Philodendrons, Flavia, Hugh Jackass, Highgate and Kaboom!: The Ink Black Heart Read-along: Ch. 58-70 (Part 5 of 8)

    

Part Four opens with a long and, in retrospect, very sad moderator's chat between Paperwhite and Morehouse. Morehouse has become convinced that Anomie was the attacker on Vilepechora, and is quite worried that he stabbed Edie and Josh. He is worried both for his own safety and, once Paperwhite tells him that Anomie knows her identity, for hers, too. We see Anomie at his manipulative best here, as Paperwhite convinces Morehouse to stay with the game and "keep Anomie sweet" while they work out a plan.

After giving a statement to the police after the attempted murder in the Tube, Strike has a date night with Madeline. but is too distracted to engage emotionally with her. He notes that Red Soles' tattoo was a Viking rune called algiz, and that the Al Gizzard twitter account has been deleted. In the morning, Strike takes calls from Dev Shah, who has captured some video of Jago Ross assaulting his daughter. and Katya, who reports that Josh Blay is well enough to be interviewed. 

Strike can't stand being around the Madwoman any more, so he lies about Dev's wife breaking her wrist in order to get away from her. After calling Robin to tell her about the hospital appointment to see Josh, he finds her upset by the news that her father has had a heart attack, and trying to complete her move alone. In a reversal of what she did for him in LW when Jack was in the hospital, he shows up to assist her, bearing groceries and a philodendron plant that is definitely not flowers. Philodendron, which means "tree hugger," can have a variety of symbolic meanings, from health and abundance to renewal and kindness to, yes, love and appreciation. Robin is as delighted and touched to see him in front of her building as he was to see her framed in the hospital ward door. 

Robin’s emotions hadn’t caught up and she was still struggling not to cry when she turned at long last into Blackhorse Road.Only when she turned into the parking area beside the block containing her new flat did she spot Strike standing beside the main door, a potted plant in one hand and a full bag of Tesco’s shopping in the other. The sight was so incongruous, yet so welcome, that Robin gave a little gasp of laughter, which turned immediately into a sob. 

‘Very nice,’ said Strike, when Robin had opened the door onto a pleasant, bright and airy flat, which was slightly larger than Strike’s attic and in far better repair. ‘You buy this sofa off the previous owner?’

‘Yes,’ said Robin. ‘It folds out – I thought it’d be useful.’

Oh, Robs, hon, you don't know the half of it. This scene is one of their best "best friends" times, and for once, relatively free of sexual tension, as they eat fish and chips, put together furniture and monitor Drek's Game, getting the news of Vilepechora and Lord Drek's dismissals and making the connection to train victim Oliver Peach.  

‘“Got you all bugged”,’ said Strike. ‘Who mentioned bugging recently?’

‘You,’ said Robin. ‘You said if Gus Upcott was Anomie, he’d be bugging the upper floor of his house.’

‘No,’ said Strike, who’d just remembered. ‘It was a bloke on Twitter. Lepine’s Disciple.’

‘Oh, him,’ said Robin darkly. ‘He’s vile. Pops up all the time. There’s another one, I am Evola, who’s as bad, if not worse...

So close!  Gus Upcott and three of his online identities within a few sentences. And big brother Charlie's corduroy jackct must be pretty distinctive if Strike recognized it from the picture. I didn't think he saw much more than a sleeve in the pub. 

We see an important moderators' chat where:

• Hartella, whose brain cells appear to be firing with a bit more synchrony than usual, confesses to having been duped into speaking to private detective "Robin Ellcot."
• A furious Anomie now has a job for her to "put it right."
• Paperwhite proposes to Morehouse that they go to the Strike Detective agency with their concerns about Anomie. 
• Anomie suggests making Buffypaws a moderator. 
• A little irony here: while berating Yasmin for talking to Robin, Anomie is ready to invite her into the (ink black) heart of the game. 

