Goodreads Review: Cormoran Strike #4 - Lethal White

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It only took me 13 months, but I finally got through Robert Galbraith's fourth installment of the Cormoran Strike series. Lethal White is a lengthy novel, which is why it took me forever to read. As is typical with J.K. Rowling when she gets a series growing, her books get bigger and the storylines more and more congested and even confusing at times. However, the whole crux of the series is Cormoran Strike himself. Dark, twisting, complicated and cut off from all emotion and all people. Except for one.

After Strike brings down the now famed Shacklewell Ripper, he and his agency are thrust into an unexpected spotlight and Strike finds himself a reluctant hero in the eyes of many grateful people. His new celebrity status proves to be good for the business and Strike never leaves a case cold. However, two strange cases are brought to his proverbial doorstep and both deep rooted in scandal.

The first is from Billy Knight, a mentally disturbed young man who believes that he saw a young child murdered many years ago. The second is from the Minister of Culture, Jasper Chiswell, (pronounced chizzle) claiming that he is being blackmailed. At first both cases seem to be unrelated until the name of one man connects the two.

Now Strike and Robin must investigate the lowest dregs to the highest echelons of society reaching all the way to Parliament itself. Their investigation leads them to personal and political betrayal, family loyalty and disloyalty and secrets long hidden and partially remembered.

Meanwhile, Robin is put at the breaking point with her new husband, Matthew. Never a supporter of her work or her relationship with Strike, Matthew's hold on Robin gets more abusive as time goes by. Robin fights her fading feelings for her husband and her growing feelings for Strike. The only man who ever believed in her and her work.

Lethal White is my least favorite of the Strike Series, mainly because it was so long. There was almost too much story and that alone can lose the reader's interest. Lethal White had the potential to be good if only the author streamlined the story a bit more. It definitely cannot measure up to its predecessor, Career of Evil, whose storyline was concise and structured to perfection. Lethal White was all over the place and there seemed to be no focal point because Strike was working two cases, spending most of the book trying to find the connection.

Here's to hoping that the next installment, Troubled Blood, will be stronger and more streamlined. And maybe the the upcoming Strike television episode, Lethal White, will be easier to understand than the book itself.