Robert Galbraith: Career of Evil, 9780751563597, Sphere, paperback

Robert Galbraith is the pseudonym JK Rowling uses to write her detective

novels, featuring Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott, his detective assistant.  I had not read any of the previous two novels preceding this one and decided to check out the third book in the series, taking the thriller on holiday with me. It did not provide the entertainment I hoped for, the book is unnecessarily long winded in my view, an overstuffed sofa according to a reviewer in the Guardian which sums it up perfectly.

The book begins by a severed leg of a women being delivered by  courier to Robin at the agency. Cormoran can remember three men in his life who could be crazy enough to commit such an unspeakable act wishing him harm. Two he met during his days as a police officer in the army, one he had the misfortune to spend his coming of age years with, Whittaker, the creepy partner of his mother, once a famous rock groupie to many rock stars but a drug addict in the end thanks to Whittaker’s influence.  Cormoran and Robin start their investigative hunt delving into the lives of these three men. Throughout the novel, the voice of an anonymous person who is clearly the perpetrator, adds bile to the book. I found the subject of severed limbs, pedophiles, deranged people who are afflicted with an illness wishing to be amputated or having a body part removed ,  their discussions on websites disturbing reading. Several times I thought of quitting, also because I felt the book dragged on too much and could have been edited down, but decided to persevere as I wanted to find out who of the three suspects was the one committing the crime. 

Another string running through the novel are  Robin's doubts about her upcoming marriage, whether to marry her long time fiancé Matthew and her and Cormoran’s changing feelings towards another, the boss-employee relationship is evaporating and developing into much more but none of them seem to have the nerve at this stage to confront their feelings.

"Career of Evil" did nothing for me, I did not become a fan of JR Rowling’s detective novels; this will be my one and only one.