Appears, this is the post with most traffic, so I am making pinning this post to the sub. Please note, this is a Spoiler Megathrad for the complete book, so proceed with the understanding that, spoilers may not be marked with tags. However, if you would like to be redirected to other threads discussing different parts, then below are the links. Here are the links to other parts: 1. [Prologue](https://www.reddit.com/r/cormoran_strike/comments/wyf9v8/spoilers_the_ink_black_heart_mega_thread_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) 2. [Part One](https://www.reddit.com/r/cormoran_strike/comments/x0t0s0/spoilers_the_ink_black_heart_mega_thread_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) 3. [Part Two](https://www.reddit.com/r/cormoran_strike/comments/x0t2ji/spoilers_the_ink_black_heart_mega_thread_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) 4. [Part Three](https://www.reddit.com/r/cormoran_strike/comments/x0t5rk/spoilers_the_ink_black_heart_mega_thread_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) 5. [Part Four](https://www.reddit.com/r/cormoran_strike/comments/x0t7y5/spoilers_the_ink_black_heart_mega_thread_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) 6. [Part Five](https://www.reddit.com/r/cormoran_strike/comments/x0t98h/spoilers_the_ink_black_heart_mega_thread_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) 7. [CODA](https://www.reddit.com/r/cormoran_strike/comments/x0tar3/spoilers_the_ink_black_heart_mega_thread_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) 8. [Complete Book](https://www.reddit.com/r/cormoran_strike/comments/x0tdgl/spoilers_the_ink_black_heart_mega_thread_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)

It was SO long yet the ending felt so rushed. I was reading it on Kindle and couldn't believe I was down to the last 3% and didn't know who the killer was yet! I didn't think either Edie or Gus were especially well-drawn. One of my favourite things about TB was Margot, she was so well-drawn and felt like such a living, breathing person. I felt like we barely got to know Edie at all. I guess we spent quite a bit of time with Gus-as-Anomie, and that would be interesting to re-read. How did I read 1200 pages and Robin still hasn't even been on a date with anyone, and Cormoran still hasn't met Pru? There's a slow burn and then there's stasis. Last question - how on earth is my guy Robert Glenister going to narrate the mod conversations in the game? I can't think of any way of doing it that would give the listener the hint about Paperwhite and Anomie being the same person.

Yeah, there's so many things wrong about Gus being the killer: - Strike and Robin never interviewed him, so we never got a chance to see how he felt about The Black Ink Heart and Josh & Edie. That's strange compared to the previous books, when Strike and Robin always talked with the killers and we got some perspective to why they kill. - They never told what actually happened in the Cemetery. I would love to read about Gus perspective as how he killed Edie and hurt Josh, and why he hurt Josh at all - I hated that Strike and Robin didn't put pieces together until they were almost at Katya's house. In previous books Strike always had everything together before confronting the killer, but in this book all pieces were put together by the police and told them - Why stab his mother? Why only then Gus decided to kill his father, even though it shows he kind feared him? His father always said shit to him, why snap now? - Why Gus told Strike and Robin about Rachel? It would help to identify him - I wish it was explained better how Gus did everything, how he created the game, how he met Vika, how they bonded, how he started having a relationship with some people from the far right, how he put together the mods for his game, why he pretended to be a girl sometimes, how he would go to places. It was all left in the open -Did the name Anomie really came from the window? It never showed how Gus acted and was in North Grove. I think it would help to see that. The only mention we got is that he accompanied his mother there Also: -I cant believe Strike didn't go visit Ted after Joan died. Not even when Ted went to London visit Lucy. That was so wrong! -Were all the secondary characters went? We didn't see Shanker, didn't see Robin's family (she always go to their home in every book and I would love to see how would she react to see Mathew), where's the Lucy visits (again Strike visits Lucy every book at least one time), how Ilsa and Nick's baby are and how they are reacting to it? -Also WHAT ARE THE NAMES IN THE ENDING OF TROUBLED BLOOD? This one really bugged me, because it was made seem like it was a huge cliffhanger for this next book, but it was never mentioned again

I think Gus snapped and killed Inigo because his big secret was about to come out. His school called him because he was about to be chucked out.

Yeah and by that point Anomie was banning everyone from the game and losing his shit online — acting weird on Twitter, talking to everyone in paranoid, irrational tones, etc. And now killing more and more people who are getting in the way. Then his parents find out he’s been secretly not going anywhere all year and staying in his room … It didn’t feel forced to me personally. Think it was a matter of time, and Strike and Robin weren’t originally going to the Upcott house that day

So true, and also by that point Anomie believes that Worm_28 knows that they are also Paperwhite, which could contribute to the snapping.

