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Robert Galbraith

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Troubled Blood (A Cormoran Strike Novel, 5) Hardcover – Illustrated, September 15, 2020

by Robert Galbraith (Author)

4.6 70,204 ratings

Book 5 of 7: Cormoran Strike

Goodreads Choice Award nominee

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In the epic fifth installment in this “compulsively readable” (People) series, Galbraith’s “irresistible hero and heroine” (USA Today) take on the decades-old cold case of a missing doctor, one which may be their grisliest yet.

Private Detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwall when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, Margot Bamborough—who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974.

Strike has never tackled a cold case before, let alone one forty years old. But despite the slim chance of success, he is intrigued and takes it on; adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency, Robin Ellacott, are currently working on. And Robin herself is also juggling a messy divorce and unwanted male attention, as well as battling her own feelings about Strike.

As Strike and Robin investigate Margot’s disappearance, they come up against a fiendishly complex case with leads that include tarot cards, a psychopathic serial killer and witnesses who cannot all be trusted. And they learn that even cases decades old can prove to be deadly . . .

Book 5 of 7

Cormoran Strike
Print length

944 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Mulholland Books
Publication date

September 15, 2020
Dimensions

6.5 x 2.13 x 9.63 inches
ISBN-10

0316498939
ISBN-13

978-0316498937
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Popular Highlights in this book

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‘We aren’t our mistakes. It’s what we do about the mistake that shows who we are.’
Highlighted by 1,607 Kindle readers
Her insistence on the smooth passing of counterfeit social coin from hand to hand, while uncomfortable truths were ignored and denied, wore him out.
Highlighted by 775 Kindle readers
“In essence, we tend to sort each other and ourselves into groupings, and that usually leads to an overestimation of similarities between members of a group, and an underestimation of the similarities between insiders and outsiders.”
Highlighted by 708 Kindle readers

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Editorial Reviews

Review

A Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2020

“Cormoran Strike, the detective hero of an enjoyable series of books by Robert Galbraith (a pen name for J.K. Rowling), has his most complex adventure yet in Troubled Blood. This hefty volume is stuffed with intrigue, surprise, action, violence, social comedy and romance: “value for money,” as the British say…. Our pseudonymous author sorts everything out by the end with the skill of a world-class storyteller.”―Tom Nolan, The Wall Street Journal

“Troubled Blood’s” central mystery is a strong one, and watching it unfold over the course of a protracted investigation is one of the novel’s great pleasures...Rowling’s greatest novelistic gifts are her ability to spin wild, intricate plots (witness the astrological elements of this latest book), and to create colorful, highly individual characters who come instantly alive on the page."―Bill Sheehan, Washington Post

"A scrupulous plotter and master of misdirection, Galbraith keeps the pages turning."―Clare Clark, The Guardian

Praise for LETHAL WHITE

"Rowling's wizardry as a writer is on fulsome display in Lethal White ( 3.5/4 stars), a behemoth of a novel that flies by in a flash. This is a crime series deeply rooted in the real world, where brutality and ugliness are leavened by the oh-so-human flaws and virtues of Galbraith's irresistible hero and heroine."―USA Today

"At times you might feel as you did when reading the Harry Potter books, particularly later in the series, when they got longer and looser. You love the plot, and you love being in the company of the characters, and you admire the author's voice and insights and ingenuity, and you relish the chance to relax into a book without feeling rushed or puzzled or shortchanged.... Long live the fertile imagination and prodigious output of J.K. Rowling."―Sarah Lyall, The New York Times

"If you love the intricate, character-driven mysteries written by Tana French and Kate Atkinson, then chances are good that you'll enjoy the ones by Robert Galbraith. . . . Robert Galbraith knows how to tell a story every bit as deftly as does J.K. Rowling. Cormoran Strike, who lost a leg in Afghanistan, may limp painfully through much of the book, but the tale being told never misses a step."―Joyce Sáenz Harris, Dallas Morning News

"Even if the world is the seedy underbelly of contemporary London and not Magical Hogwarts, cracking the cover of a Galbraith novel is like stepping through a portal. You're immersed all at once."―Bustle

"Addictive, murderous fun."
―Vox

"Compulsively readable."―People

"One of contemporary crime fiction's most delightful partnerships."―Seattle Times

"Rowling's emotionally intelligent portrayal of her protagonists never overwhelms the whodunit story line."―Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"Rowling deftly circumnavigates all of the tropes and constructs that have long since relegated the male-author-dominated thriller genre to a place of ridicule and sheer inanity."

