absolutely mindlessly devoted TRA of long standing has moved to a “both sides” type argument instead of the usual NO U.

I dislike the Harry Potter books but love the entire Strike series — hardly a “cult” attitude.

JKR actually has allowed me to read BOOKS rather than the internet again, if you know what I mean.

A really terrific novel. I love them so much I hope the next one makes 1,000 pages rather than just scraping under at 947, and I’ll still buy it hardcover!

also the ending. 🥰

I read TRG on Kindle, which was a lot easier on my hands than the hardback version.