The Silkworm is book 2 in the Cormoran Strike series by J. K. Rowling (writing under the pen name, Robert Galbraith). Written in 2014 (456 pages in Kindle), in this book we find private detective Cormoran Strike doing a tiny bit better than in book 1, if only because now he has actual clients. But he’s still a hot mess. I suspect “hot mess” is going to be my description for Strike through the entirety of this series.
This book begins with a missing persons case that inevitably turns into a murder. It’s a pretty grisly murder, too. But then again, the victim is a pretty twisted person. So is the murderer, as it turns out. Actually, with just a few exceptions, I’d say everyone in this book is pretty twisted. It all makes me wonder about Rowling’s social circles.
I was deeply frustrated by this book. Rowling is a first class writer, and she writes a first class mystery. The characters were frustratingly believable (I just want to smack some of them clean upside the head), The story was engaging. The ending was satisfying. But it pissed me off that I couldn’t figure out who did it. I even took notes. And I highlighted clues. And I bookmarked key pages AND I went back to re-read them. But I just could not figure out who dun it until the big reveal.
Oh, to be sure, I had my theories. And the character who dun it figured in one of them, although I never seriously considered it. But there was a character — a non-obvious character — who I was thinking dun it. But the story didn’t develop in that direction, and all hint of opportunity was missing for that character to have committed the crime, so by about 80% of the way through the book I was flailing for a better answer. Didn’t find one. Didn’t look hard enough at the character who dun it. I don’t know why.
Still, I have a theory, the earliest glimmerings of a pattern, that I think I might be able to use to hack Rowling’s mysteries and so foresee the ending. That said, a dataset size two does not a pattern make, so I’ll just have to wait and see if it develops into anything.
The subplots in the book also carried on in a satisfying way. In particular, I’m enjoying Robin (Venetia) Ellacott’s journey (Strike’s assistant). Through the earliest portions of the novel I found myself irritated at her, given the way she leaps to very negative conclusions about Strike’s intentions for her future employment. But they somewhat resolve this tension by the middle of the book and it seems that her journey is good and launched by the end of the book. Still, she continues to be engaged to Matthew Cunliffe, a man who is jealous of Strike, and who wants to be the biggest, most important man around, but, well, he’s a accountant. Deep down inside, I think Matthew knows that accountants are almost never the biggest, most important man around. It doesn’t help matters that he is only now discovering that his bride-to-be has an urge to roll around in seedy business. This urge is sure to take her away from the placid 9-to-5 suburban life that Matthew desires, leaving him all alone during those hours when, previously, Robin was his to monopolize.
I am convinced that this is a relationship which is heading for a messy ending. It reminds me of Dan Fogelberg’s Same Old Lang Syne, where he sings:
She said she’d married her an architect
Who kept her warm and safe and dry
She would’ve liked to say she loved the man
But she didn’t like to lie
That song is based on a real encounter between Fogelberg and and old girlfriend. According to the Professor of Rock, in real life the old girlfriend got herself a divorce sometime after her chance encounter with her now-famous ex-boyfriend. I’m sure she loved the architect when she married him. I’m equally certain that eventually the safety of that relationship soured into boredom. This is where I see Robin’s and Matthew’s relationship heading. I’m quite interested to see if those two even make it to the altar. For Robin’s sake, I hope not. But Matthew is such a jackass (or, “tosser,” as Strike puts it), I hope the ending of that relationship is good and humiliating for him.
I’m tempted to immediately jump into the 3rd book in this series, but I’m interested enough in Robin Ellacott’s character and her relationship to Striker that I’ve decided to take a quick dip into Mikey Spillane’s Mike Hammer instead so I can refresh my memory of Hammer’s secretary, Velda. The Mike Hammer series were profoundly influential in post-WWII mystery genre. I doubt that I’ll ever be able to say definitively whether Rowling spent any time reading Spillane, or whether the portrait of Velda influenced her invention of Robin Ellacott. But these things do have a way of echoing down through the chain of novels, one after another, each influencing the next until the beginning of the chain disappears in history. I just want to know if shadows of Velda can be seen in Robin. Hence, the dip into pulp fiction of decades past.
(As an aside, Robin is introduced as Robin Ellacott in book 1, but her wedding announcement identifies her as Robin Venetia in book 2. Mom clearly got remarried. Just as clearly, there’s more backstory to be revealed in future novels. Rowling is certainly taking her time with Robin.)
In any case, should you read The Silkworm? Yes. Perhaps you’re more clever than me and you’ll see who dun it before the end — a feat that I could not manage.
Whelp, on to Mike Hammer and Velda. C’ya!