I'm still chugging away, putting together may own initial read-through commentary before reading or listening to anyone elses, but hopefully I will start partaking of others' in a few days. Both Evan Willis and Nick Jeffery have reviews up on Hogwartsprofessor Substack, and I am especially looking forward to theirs.
Spoilers ahead.
I love seeing Strike step in and help Lucy make the hard decisions about Ted. I think that the next book or two will have Strike visiting Ted in his very nice home (too bad that place Mucky Ricci is isn't an option!) and perhaps getting some key information about his childhood. People with Alzheimers are well-known for retaining older memories longer than newer ones, and letting secrets slip as they dwell more and more in the past. Perhaps we'll learn what Leda's letter said when she first left her children in St. Mawes? How Uncle Ted knew they were in Brixton with Shumba and why he threatened to punch the guy in the nose? Or why he and Joan want Cormoran to reconcile with Rokeby.
Is it just me, or are the Edensors not by far the nicest wealthy family we have come across? Not that the Chiswells, Phipps. Campbells or Whittakers set the bar too high, but still... James is a jerk, but Sir Colin seems very decent, willing to open his pockets not just for his son but for his possible granddaughter, her mother and even the sister of Kevin Pirbright. Of course, the fact that he was born working class may help.
The difficulties Robin is having to adjusting to her normal life after the cult are described quite well in Hassan's book. There will be still more of this later when we come to Will and Flora.
I really enjoyed seeing Midge/Barclay/Strike team take down the Franks. It gave us a bit of a glimpse into what type of Red Cap Strike must have been.
It was good to see Strike and Robin get through what could have been a very serious argument about whether to approach Flora Brewster, and his attitude to wealthy versus working class witnesses. They settled it amicably, with each recognizing their respective biases. Cherie's death shows that Robin was right to be worried about the possibility of their harsh questioning tipping a fragile person into suicide.
Harry Potter Echoes
Robin is falsely accused of a crime, just as Harry was in Deathly Hallows.
After Harry's "death" in DH, Voldemort's spells are non-binding; they can do temporary damage but not permanent harm The means the cult uses to retaliate against the agency (accusing Robin of child abuse. defamation via Wikipedia) are similarly ineffective.
Ring Structure
Sir Colin does not eat his food at the Rules, just like Robin doesn't at her LW wedding, prompting the waiter to ask if there was something wrong with it.
We are also seeing a lot of chocolate in this book, just as we did in Troubled Blood. We had the chocolate the team sent Robin to help sustain her in the cult and now we have the chocolate éclairs her parents are feeding her.
Strike has a habit of not picking up his phone when the women in his life need him. This happened when Leonora Quine was arrested in The Silkworm, and when Jack was hospitalized in Lethal White. This time, he ignores Michael Ellacott's call telling him Robin has be taken in for questioning.
Robin says "I love you too," automatically when Murphy says it to her. The last time she did this was in Lethal White, to Matthew The Flobberworm. Contrast this to Strike's actions when Lorelei said it in Lethal White. I don't think this would have happened had Robin not still be suffering from the UHC experience, stressed out about the police interview and intoxicated. This, I think, shows lack of judgement on Murphy's part, compared to Strike's on the night of her escape.
Robin has to pull over because of emotional distress on the road trip to interview Cherie, just as she did when she got the call from Winn in Lethal White. Before, she had a full breakdown, and Strike had to force her to pull over. This time he recognized her distress, asked if she needed to pull over and, after a second's consideration, she agrees and gets through the revelation without breaking down. This is an indication of how much better they understand and listen to each other and a testament to Robin's recovery, as if we needed that after Chapman Farm.
Strike's relative sympathy for Flora compared to Abigail is similar to how he spoke to Izzy about Raff versus Billy; Billy led a much worse life but never hurt anyone and only wanted justice for someone else. He is critical of Flora for not doing the same.
Littlejohn has taken up the same kind of butt-kissing use of "boss" that Morris did in TB. The interview with Cherie and the aftermath of it when Strike and Robin discuss what was likely the truth versus lies reminded me most of the interview with Irene and Janice in TB.
The death of Cherie Gittins echoes that of Rochelle Onifade in Cuckoo's Calling. In both cases, the death occurred immediately after and seemed, at first, to be the direct result of Strike's intense questioning. Carver accused Strike of scaring Rochelle into killing herself; Robin believed that is was happened to Cherie. In both cases, it turns out that another party, the killer, is much more directly responsible for the deaths.
This was a relatively short section. Part 8, which I hope to cover tomorrow, is much longer.
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