The Ink Black Heart’ is Book 6 in the Cormoran Strike series of classic style detective novels. As usual I did a combined read/listen with its unabridged audiobook edition.
This book was published in 2022 and given how long these books have become, I tend to set aside a few days in December to immerse myself in the novel as based on previous experience once started I find myself hooked until the final page.
Still, even though the digital edition comes in at 1,430 pages, that is partly due to the formatting of the Twitter and chat threads in the ebook. I found that listening to these via the audiobook was easier than reading the plain text.
The main case involves the murder of a woman who was the co-creator of a dark YouTube animated show titled Ink Black Heart, set in Highgate Cemetery. It has attracted a fandom with all the baggage that comes with the same. After the show was taken up by Netflix, the fandom became more fractured with accusations of the creators selling out.
A couple of those who felt disenfranchised then created ‘Drek’s Game’, an online site based on a character in Ink Black Heart and it’s here where a great deal of animosity is expressed towards the murder victim. The real world identity of the game’s creator, Anomie, is a closely guarded secret and unmasking them becomes central to the investigation led by Robin and Cormoran. Unlike some detective novels they are not competing with the police investigation but complementing it on behalf of their clients. There’s some quid pro quo between them and the police investigating the murder(s).
So there’s a lot in the novel about the toxic aspects of social media as well as the far right, incels, and the white supremacy movement. I did wonder if these themes were slightly anachronistic given that the series’ present is 2015. Was Twitter and the like that much of a mine field eight years ago? It might well have been though I was less online then and may not have noticed.
There are personal subplots - the will they won’t they aspect of the Robin and Cormoran dynamic and the return of Charlotte Campbell doing her best to mess up Cormoran’s life by dragging him into her drama. I was delighted that their gravel-voiced receptionist, Pat, was still at her post.
London itself emerges as a character in its own right and is very vividly described. I will note that some of the language is strong and views expressed by certain characters may be offensive to some readers.
I enjoyed this very much though with hindsight I should have made myself a character list as it became quite a challenge keeping track of who was who. Something to keep in mind for Book 7, which is somewhat shorter but still a doorstop of a novel.
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Popular highlights in this book
Ormond now proved himself to belong to that category of men who seem to think they’ll be suspected of impotence unless their handshake causes the recipient physical pain.Highlighted by 179 Kindle readers- A state of anomie is impossible wherever organs in solidarity with one another are in sufficient contact, and in sufficiently lengthy contact.Highlighted by 174 Kindle readers
- ‘Stinkier the turd, harder it is to scrape off your shoe,’ said Pat laconically.Highlighted by 164 Kindle readers
- If he were honest with himself, he’d rather still be at the office, speculating about the stabbings with Robin over a Chinese takeaway than heading towards Madeline’s. Best, then, not to be honest with himself.Highlighted by 94 Kindle readers
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Reviews with images
Strikes the right chord!
I bought the Ink Black Heart the minute it came out in paperback and got stuck in without reacquainting myself with Books 1 – 5.When the creators of The Ink Black Heart, a cult on-line cartoon, are attacked in Highgrove cemetery leaving Edie dead and Josh paralysed, Strike and Robin are hired to unmask the true identity of anomie - a menacing cyber character and co-creator of the IBH spinoff, Drek’s game, who patrols the web like a winged Nazgul singling out Edie for persistent persecution in an attempt to turn the fandom against her.Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and reddit; trolling, ghosting and catfishing; ableism, the dark web and online gaming; the alt right, grooming and misogyny – The Ink Black Heart is not for the faint-hearted!I managed to keep track of who’s who despite multiple online identities but didn’t come close to guessing whodunnit - there were more red herrings than you could shake a stick at!The alternating chapter format – Strike’s POV, Robin’s POV, three channel chats - kept my attention and the pages turning. I loved the introduction of new characters: at the agency, as new love interests for Robin and Corm whose will they/won’t they remains as frustrating as ever and everybody connected to the pivotal North Grove Art Collective.My only bugbears were the distracting quotes at the start of each chapter and the unnecessarily prolific use of the c-word (I’m not a tweeter but accept this might be a fair representation of twitter trolling)!
Top reviews from other countries
we're all brothers
El mejor desarrollo de Galbraith hasta ahora
Reviewed in Mexico on 6 September 2022
