Fifth (and Post-Final?): Look at The Running Grave Preview: Spoilers for September 7th Release: Chapters 7 and 8.

 Wooo-hoo! More preview today!  I'll cover chapters 7 and 8.  As before: Spoilers in BLUE. 

Well, we didn't have to wait long! In Chapter 7, Strike decides to hang out at the Golden Lion pub and read the file,  Good thing, he's going to need a beer. 

One tidbit I noticed is that Strike moves from his barstool to a low couch. This is a sure sign that his leg is doing well. Before, he actively preferred high barstools to lower seating because it was easier on his knee. Strike reads long letters from Kevin to Sir Colin describing the brutal and authoritarian environment of the UHC. It was also a place where family relationships were de-emphasized and free love (and sex) were to be shared among all. 

Strike stops dead in his tracks when he sees "Aylmerton Community" and immediately connects that to the commune of his youth. He experiences a flood of somewhat disjointed memories, that give us more bits of information about that time: the "worst experience of his childhood."

• Chapman Farm was called Forgeman Farm in Strike's day. 
• It was chaotic, particularly for the children, and Strike sensed danger. 
• The older Crowther brother, Malcolm,  was the dominant authority, and was about as appealing and well-groomed as Jeff Whittaker.
• And Strike was equally fond of the guy, even at the tender age of eight. 
• It was not religious per se, but a place that taught the Crowther's radical philosophy. 
• Leda left the commune after six months for unknown reasons, and seemingly voluntarily; Strike assumes this was her usual wanderlust. She initially defended the leadership when they were accused of pedophilia and, as with Whittaker trying to bludgeon the cat, "refused to believe it had happened." While she eventually accepted their guilt, she believed, as does Strike, that her own children were lucky enough to escape the abuse. 
• I think this is likely true of Strike. We may learn different about Lucy. Recall that it was Whittaker's sexual taunting that prompted her to escape to Ted and Joan's permanently. Was that not only trauma, but re-trauma?

Mazu Wace is described scary-looking and domineering, with naming power over all the children born at Chapman Farm. She was apparently jealous of Kevin's mother Louise, who was pretty aa a young person and slept with Papa J. Louise is worn down by the hard labor she is forced to do the farm and, by the time Kevin is in his twenties, looks old and arthritic. Kevin eventually expressed his doubts about the UHC to his mother, in hopes that she would leave with him, but she refused. He left quickly before she could tell the leadership. 

We also learn that all UHC members over nine are required to keep journals, which the leadership reviews. While it is likely that anything critical of the group or documenting crimes would have been destroyed, this suggests a potential source of information that Robin could use to investigate people who cannot or will not speak with her. 

Kevin's second letter tells more of the UHC's prophets and practices. There are five Prophets. 

1. Rusty Andersen: The Wounded Prophet, American Army Veteran and survivalist killed by a drunk driver. 
2. Alexander Graves: The Stolen Prophet: the aforementioned member kidnapped by his parents for deprogramming, who committed suicide.
3. Harold Coates: The Healing Prophet: a former doctor who used herbal remedies to treat sick or injured members. No cause of death mentioned.
4. Margaret Cathcart-Bryce, The Golden Prophet, an wealthy elderly lady who leved her last years on the farm and left the UHC all her money. 
5. Daiyu Mazu: The Drowned Prophet. The most important, as the daughter of leaders Jonathan and Mazu. Unlike the others, who are buried on the farm, she is commemorated by a statue in the middle of a pool. 

Interestingly, Graves and Andersen, years prior to being venerated by the UHC, were simply men buried on the farm and used as warnings against leaving the community. Coates and Cathcart-Bryce performed specific services for the church, prior to dying and being buried on the grounds, and were made prophets almost immediately after they died.  We were previously told that Kevin Pirbright's family insisted on burying him on the grounds. Could he be in line to be Prophet #6?  Perhaps, "the Traitor Prophet?"

Chapter 8 finds Robin about to get her hair cut and Strike preparing to schmooze Wardle, hoping to get not only the police report on Pirbright's shooting but also some recent census records not available to the public. 

• Please note that this is a psuedo-correction from Troubled Blood, where Robin somehow accessed census data from Gloria Conti's family, only about 50 years ago. 
• We saw something similar in Troubled Blood, when Dr. Gupta acknowledged that DNA tests, that Strike remembered were used to determine his paternity,  were not available in the 1970's. 

In the meantime, a chat with Pat tells us the agency is also tailing "Bigfoot"---  another large, unclean and suspected unfaithful man.  Discussing Bigfoot's facial hair triggers a disturbing memory of Malcolm Crowther enticing a young girl to touch his moustache. Strike shakes it off, and prior to seeing Wardle,  is able to make some progress on finding Angel's birth father, and sends Dev out to survey his building. 