―Tablet Magazine

About the Author

Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling, bestselling author of the Harry Potter series and The Casual Vacancy. The four previous Strike novels, The Cuckoo's Calling, The Silkworm, Career of Evil and Lethal White, topped the national and international bestseller lists and the series has been adapted for television, produced by Brontë Film and Television.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mulholland Books; Illustrated edition (September 15, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 944 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316498939
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316498937
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.6 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 2.13 x 9.63 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #44,919 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #645 in Private Investigator Mysteries (Books)
- #1,397 in Murder Thrillers
- #3,628 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.6 70,204 ratings

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Robert Galbraith

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Robert Galbraith’s Cormoran Strike series is classic contemporary crime fiction from a master story-teller, rich in plot, characterisation and detail. Galbraith’s debut into crime fiction garnered acclaim amongst critics and crime fans alike. The first three novels The Cuckoo’s Calling (2013), The Silkworm (2014) and Career of Evil (2015) all topped the national and international bestseller lists and have been adapted for television, produced by Brontë Film and Television. The fourth in the series, Lethal White (2018), is out now.

Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym of J.K. Rowling, bestselling author of the Harry Potter series and The Casual Vacancy, a novel for adults. After Harry Potter, the author chose crime fiction for her next books, a genre she has always loved as a reader. She wanted to write a contemporary whodunit, with a credible back story.

J.K. Rowling’s original intention for writing as Robert Galbraith was for the books to be judged on their own merit, and to establish Galbraith as a well-regarded name in crime in its own right.

Now Robert Galbraith’s true identity is widely known, J.K. Rowling continues to write the crime series under the Galbraith pseudonym to keep the distinction from her other writing and so people will know what to expect from a Cormoran Strike novel.

https://robert-galbraith.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CormoranStrikeNovelsOfficial

Twitter: @RGalbraith

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4.6 out of 5

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Compelling series

Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2024

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Hard to believe that the author of the Harry Potter series could also author the Cormoran Strike series. I do NOT support Rowlings homophobic stance but the Strike series is very well written & I have enjoyed reading each of the books in this series. The plot lines are well thought out & the characters of both Robin & Strike are very believable as are other secondary characters. The whole series provides an ongoing & engaging look into the not usually glamorous world of a British private detective agency. Although each novel in this series is a “stand alone” a compelling cast of characters is portrayed along the way setting the stage for a bigger picture. Looking forward to the next release this year.

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2020

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First of all, I love this whole series and am emotionally invested in the main characters. Yes this volume is long, with a very complex plot. I read it in ravenous gulps and did occasionally lose track of who some of the minor characters were as they came and went.

That said, the characters throughout are individually memorable and beautifully realized, just as in the author's other works. I just did an experiment to write down as many characters as I can recall from this book and the total off the top of my head was 70. They are grouped around the detective agency, Robin's and Strike's circles of family, friends, and exes, the characters for each of the five other cases the agency is working, and the central plot of the cold case.

So you can see why the book is so long. That's a lot of balls in the air at the same time. But Galbraith/Rowling at this point in her writing has mastered spinning innumerable plates at once, and it is so satisfying to watch. I found pleasure in her gorgeous sentences, in each character's strong and unique voice, in the development of the Robin/Strike slow burn romance, in the themes of family and loss and hope and choices and courage and trust. It's such a grown up book. It's funny, satisfying, every now and then scary. She can still surprise and delight, and I found the storytelling, both within and without the central cold case mystery, to be unpredictable.

Yes I will buy the next one, and the next one, and the next one. Keep them coming!

A short note on transgender criticisms. Yes, the author has put forward transphobic views on other platforms. However the reference in this book to a male killer who sometimes used a female coat and wig to appear non-threatening to female victims is hardly a transgender reference. I strongly support transgender rights, and in fact worked to add transgender language to an anti-discrimination statute back in the day, and my own support of transgender people was not at odds with my enjoyment of this complex and well-written book.

42 people found this helpful

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Bob Lewis

A great mystery, if a bit excessive in length

Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2020

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It's no secret that Robert Galbraith is really J. K. Rowling, writing under a pen name presumably to dissociate her work for adults (such as this novel) from her young adult work. And fair enough; this kind of mystery, featuring rather gruesome crimes, has very little to do with Harry Potter. Admittedly, this is my first of the Cormoran Strike novels. I decided to pick up a copy in light of the political controversy surrounding it, and I'm rather glad that I did.

Let's begin, in fact, with that political controversy, because I think it needs acknowledgment (especially considering it's the source of most of the criticism directed toward this book). There is a substantial number of people calling for the publisher to stop production of this novel. Indeed, a disturbing number of people, many of them actually bearing Harry Potter tattoos (because apparently they take their lunacy laced with irony), and a few of whom I had hitherto actually respected, have been calling for anyone who reads their random scribblings to burn the book. Some, indeed, have been desperately trying to get attention on the Internet by actually filming themselves burning copies of Rowling's novels. Why would people do such a thing? Because they've gotten it into their heads that the contents of this particular novel are "transphobic."