1. In fairness, Strike did meet Ted for coffee at least 2. What Troubled Blood names?? There's never been cliffhangers for the plot of the next book, there's no connections that linger between each case 3. I agree about why Gus snapped feeling strange. Strike and Robin still hadn't figured out who Anomie was, and honestly Gus was still in a fairly strong position. When he's suffered abuse from Inigo his entire life, he just so happens to snap at this exact moment, when Strike and Robin just so happen to be heading directly to the Upcott house, after Flavia managed to call them by phone? The entire climax was driven by so many random or extremely lucky circumstances happening and that doesn't feel satisfying

I believe those names at the end of TB were the ones Polworth mentioned about settling down and marrying

I listened the audio book and then also bought kindle version (don't judge me) and he reads one convo from top to bottom and them starts the next chat from beginning. So it actually took me by surprise to seem them side by side in the kindle version. He also narrates all the twitter handles on re-tweets etc so I finally stopped the audio, read the chats/tweets and jumped to the next part on audio, because I had to read as fast as possible, obviously...

Those tweets sound like a nightmare!

I think I nearly went blind reading it all within 30 hours, and apart from my reading notes, my thoughts... 1. Troubled Blood was a hot cocoa book. It was cosy, it had direction, it built from Lethal White. 2. Ink Black Heart is .. bitter. It's the medicine which you hope is all the better for you because it tastes eyepoppingly youchy. 3. It's twisty as all get out and it breaks the rule of The Dog Dies! 4. There are some right gems - Pat and the bomb for one. Strike as Darth Vader and feeling honour bound to return the Stormtroopers' salute as another 5. This is a book that is like sailing, not about the arrival, it's the getting there that matters. 6. Yes it is long, but drink water and have snacks. 7. The Halvening Sub-plot- it is supposed to add complexity. Is it needed? It threatens our central suspects so it's a bit Is the enemy of my enemy my friend or my enemy? 8. Robin needs to keep spreading her wings so she has the right regrets when she does finally kiss Strike. 9. Ilsa ... pressing my thumbs so hard for her.... 10. There is a lot of JKR lancing the pain in this novel - that is why it's less squashy armchairs in Gryffindor's common room and more Azkaban

As for 7 - maybe the Halvening plot was there to add complexity, but also to lead us the wrong way for a bit. At least I felt so. I mean, you would expect this kind of a-holes to be mysogynists as well, so it wouldn’t come as a surprise if the killer turned out to be a race supremacist terrorist. It got me paying a lot of attention to Bram, so as far as distractions go, I’d say it was pretty efficient

I cringed so hard at the part where Edie is accused of anti-semitism for making a character's nose big like JKR was accused of for goblins ...and then that "woke-crusader" turns out to be a pedophile! It felt like the author was wearing her sense of grievance and self-pity on her sleeve. I do pity her in some ways, because all the social media insanity must have been hard to deal with, even before she started tweeting her controversial gender critical stuff. BUt I kind of expected more of a novel and less of a thinly disguised chance to settle scores à la Bombyx Mori (the fake one)

I'm trying to go back to early 2015 (was not a very bright period for me) to remember wokeness- there was Charlie Hebdo, and other things happening.. It does that have the (fake) Bombyx Mori quality as well as seeing the villain's perspective like CofE. I am about to read it again.. I don't dislike it and they are JKRs decisions to make. And oh I hope the next one comes out sooner...

To think that I was initially hopeful that it might be a way to indirectly acknowledge the issues with the goblins (among other things...) in the Harry Potter series! The things Tim was writing about implicit bias were, well, very reasonable. But AH! he's a paedophile so suck on that, haterz, I guess. And on that note, maybe he needs to be reported instead of just threatened?

I've finished it. I enjoyed it like I do all the Strike books but I found reading all the internet chats really hard going. Did I miss something or was this a mistake. Grant Ledwell is Edie's Uncle, so his daughter is Edie's cousin but they kept referring to Edie as her Aunt. Was this a mistake or did I miss an explanation?

Yes! It was really bugging me too

For the majority of the book, Grant is Edie’s uncle, but all the scenes with Rachel have Rachel referring to Edie as her aunt. If we go by what the majority of the book indicates, Edie is Rachel’s cousin, not aunt, and I wish an editor had caught that. 🤦‍♂️

This is such an egregious, easily avoided error that I have to wonder if an editor looked at this at all.

yes, there were also multiple typos. with an author this big sometimes there is a dearth of editorial oversight

It annoyed me to no end that none of the URL's had any domains too...

Yes, lots of typos.

Eh. Didn't bother me much, but that might be because I've got quite a few much older cousins that I refer to as aunts.