I had a bit of an eyeroll here:

The idea of Murphy buying theatre tickets aggravated him; it suggested a dangerous degree of effort. Eight months into the relationship, the policeman should surely have stopped pretending he'd rather watch a play than have a decent meal followed by sex. 

If you look carefully, you can see an asteroid passing through the house of Projection. 

Like Shanker, Wardle's life has moved on since we last saw him back in Lethal White, four years ago (!). He's a new dad,  but sadly, April has left him and taken the baby with her.  It is a bit ominous that April has had some contact with the UHC and one of her "yoga friends" a lot more. As far as we know, April and Robin have never met, right? ---so if April turns up on the farm she wouldn't necessarily recognize Robin. Still, the mention that the one meeting left her acting "weird" and the fact that she is gone with the baby makes me wonder if she has sought refuge with her "yoga" friend. Or possibly with Coco?

There is no clear evidence that Pirbright's shooting was anything but a standard drug-related killing, but the crime scene studies showed a filthy room and strange writing on the wall.  Shades of Bill Talbot? There is also the odd detail of a radio playing but being silenced by the same bullet that killed Kevin.  Oddly, toxicology showed no illegal drugs in his system. 

Wardle also dishes some dirt on Ryan Murphy, including his history of alcoholism, and aggressive womanizing in his drinking days, including making a pass at April Wardle. Strike was previously unaware of this, but clearly hopes he can use this information to his advantage.

I am impressed, that, even after making the connection to the Alymerton Community, Strike is still OK sending Robin on the case. I half expected him to want to pull her out once he knew that.  

Names

Louise:  "Famous warrior-maid."  It is also noteworthy that this is the fourth Louise that has appeared in the series, the others being:

• Louise, the "brilliant" self-defense instructor Robin told Strike about in CoE,  who provided the training necessary for Robin to fight off the Shackelwell Ripper.  This one probably best fits the name. 
• Louise Hutchins, Andy's wife, most notable for falling off a ladder and breaking her wrist. 
• Louise Tucker: unfortunate schoolgirl victim of Dennis creed, whose body was recovered from a well after 40 years. 

As Louise is supposed to be alive (if not well, given her arthritis) and living at Chapman Farms,  Robin may well meet her. She apparently taught her children things like basic math, outside of the normal educational boundaries of the church. 

Becca (aka Rebecca) : "to tie or bind."  Kevin's oldest sister  was sent to the Birmingham UHC center and "is now quite high up in the church" suggesting she is physically attractive and possibly of sexual interest to "Papa J." It sounds like she has "bound" herself to the church and its leader.  

Emily: "rival, laborious, or eager" Kevin's middle sister, apparently attractive enough to collect money, as opposed to Louise and Kevin, who were kept sequestered on Chapman farm, but not as favored as her sister, which we are told makes her envious. Perhaps jealousy over Becca's high position or fatigue at the laboring she is doing on the farm will make her eager to help Robin?

Kevin's name meaning, "handsome," can now be assumed to be ironic, since he was deemed too unattractive to represent the UHC in public. 

Forgeman: place of metalwork or blacksmithing, with a connotation of metal worked with heat and fire. This is consistent with the hellish nature Strike associates with his childhood commune.  Be alert for names like "Smith" that could connect to this place. 

Malcolm: "Devotee of St. Columba," a patron saint of Ireland, considered a great warrior as well as evangelist.  Perhaps we should pay attention to the "Mal" syllable, as in "Malfoy" which means "bad."  A character with the name "Bad Child-molester" shows promise of being as outstanding a citizen as Mucky Ricci ("Horseshit Penis.") 

Jordan: "flowing or descending" and the Biblical River most associated with baptism  This is certainly interesting in a book that opened with a christening. Jonathan sang the spiritual "Roll, Jordan, Roll" to him. 

Doherty: "Unlucky, hurtful."  That doesn't bode well for this family...

Deidre: "Broken-hearted, sorrowful" ...Especially her. Deidre was originally held up as a "shining example  of pure spirit (perhaps evoking the Christian Mother of Sorrows, Mary?) but a few months later she was expelled,  after writing accusations of rape against Papa J in her journal, and forced to leave her youngest child,  Lin, behind. This, of course, raises the issue of whether Deidre really left, or was killed. 

Ralph: "Courageous (literally 'wolf') counsel"  Makes sense, he had the courage to get his three older kids out of the cult, though it meant leaving his "pack" and becoming a "lone wolf" (with cubs!). 

