The Running Grave: Cormoran Strike Book 7

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The Universal Humanitarian Church at first glance is just that, a service based group committed to doing good for the world and the author’s masterclass touch includes Hinduism and the symbolic use of LOTUS and the chants that I am so used to hearing around me honestly gave me the shivers which kind of reinforces the belief that I have always had, that it doesn’t matter how sane one is, sucked into a vortex like a cult, there would be never an escape.

and she’s obsessive about getting their regional and class accents right and reproducing them in dialogue through wonky grammar and spelling. He has also established contact with Prudence, another of his numerous half-sisters¹, as well as navigating the complexities of his relationship with his sister Lucy, who also spent time at the Chapman Farm site with Strike as children, before it was used by the UHC. Let’s just say this at the outset: if you are looking for a story full of warm-hearted life-affirming fun, and giggles, move along now, because this really isn’t the book you’re looking for. Nein, natürlich werde ich weiterhin die Strike Bücher lesen und nein, ich weiß nicht, wie mein Leben danach weitergehen wird, wenn die Serie aufhören wird (was vermutlich mit dem 10. 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.

While visiting his terminally ill aunt Joan in Cornwall, Strike is approached by a woman who wants to hire Strike's firm to investigate the disappearance of her mother, Margot Bamborough, a general practitioner in Clerkenwell, London, almost 40 years previously, on 11 October 1974. Yet Strike discovers that beneath the surface there are deeply sinister undertones, and unexplained deaths.

In August 2014, although the firm is still trying to trace leads, the client and her wife end the contract as of the end of August, two weeks before the allotted year. Mostly, when I read this series, I think of it as being mostly focused on Robin and her evolution as a character³, but this book seems to talk about Strike’s own inner landscape much more than previously. She also stated that the character of Dennis Creed was loosely based on real-life killers Jerry Brudos and Russell Williams.

While the fans loved the novel, reviewers have had a slightly more mixed reaction to the novel, with some claiming that it was too lengthy. The real strength of the book is the way Rowling has created the entirely convincing and creepy world of her cult sect, the Universal Humanitarian Church. With these interminable interview scenes – plus an unrewarding sub-plot about an actress who’s being stalked – it’s little wonder that The Running Grave has swelled to nigh-on 1,000 pages (admittedly shorter than the last instalment, The Ink Black Heart, which weighed in at 1,248). Die angestellten Detektive Midge, Barclay und Shah kamen auf mich seltsam blutleer rüber, als wären das keine richtigen Menschen, sondern nur Fantasiefiguren. Unlike the other books in the series, the focus is more on the case even though the readers are made to sense the yearning of both partners for each other.

When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman's severed leg. Despite all this, and while Strike’s trying to cope with harassment from his mad ex-girlfriend, ­Charlotte, his shaky relationship with his long-lost sister and a ­diagnosis of dementia for his ­adoptive father, Ted, the duo do have time to do some detecting. The church is wealthy, influential, and litigious and, after Robin’s release, they attempt to smear her by alleging she abused a dying child she cared for in the compound before her escape, leading to her being interviewed by the police. While Billy is obviously mentally distressed and cannot remember many concrete details, there is something sincere about him and his story. There are multiple instances where references are made to previous books and these things are explained to the reader.In May 2021, the novel won the Crime and Thriller Book of the Year Award at the British Book Awards. In a rare feat, Galbraith combines a complex and compelling sleuth and an equally well-formed and unlikely assistant with a baffling crime in his stellar debut . Naturally, I’m not going to give away whether this seventh entry in the series takes their relationship any further forward, although I will say that – unlike with the seventh Harry Potter book, which ended with Harry, Ron and Hermione married off to the loves of their lives – we seem a long way from a ­definitive ending to the saga.

I really appreciated Cormoran’s development through this book and after so long, his willingness to put his toxic avoidance tactics behind and to pursue what he wants and needs in his life (FINALLY).

Strike and Robin remain solid, convincingly drawn characters – the best duo in detective fiction since ­Reginald Hill’s Dalziel and Pascoe – however garrulous their biographer has become. Speaking about the novel’s themes, which centre on backlash on social media, JK Rowling denied that she wrote it in reference to her own online controversies, explaining: "I wasn’t clairvoyant, I just – yeah, it was just one of those weird twists. So many of the reviews are left in advance from people on either side, and as someone who likes to read legitimate reviews I thought I’d leave this here for anyone seeking out a review based on the book and not on the persons opinion of the author.