Strike passes the information on to Murphy, who is, by all accounts, still his good buddy*,  and Sam is able to clear Gus Upcott of being Anomie after seeing him off-media at a time Anomie was on. Then. on Saturday, Robin and Strike are set to meet to visit Josh Blay in hospital.  

I must admit to being amused by the early part of this day. First. we hear about Anomie's most recent tweet, saying that Maverick Films does not want The Ink Black Heart film to....  have an ink black heart in it. Yes, the Twitter mob is less than civil in its response, but it's hard to argue that this idea doesn't deserve a bit of scorn. I can't help but wonder if the author was thinking of a certain American publisher, who was convinced that a book about a certain boy wizard and his search for the genuine Philosopher's Stone of alchemy fame, a book that had been breaking sales records and winning awards in the UK for months, needed to have that pesky "Philosopher's" word removed from the title if there was to be any hope of US children reading it. 

Then, Strike and Robin turn up to see Katya, Kea and her mom in a near-catfight in the hospital parking lot, with Kea determined to ger in to see her "Joshlings" and Katya determined to keep her out. Kea's reaction to seeing Strike turn up is priceless; she should have had her mom bring the attack cockatoo. Flavia, who recalls Neville Longbottom in St. Mungo's by looking "completely miserable" seems relatively unbothered by the histrionics, presumably because she sees plenty of that at home from her dad. Once she's free to chat with Robin, she assumes a Luna Lovegood-type persona, talking about American mass-murderers with the same casualness as most kids her age would discuss the weather, then innocently asking if Robin's double-back to get her forgotten notes was actually a ruse to retrieve Kea's letter from the trash. I seriously hope Flavia is featured in the TV show, because she is such an entertaining character. Too bad Evanna Lynch doesn't have a daughter the right age. 

Kea's letter is about what we'd expect; she expounds at length to her wheelchair-bound supposed boyfriend about her great suffering is, how much she wants to kill herself, how it is all really his fault for moving into North Grove, and oh, by the way, in case she dies before Josh gets out, she really does love him. I bet people most visitors to their home prefer the company of the cockatoo. 

Onto the conversation with Josh.  If you are interested in his medical condition, please see my earlier post on Brown-Séquard syndrome. Here, I was struck by how well he seems to understand the Upcott family dynamics, particularly Inigo's infidelity, the pressure he puts on Gus and his neglect and mistreatment of Flavia. It is also wonderful to see Robin chime in with Zoe's story of the cartoon preventing her suicide. 

Strike's interview with Grant Ledwell at The Gun turns up some interesting information, including that he is also getting the Darth Vader calls to dig up Edie and read the letter, and that he seems to have an outsize dislike for Josh Blay and Katya Upcott, claiming that Edie had called him for advice, saying that Josh was trying to oust her from her creation. He also provides a lot of information when describing the funeral, such as:

• His daughter Rachel insisted on attending, even though she never met Edie
• Pez Pierce accosted Tim Ashcroft and drove him away when Ashcroft approached Rachel, Gus and Flavia. 
• Nils DeJong gifted hom a bizarre piece of collage art featuring Edie to Grant. 

The meal is also interrupted when Robin texts to report that Wally Cardew is out as a suspect, having been taken away in an ambulance after a beating by a group looking like MJ's relatives. Strike has an entertaining bout of panic when he mistakingly concludes Robin is the one in the ambulance. 

A few interesting things happen as Robin makes the transition to Jessica in preparation for Highgate Cemetery and North Grove. First, Anomie invites  her to take the moderator's text in a week's time. Second, both she and Strike express annoyance with Nutley and the desire to get rid of him ASAP. Third, she decides to finally make her lack of interest clear to Hugh Jackass, and the call does not go well. 

‘I’m not doing OK, actually. I’ve only come back to work this week after being signed off for depression.’