Lin: As a name, this can mean "jade" or "gem," which connects her name to Daiyu.  The I Ching hexagram meaning relates to joyful, hopeful progress for those who learn correctness from wiser ones. So, pretty much the opposite of her mom's name. Ironically, Lin is described as stammering, is treated poorly by Mazu and, like Kevin and Louise, deemed unfit to leave the farm. 

Abigail:  "My father's joy" Jonathan Wace's daughter from his first marriage to Jennifer. This is the first we have heard of her, so we are uncertain whether she is a joy to Papa J or not. But her stepmother Mazu clearly did not like her, and arranged for her to be sent away from Chapman Farm. 

Rusty: "red-headed"  Unfortunately we do not know the guy's hair color. 

Andersen: "manly"  Appropriate for a rugged, survivor soldier. 

Harold: "Army Ruler" It's not clear how this could apply, He apparently lived on the property during the Aylmerton  Community days, so he might have been part of the pedophilia ring. 

Coates: "Humble dwelling" or "Shepherd"  Perhaps referring to a person who gave up a professional existence (doctor) to live someplace more simple?

Timelines

Kevin was three when his mother joined the UHC, and claimed to be six when Daiyu drowned in 1995, making his birthday around 1989, and his age in 2016  approximately 27-28. Becca was five years older than Kevin, Emily three. 

Kevin was 12 when Ralph Doherty left, so about 2001. Lin would probably be 5-7 years younger than Kevin, given that the Doherty family was said to join "a few years" after Kevin's family did and Deidre became pregnant soon after. With the open sexual relations amongst the UHC members, I think the paternity of any child born there could be in question, and particulary Lin's, given that Ralph did not take her with him.

Kevin left the group around age 23-24, though he did not know his exact birthdate at the time.  

April left Wardle six months ago, taking the 3-month old baby with her. The child would now be nine months old. 

Harry Potter Echoes

We see analogs to two of the three Deathly Hallows at the UHC. 

1. Daiyu's supposed power of invisibility, a la the Cloak, and the rumor of which was spread by Kevin's sister Beca. and the Manifestations. 
2. The Manifestations, the supposed ability of the five prophets to return from the dead on their death date, as if summoned by Resurrection Stone. Kevin claims to have witnessed these personally. 

Could an Elder Wand equivalent be ahead?

Daiyu was supposedly sucked out to sea by a rip current and her body never recovered, making her death similar to Regulus Black's. 

The hallowed graves of the Prophets could echo the church cemetery in Godric's Hollow. The UHC, like the citizens of Godric's, have a statue of their greatest hero(es) erected:  the Potters and Daiyu. 

In general, the UHC atmosphere contains some of the most Potter-like elements seen in the series to date, with the robe-wearing, witch-like Mazu and Kevin claiming to have witnessed supernatural levitations ("Wingarium leviosa!") and destructions ("Reducto!") And, Kevin believes that the UHC are "Dark Wizards" of a type, able to access another world beyond ours, and doing so for their own evil purposes. 

Possibly a stretch, but Wardle's dirt on Murphy might be compared to Muriel's gossip about Dumbledore. 

Wardle's separation from his wife and newborn might be compared to Lupin's in Deathly Hallows. though, as far as we know, this time it was the wife's choice, not the husband's. 

We have a teenage Jordan explicitly connected to the Jordan River, just as River was Lee Jordan's code name on Potterwatch. 

Literary Alchemy 

With Margaret meaning pearl, Daiyu meaning black jade, Rusty meaning red, and a Golden Prophet, we have all the alchemical colors represented among the Five. I'm not sure what this could mean, though. 

As mentioned before, the name "Jordan" is connected to rivers and baptism, and Jordan seems to participate in a warped version of a purification ritual in his self-flagellation. 

Ring Structure

One of Kevin's earliest memories is  a teenager, Jordan, being forced to whip himself on the face. In Lethal White, Strike remembers seeing a teenager being whipped at the Norfolk commune. The Norfolk commune was first mentioned in Book 1, then the next mention was the whipping in Book 4. Although the commune itself has come up in every book since, Kevin's memory directly echoes Strike's in Book 4.  

Wardle is another connection between books 1, 4 and 7, although he, of course, was also quite prominent in Book 3.  

There are three men from his childhood that Strike has visceral hatred for: Whittaker, Rokeby and, as we now know, Malcolm Crowther.  We have learned the most about them in books 3, 5 and 7. Strike punches Whittaker in three and told Rokeby to f*ck off in five. Can we look forward to a similar confrontation with Crowther in seven?  I would assume the Crowther brothers are either dead or in jail now. Maybe we'll see another Creed-style prison interview?

As always, comments welcome. If you enjoy this commentary, please retweet the link. 

Onto Chapters 9. 10 and 11 tomorrow!