Thursday 24 July 2014

GoodRead - The Silkworm

I finished this yesterday, dear readers, so I'm still feeling raw over what I have read (if you wish to call this weird state that I'm in as "raw" - will explain further down). But yes, after around three weeks of reading this, I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED THE SILKWORM BY ROBERT GALBRAITH!!!

The second book in the Cormonran Strike series, The Silkworm takes place several months after The Cuckoo's Calling. Strike has made a name for himself after the Lula Landry affair. So when the wife of author, Owen Quine, comes to him, asking to help her find him and bring him home, Strike decides to take the job - it's not like money is a issue now.

But Strike begins to dig and realises that something very wrong has happened to Quine and his wife hasn't the foggest clue. The novelist has written a manuscript, filled with poisonous pen-portraits of everyone he knows - his agent, his former best friend, his publisher, even his wife and daughter. If the manuscript ever got published, it would ruin lives.

To Strike's horror, he finds Quine - dead. Brutally and savagely murdered. It quickly becomes a race against time to save the innocent as this killer is ruthless and is unlike any Strike has encountered.

I like my attitude to how I got this book. I wasn't going to preorder this after my reactions to The Cuckoo's Calling (my review to that is here) and yet, as soon as the news was announced, I preordered it without thinking. Then I changed from preorder from Amazon to Waterstones because of the whole Amazon vs Hachette in the USA drama and then, I read this slowly, trying to take my time and enjoy it.

That was the plan, as I wondered if the reason why I disliked The Cuckoo's Calling was because I was forcing myself to like it as it was JK Rowling.

But here, I took my time and... well... I'm torn over it. In some ways, this book is much better than Cuckoo, but at the same time, I struggled with it.

As you guys know, I do like a good murder mystery book. I like crime. And I felt myself enjoying the start of this with great ease. I think I slipped into this book much easier than I had done with Cuckoo. I'm not 100% sure why this is the case. Maybe it was my outlook. But yes, that and I enjoy the sense of foreboding I had and when we got to the reveal of Quine's body, we were left in no doubt that it was murder (if you remembered in my review of Cuckoo's Calling, I wondered if it was murder or if I hoped it was murder...).

I also quite liked Strike and Robin's relationship and the tiny amount of insight we got into their private lives. I wish I could have had more scenes with Robin and her fiancee, Matthew (who I have always disliked but here, I hated!) as I felt this was interesting - how can there be a balance between work and love? And with Strike, it was nice to see him having friends and him trying to get over his ex and the fact she's now getting married (and the fact that Charlotte, the ex, was playing mind games with Strike and was refusing to let him moved on).

Also, the characters within the publishing industry. You can't help but wonder if Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) had met people like this...

However... I still had the same issues as Cuckoo. There was a lot of people and, after a while, I got confused over who was who/what they had done/where they were. Usually, I can keep it all straight in my head, but I did get confused.

I also, had problems with the pacing. Again. It felt very slow for my tastes. I like things to have a fast pace, something that will keep me on the edge of my seat. But Silkworm took its time. In some places, this pacing was a good thing. In others... not so much for me.

I think the reason why I have problems with The Cuckoo's Calling and The Silkworm is because I can't get a handle on Robert Galbraith's writing. Note that I didn't say JK's writing, but Robert's writing. JK Rowling took a while to make Robert's voice come through so it doesn't sound like her. While I can very easily read and love JK Rowling's voice, I can't seem to get a grip on Robert's voice. Once I do, I know I will enjoy myself but his voice seems a tad - not sure if this is the right word to use but is the only word I can think of - dense.

Again, middle of road on this series. I think I will try the next book and if I can't gel with it, might have to leave this series alone. But again, will try and read it at a more leisurely pace as I think this helped me a little bit...

(PS - the song choices. The first is the main book's theme song while the other two fit certain themes/moments perfectly...)



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