I point all of this out both to explain the reason I picked up this novel, starting a series in the middle rather than going immediately back to the first volume (namely, because I give no quarter to would-be censors of literature and will always endeavor to read almost anything that large numbers of people insist I shouldn't) and to make it abundantly clear that, without exception, the people complaining about this book on political grounds either haven't read it, or lacked the capacity to understand it. Indeed, the issue they complain about (the inclusion of a male character who cross-dressed to get close to his female victims) is barely even in the book at all, and certainly isn't what the book is "about," nor is it presented in a way that anyone could possibly find offensive who wasn't deliberately looking for excuses to complain about something.

What is in the book, instead, is a delightfully complex tale of a pair of detectives attempting to solve a decades-old missing persons case whose initial investigation had been bungled by a police detective in the middle of a mental breakdown. Beyond the mystery, we are also treated to an incredibly rich collection of subplots involving the personal lives of a small but extraordinarily believable cast of characters. Admittedly, it took me several chapters to get myself up to speed regarding those characters' history, having not read the previous books in the series, but that doesn't detract from a story that captures the reader's interest from page one and doesn't let go until the conclusion nearly 1000 pages later.

And that, in fact, is my one point of criticism: the book is, quite frankly, excessively long, filled with tangents that seem just a little too great in number and just a little too long in duration. While I respect and celebrate that the novel isn't only a mystery but also an interpersonal drama, the alternations between mystery and drama occasionally drifted into territory that made the novel feel just a bit of a slog in a few points. I can't single out any one particular element that was uninteresting or that I think should have been cut entirely, but I can't help but feel that it would have been a nearly perfect novel had it been 200 pages shorter. With none of the elements excluded but all of them presented just a smidge more succinctly (and with a bit more action and less exposition in certain parts), I think the book could have found its way into the pantheon of classic modern mysteries.

As it stands, it's still no slouch. Despite some minor flaws (and certainly contrary to what the politically-minded naysayers would have you believe), it remains a great novel that manages to successfully hit emotional notes across the entire range of the human emotional spectrum, ranging from disgust and horror to grief and sorrow, to laughter and love. And it does this while delivering a mystery that never fails to keep the reader guessing. With regard to the mystery itself, I'm not at all ashamed to admit that I was not able to predict the ending despite all of the necessary clues being present throughout the text. If that's not a good mystery, I don't know what is!

I began by pointing out that this was my first Cormoran Strike novel. It certainly won't be my last. I highly recommend it.

96 people found this helpful

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Lucia Maria Rodrigues Macedo Carvalho

Sempre envolvente o que sai da imaginação desse autor.

Reviewed in Brazil on August 4, 2022

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Já li todos os livros dessa série. São sempre excelentes e crescem em complexidade.
O número de personagens envolvidos na trama aumentam a cada obra da série, bem como os plots que vão ficando cada vez mais diversificados.
A relação entre os dois protagonistas também vai evoluindo. Não fosse Robert Galbraith a mesma cabeça que criou o mundo mágico do bruxinho.

One person found this helpful

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Stefanie S.

Wow

Reviewed in Spain on March 21, 2024

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Best crime duo ever! You don't expect the ending!

RR Waller

NO SPOILERS

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 5, 2024

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This is my fourth Strike and unlike those who read them on the iPad or Kindle, I read the hardcover. These books certainly have a physical presence, each one longer than the previous; this stretches to nine hundred and fifty pages.

For anyone who has not read Galbraith’s (JK Rowland’s) Strikes, I recommend reading them in order. Although they can be read in any order, apart from the ingenious and so carefully developed plots, each so different from the others, there is the theme of Strike and Robin. Their relationship develops through each novel as Robin’s natural, instinctive appreciation of being a detective and Strike’s developing her partnership. They are not exactly Holmes and Sherlock or Poirot and Hastings but Galbraith understands how much more can be brought from a novel with two very different characters whose perceptions are so different, not to mention the lingering frisson, the possibility of a romantic entanglement.

From the very different Harry Potter days, Galbraith has always been good at scene setting, character development and very imaginative, unexpected plot lines. This book is no exception and the enjoyment derived of writing it springs from the pages. For anyone who enjoys a complex “who-dun-it” written in great detail, this will not disappoint and will surprise.

These are being serialised for television and I cannot read them without visualising the two main characters but this is no distraction. The actors playing Strike and Robin have been well-chosen and the do an excellent job. However, I advise reading the novels first. Like so many good books, they do not always transfer easily to the television’s time constraints and the small screen. Galbraith’s writing is very well developed, detailed and stylish, its descriptions almost too good for the genre.

This is an excellent addition to the series. Recommended.

5 people found this helpful

Nolibé

Quelle merveille !

Reviewed in France on November 27, 2023

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Je l’ai lu en anglais et en français. Je le recommande. Un chef d’œuvre !

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Chrisanta Dias

Exceptional!

Reviewed in India on April 23, 2023