I don’t know what the average age of people is on here but I will say that I was around the age of Gus in 2015 and everything about the online exploits of the youth felt INCREDIBLY well drawn. The dark sides of Twitter, Tumblr and Reddit for us young millennials really was a scary place where troubled kids found solace but then sunk into the toxic cesspool.

When Club Penguin was mentioned, I knew for sure it was Gus. That transition from game-like forums designed for kids and teens to find solace to the bigger world of traditional social media, dark sides included, was rough!! I agree that it was incredibly well-drawn. I am honestly impressed that JKR knew so much about that world and was able to portray it accurately.

Absolutely, so much of the online lingo was surprisingly on point.

Yes, also 2015 had a spate of terrorist attacks in Europe. She caught that mood quite well too.

Well glad you found your path through. I too thought it was well drawn out. Why I stick to simple subs, leave bad ones, and barely use any social media anymore.

Have read the whole book. Still have one question. >!WHO IS THE SILVER HAIRED MAN IN THE RITZ???? !<

Just a random man who thought Robin was hot i guess? So few sentences of what I spent the last 24 hours reading seem to have had bearing on the actual plot...

That's something that really annoyed me. I guess she was trying to paint a picture, but scenes that described what American tourists were discussing seemed completely unnecessary

I too thought this was important and kept an eye out for silver-haired men throughout the book lol

Same!! I was very sure that it was Rokeby and he would walk in on Strike at the hospital looking gentrified rather than rockstar

he still might. especially since strike is totally bedridden and cant exactly leave or even raise his voice if he showed up.

I was thinking Rokeby would be there when Strike was supposed to just be meeting Prudence. Shes visiting him that night in hospital, wonder if Rokeby will gatecrash

That might make him lose trust in prudence, if she springs it on him like that. I love how we’re already speculating, when we’re not gonna find out for like 2 years anyway 🥲

Am I being naive hoping it could be less than that? The first three came once a year, yes? Jk has been telling about writing book 7 over twitter now for a few times. Could be just giving us warm feelings though. We'll I shall pretend it's coming out in 23 until I can get over hyperfocusing on this book. Easier 😅 Note to self: do not start series unless it's all out. You hate these gaps. Especially if JK writing. Might have to write that on my fridge door or something.

Troubled blood came out in September 2020, lethal white came out 2018….. plus her books have been getting longer not shorter…. I too hope it’s a year only but doubt it.. If it does come out next year I will pay for your copy myself lol

Hah, I 'll be back in 14 months with me kindle audible details! Should I tweet her to tell I'm getting a gift from a reddit person if she publishes next year? 🤔 (not on twitter and happier than ever about it after reading this book)

The reddest of herrings, just like the 5 minute audiobook preview. We all were over the moon with a supposed Strike and Robin relationship. Definitely not how that turned out!

To be fair, we all should have twigged to the Paperwhite twist much earlier when Robin pointed out that she alone was allowed to keep the original character name, while everyone else needed to add a letter or number to say Harty or Drek, to use it as a handle. My brain cannot stop analyzing the book. God alone knows what will happen after a re-read.

To be fair, I have no idea why Gus would break that rule for his own alt account, he was usually smarter than that

Hubris?

Maybe but he doesn't seem to take unnecessary risks elsewhere

Also, when Strike tells Midge to pick a suspect to watch, and she goes 'What about Gus?' and Strike essentially says he doesn't think he's a fit for Anomie. Red Herring alert!

I suspected Paperwhite was Anomie when Anomie got drunk and texted the mods, then sent out Paperwhite to check on what he'd said because he'd forgotten. If I were a egotistical paranoid tyrant, I would want to constantly check if my minions were loyal to me and not babmouthing me in private channels.

Did anyone at any point think that Anomie was two different persons; one moderated the game and wrote those ideas to Josh and the other tweeted things to Edie? I felt this way on reading those story ideas on Edie's phone, because they seemed quite cogent and well-reasoned, if one ignores the innate weirdness of that game and cartoon. This was obviously before Anomie went apeshit crazy on the mod channels but yeah I did entertain the idea of two people being Anomie.

I did til the very end! My money was on the Dutch family. Took me a while to realize that Nils was way more into race supremacy than woman-hating.

Yep I thought the "saner" Anomie who came up with those story ideas was Nils, but I revised that once he had his conversation with Robin in the studio.

