Lethal White is now the fourth crime thriller by J.K. Rowling under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith, and it came out last year. The title refers to a white who is born with messed innards and has to be put down because it will never grow and thrive. This novel is in various ways the best of the four in the series, and at 647 pages of story, it better be a real page turner or many will not finish it. It continues the interesting and sometimes hilarious investigative adventures of the ‘odd couple’ Cormoran Strike (an assumed nom de plume, as his father was a famous heavy metal rocker), ex-army with one leg blown off in Afghanistan and Robin Ellacott the brilliant but inexperienced ingenue who always wanted to do police work. One of the things that makes this novel work is the same thing that makes the Elementary TV series relationship between Holmes and Watson work— namely sexual tension between the two lead characters. In this fourth novel Strike has a regular girlfriend and Robin has just married Mr. Matthew Cuncliffe, a handsome accountant. Neither are very happy in their situations, Strike perhaps more so that Robin. Indeed Robin wishes Strike had rescued her on the day of the wedding. Matthew for his part despises what she does, not least because it places her in grave danger regular, dealing with desperate, seedy, egotistical, violent criminals and the insane as well, and he suspects that his wife is having an affair with Strike (which in fact she is not, but there is frisson).
In this novel our heroes must unravel several intertwining stories involving the posh of Britain’s society including a Minister of the government named Chiswell. The plot is set at the very time London is hosting the Olympics and set in various locales in London and up in Oxfordshire, and is kicked off by a ‘mental’ patient named Billy who comes to Strike in a rather hysterical panic saying he witnessed the murder of a child buried on the Chiswell property years ago— NOT GOOD! But Strike is inclined to believe he’s telling at least a partial truth, and the so the snooping begins.
I will not spoil the plot for you, but will say I like the way Rowling can portray people with both their flaws and their good traits, including the lead characters in these novels. They are full orbed, and there is character development as well. Robin grows into the job and becomes more brave. Strike, brusque and prickly by nature, develops his compassionate side. Both have been damaged by their pasts, but will they overcome their shortcomings and personal issues? Strike has just come off of his biggest triumph bagging a Jack the ripper type in London and has obtained some unwanted fame (see the last novel A Career of Evil). Robin has just survived being nearly killer by the same ripper and has a nasty scar to prove it, and some PTSD like Strike’s as a result. Rowling is also able to show the lighter or humorous side of these figures, as well as their sometimes paranoia. It’s all too believable, as they keep raising up the doormats of London society and examining the creepy crawlers that hide beneath the surface.
My advice to my readers is it is best to read these novels in order (starting with the Cuckoo’s Calling) if one wants to see the main characters grow and change, but each novel can stand on its own as a thriller. I give this one four and a half stars.
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