The Ink Black Heart, Chapters 86-93: Bye-bye Charlotte, bye-bye Buffypaws and hello, Mads.

So, Strike and Robin return to London and to the Z Hotel near Denmark Street. Unlike the Marine Hotel of Whitstable, Robin does not enjoy her stay here, though Strike seems to find it an improvement over his drafty attic. Everyone arrives for a team meeting in the hotel cafe, and Midge brings the welcome news that the first Mrs. Jago Ross is going to file for sole custody of the daughters. Again, it seems a bit strange Strike didn't tell Robin that was part of the plan all along; she might have been less resentful of the case if he had just said, "If we can get evidence of abuse, we can both neutralize him and maybe persuade the girls' mother to go back to court to get them back with her full time." 

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.

A few thoughts in the re-read of the great Jago showdown. It is weird to revisit this scene post-TRG and realize this is the last time (that we know of) that Strike will see Charlotte in person. We also realize, given that Charlotte will take Landon as a lover in the next book, that she probably was planning to slip off and see him if her efforts to "re-bewitch" Ross failed, or perhaps even if they had succeeded. Yet, she also professes her love for "Bluey" and would have happily taken him home to bed if he'd have had her. She really is a piece of work. 

This can be considered one of multiple connections to The Ink Black Heart's Book 6 counterpart in Harry Potter: The Half-Blood Prince. Though Merope Gaunt is the physical and socioeconomic polar opposite to Charlotte, she, too, "bewitched" her husband into marrying her, and had his baby. 

Strike certainly gets a mixed bag when he returns to the Z. On the one hand, Robin is there in her cute short PJ's, freshly washed and wholesome, about as un-Charlotte as you can get. On the other hand, there is the very unwelcome news that Anomie, having somehow learned she was covertly talking to Paperwhite on a private channel, has banned her from the game. Now, not only is Buffypaws never going to be a moderator, they've lost their spyhole into Anomie's online activity. It's no wonder they need a good stiff drink. 

It is gratifying to see the relatively good relationship with the Met is continuing. When Robin identified Pez Pierce as the man Wally Cardew mentioned on the tape that was messed up by the cat, I think she should have offered Murphy her drawing: "I don't have a photo, but this is what he looks like. As you can see, he comes by his nickname honestly."  

I can only imagine what a blood pressure meter would have read for Strike during his interview with the "dangerously obtuse" Yasmin Featherhead. My favorite line:

Strike wondered whether Yasmin had lived in a virtual world of anonymous people for so long that probability and plausibility had fled from her reasoning processes. 

I think it is generous of Strike to assume she had reasoning processes in the first place. 

Taken together, these chapters give us one of the biggest indicators that The Ink Black Heart, as its title suggests, is the second nigredo book in the series, following Troubled Blood. Not only has the office been blown up, Strike officially hits rock bottom when his leg breaks down physically more so than we have ever seen in, even to the point of having the same muscles spasms he had when it was newly amputated.  In addition, the Anomie case itself collapses. Not only has Robin lost her all-important access to Drek's Game and her chance to be a moderator, thanks to Yasmin, all of the suspects that they thought they had ruled out are now back in, putting them almost back at square one. Our heroes usually make steady progress in solving their cases; I cannot recall any other that has had a reversal quite like this. It's like they've been "sent back home" in a game of Parcheesi. 

The Running Grave, in contrast, is clearly an albedo, with all the water and baptismal imagery and Strike's own self-purification as he loses weight, stops smoking and (thankfully) shuns "diplacement f*cks" after his misguided brief fling with Bijou. With the many references to silver, it seems likely that The Hallmarked Man with be albedo, as well. This leaves us with two remaining books to close out the rubedo, and fits beautifully with Kathleen O.'s proposed "Extended Play" model proposed on Hogwartsprofessor shortly after TIBH was published. 

Fortunately Robin has a stroke of brilliance when she remembers that Fiendy, thought to be male, likely also received a nude of Paperwhite. Thanks to Rachel's quick Twitter response and Robin's quick googling, she is able to identify the picture as Nichole Crystal, Glasgow art student. She is therefore able to communicate some good news to Strike, which he sorely needs. If only she hadn't had to tell him about that pesky death threat. Obviously, Strike was in a lot of pain and not thinking clearly, because if he wanted Robin out of harm's way, the logical thing to tell her was to take a taxi not back to the Z hotel (a place, if anyone has followed her, might be known to the potential killer) but to Heathrow. Strike could have suggested Robin fly to Glasgow to interview Nicole instead of Barclay. That would have been a great way of keeping her safe without making her feel sidelined. And has it occured to Strike that the threat, diverted from the office phone, might not even be for Robin? For the sake of her partner's leg, Robin sets aside the bargain they made at their Mucky Ricci discussion and agrees to go back into hiding, 

And, just when you think things cannot possibly get any worse for Cormoran Strike, there is someone waiting outside his building for him. This scene is an evil inversion of what Strike himself did for Robin just a few days before, when he turned up to reduce her stress and help her with her move. Madeline has unexpectedly shown up at his place, determined to make him pay for dumping her.  Tune in next time for the knock-down drag out. 

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