‘Oh,’ said Robin, ‘I’m sorry to hear—’

‘I’ve been discussing you with my therapist, as a matter of fact. Yeah. Wasted a lot of time talking about you, and what it feels like to call someone repeatedly, and for them not to even deign to return your calls.’

‘I – don’t know what to say to that.’ 

‘You knew I’m in a pretty fragile place—’

‘Hugh, if I gave you the impression I was interested—’

‘My therapist has been saying I should let it go, but I kept telling her what a nice person you were, but now it turns out you’re just another—BITCH!’ 

What I like about this dialogue is that you can pretty much hear the therapist's voice, trying to tell him, tactfully and probably repeatedly, that there was no sign this Robin person was interested and hadn't he considered...  It is very similar to how we imagined Josh speaking to Kea when he "pretty much half-way admitted" that Kea deserved credit for the cartoon; we know he must have said nothing like that, but was only trying to placate her. Hugh can be thought of as a male version of Kea; no matter what his own mental health issues are, he has to believe they are someone else's fault. It's pretty clearb that it's not that he likes Robin, so much as he hates being wrong. 

Onto the Highgate tour.  I love re-reading this part after my own visit there last summer. Yes, the Inkhearts are annoying, but I can relate to their emotional responses; I felt the same way when I saw the White Horse, Hampton Court Palace and, yes, the pelican grave.  I don't think I was as disruptive, though. 

Speaking of disruption, Robin's tour is interrupted by Pez, who tells her about her cancelled class, and they head back to North Grove prior to having a drink. Robin manages to learn a lot more tonight than if she had gone to class. She spies Phillip Ormond dropping by to have a private word with Pez about Edie, and something of hers Pez supposedly has. She is then treated to a glimpse inside Nils' cluttered study, to see his ugly art, his huge joint and his grandfather's klewang, in which Bram seems unhealthily interested. Bram then shows off his voice-changing device, and offers to show her Pez's art, which he claims is in Josh and Edie's old room. Robin encounters Pez's pornographic take on anomie, a dartboard with Inigo Upcott's picture on it and a dead rat. No wonder she's ready to go have a drink with Pez.

The "snogging with Pez" scene is probably my least favorite in the book. and one I am most likely to skip on re-reading. The most interesting parts to me are

• More evidence that Kea Niven is delusional, given Pez's completely different version of their bedroom encounter.
• His belief that Wally Cardew is Anomie. 
• His statement about Tim Ashcroft viewing lolicon. 

While Robin is snogging Pez, Strike is in a pub trying to play Buffypaws. He gets a report from Nutley, who doesn't know Reddit from Edit, that Kea is hysterical about something people are saying online and blaming Anomie. So what else is new?  Robin, once she finally ditches Pez, stops by Zoe's flat and winds up eavesdropping on her fight with the man there with her, who turns out to be Tim Ashcroft. 

Strike's review of Robin's tape is predictable, if amusing, and it's is probably a good thing she edited out the last hour; that stump of his might have jumped out the window. There is a brief moderator's channel interlude where we learn BorkledDrek is a new moderator, and that Anomie is increasing the pressure on Yasmin to do whatever it is he wants her to do, anytime he wants, without regard to the consequences for her work. 

The next morning, Strike wakes up with his first case of "jumping stump."  You can read my previous essay on what that may mean for his stress levels here.  Strike looks up Kea on Reddit and finds the deleted threatening tweets she had made. Only the sharpest of eyes will catch the name "Darcy" being labeled as a false sexual assault accuser by "John Baldwin." Upon checking out Kea's internet cache, Strike finds an ME support group page, with messages between "Arke" (another name we have seen Kea use on social media) and site owner John, a self-proclaimed promising musician struck down by ME, who also goes by "Billy Shears" and has the initial IJU in his URL Strike does not have much time to think about this because Pat comes running into his office and....

KABOOM!!

We'll pick up there on Thursday!

* but, if you haven't read the brilliant Ryan Murphy/Halvening hypothesis at Strikemyinspirationforeva, you should!