To be honest, I am looking forward to shorter posts for this much shorter book!
Here is the schedule:
Strike also has the decency to thank the others for sticking with their business in the face of the terrorist threat. There is a bit of grumbling over the workload that Anomie is still imposing, but Strike, in what turns out to be very bad timing, assures them Robin will be in the moderator's channel soon. He also tells the team he plans to go see Jago Ross that evening, but gives no details.
"Well, if everyone had your powers of observation and quick reactions, Mrs. Chauncey, our jobs would be a hell of a lot easier."
This police officer says it all. Pat shows her awesomeness not only because of her quick thinking with the parcel, but also with her observational skills, which rival the ones Robin showed when she got the severed leg. Robin echoed another CoE scene (Strike with Rona Laing's mother) when she fetched her a glass of medicinal port.
But the fact that she has now faced physical danger alongside them, even though that is not an expected part of being an office manager, puts Pat on a similar footing to Robin, who had her own first life-saving and life-risking experiences in The Silkworm. She also connects with Strike as she shares about the death of her uncle in the Troubles:
"Wrong place, wrong time. Hard to get your head around. Well, I don't need to tell you that."
Regarding Hugh Jacks: If I were Robin, Cousin Katie's invitation to my next wedding would be contingent on proof that she has managed to set Hugh up on a date with one or more of the following: 1) Irene Hicks-- with the meal including lamb bhuna 2) Tempest 3) Yasmin 4) Mazu Wace 5) Matthew's Aunt Sue or 6) Kea, with her mom and Ozzie the Cockatoo as chaperones. I would include Marguerite among the choices but I don't think Robin ever met her.
It is a little surprising to me that Strike was not more proactive when he realized the injured man was likely Halvening member Algiz/ @Gizzard_Al. At the very least, I would have expected him to call Robin and warn her they both might be targets as soon as her name was released. He also could have alerted Murphy and possibly gotten help from him (and MI5's Angela Darwish) to prevent her name from being released at all. It might not have helped, but what did he have to lose?
As with the introduction to the Wally and MJ Show, the introduction to Kosh lines that the boys provide to Strike will also prove useful to the case. Unfortunately, given Strike's break-up with Madeline, the boys will likely never find out how useful they've been. I do love the humor of the moment when Strike replies "I wouldn't count on it" to the question of whether the Kosh strategies work, and Charlotte turns up about a page later. Exhibit A, boys.
This section also includes two very important out-of-town interviews: Robin's with ex-Worm, actor and pedophile Tim Ashcroft and Strike's with Spoonie Kea Niven. What I found fascinating about both interviews are the oblique references to the killer. First, Ashcroft reports inspiration for a character in a recent play from a young man who could only be Gus Upcott:
I actually based some of the character on one of the kids who used to hang around North Garden... you know that kind of hunched-up "don't look at me" teenagers get when they're growing into their bodies?...He had really bad acne, this kid, and he always looked like he was trying to make himself look as small as possible.
Remarkable, Ashcroft's insight into the character also applies to the real Gus Upcott:
He's--well, he's pure evil, really, but in the play you go back and see him bullied and denigrated and..."
"Bullied and denigrated" sounds like life with father Inigo, does it not? This might be one of the few glimmers of sympathy for Gus that we see in this novel.
Despite her irritation, Robin provides a printout on the Brotherhood of Ultima Thule, and she and Strike speculate as to whether this group could be a front group for the Halvening. This leads me to consider a possible link to The Hallmarked Man. The first twitter header clue to the book's contents that we were given was a shot of the Freemason building on Great Queen Street in London. While the Freemasons are doubtlessly a more reputable bunch than the BOUT boys, there are also some dark sides, including associations with police corruption in the UK, and with the Mafia in Italy. Thus, we could have a leapfrogging echo between books 6 and 8 of a fraternal organization with a connection to some sort of past or present criminal enterprise.