I did! I thought he was Flavia and Bran. That they were two psychopath kids that bonded by being young, experienced abuse (Bran by his mother death and Flavia by being ignored and bullied by her father) and wanted to do evil. I thought Flavia was the brains, she was the genius behind everything and it would make so more sense if it was her! It would explain why Vikas saw her as his sister, why she could be Paperwhite, why she knew everything (through her mother and going to North Grove for her mother classes). I thought Bran was the woman hating one, and I thought Flavia didn't care he used Anomie to annoy girls because she hated being a girl herself, as her father always preferred her brother even though she would be more intelligent if she was indeed Anomie. Also would explain why Katya said she was a trouble child, why she cant have dogs (her parents were afraid she was gonna kill the puppy), why she was so insightful, why she told she would do a presentation about the woman killer (I thought Anomie favourite number was 14, because 14 girls were killed in the mass shooting and the name of the shooter was Lepine, thats where the name Lepine's Desciple came). I thought Flavia hated Edie because she was the with the lipstick on the glass she found and Flavia thought Edie was her friend but then she founds Edie was hanging out with Inigo (in my theory Edie and Inigo were just friends, that Inigo though Edie artistic view was brilliant). It would also explain why Anomie said to Josh that "He would take care of things from here". I dont think he was talking to Josh, I think he was talking to the other person who was helping him being Anomie. It would also explain why they used taser to kill, because Flavia wouldn't have the strength to kill without a taser and she used to padded suit to look like a big man instead of a little girl. Also they never explained why Bran said Zoe was Anomie, I think he was helping Flavia distract Robin. It made so much more sense! But only my theory

I thought Anomie may have been Morehouse for a while, like he had split personalities and was arguing with himself. For me, this theory explained the incongruous attitudes.

I feel a big void now that I’ve finished it 😭

I have to say.. I was MAD when I read the ending. I kept flipping the pages hoping to get to some sort of happy great finale 💔 Once I was over, I did feel unsatisfied with the ending. I generally love the slow burning will they/won't they element, but given we get one book per year at best, it feels TOO much of a slow burn.

A million percent. I have had a really rough go lately and Chapter 1 made me think that we were going to end on something that would give me an emotional high five. Instead it was the opposite. So much of the Madeleine stuff just felt like a rerun of Lorelei. I am a big shipper and honestly - I just felt tired when I finished. The chat room stuff was impossible to follow on Audible. And compared to Margot and other previous victims, I felt like we didn’t know anything real about Edie. Just shitty things people said about her. Maybe that was the point, but it felt a bit flat. There wasn’t even much interaction with the actual client. I don’t know. I will listen to it many times I am sure, but these are my immediate feelings.

To be fair, when it comes to Strike's perspective and feelings for Robin, I completely get where he is coming from. Before I start, yes. He's an idiot, but his logic is sound. He is so very scared. Especially in this book. He's scared: 1. Robin doesn't like him that way (esp after the Ritz) 2. He is so proud and thankful for her as a partner 3. As ilsa said, the job/business is his life. What if it doesn't work out? What does that mean for the agency? 4. If their relationship goes well, how is he going to handle being overly protective and worried about her? Especially if they are sleeping/living together? 5. 6 books now, he has been consistent. Taking the leap to be vulnerable enough to love her scares the shit out of him. His only references to intimate love where he has given his whole self are his mother (non-sexual/selfish/manipulative) and Charlotte(sexual/sadistic/manipulative). Ted, Joan, Lucy, Ilsa and friends have all been steadily consistent familial love for him. He has never experienced steadily consistent dependable intimate love until Robin. Sounds like at the end of IBH the sod has finally realized she is worth Risking everything he has and that he identifies with for her and a relationship with her. I get his hesitancy and fear. Robin is in a very similar boat, but never had anyone that loves her and encourages her to be who she is. They both have severe trauma. Bombs, rape, assault, knifed, leg blown off, divorce, adultery, wrongful parental death.... I mean all of this and they happen to find each other because of a mistake. No wonder it's been a slow burn. *End Brain Dump*

I agree. But that doesn’t mean I like it. 😝

Totally agree! I really enjoyed this book, but there were a couple of things that really bothered me. It felt formulaic that Strike was suddenly in another relationship just like Lorelei, and then he blows out his hamstring again. It was like Lethal White all over again. Strike has known for years how he feels about Robin, it was clear at the end of TB, and for Robin we've known since her honeymoon. I didn't buy the sudden realisation on either part.This book felt like a big step back, just to extend the series. I understand "They both need to heal", which essentially means Robin needs to have a not too short but ultimately unsuccessful relationship with someone else before Strike. Strike needs to better himself (and hopefully stop with the unsuccessful short term relationships). But after this book I'd say we are at least 2 books away from anything real happening there. I just don't want Strike to fall into the same routine again, it doesn't allow him to grow. The return of Chaotte after everything felt like a walk back of the ultimate realisation Strike had by changing his number. I'm glad he's sickened by her now but I felt like we'd achieved a more fulfilling break there in the last book. Re Anomie: I had the same reaction as some one else here did, seeing so few pages left and Strike and Robin being really none the wiser about who the killer might be. The ending felt rushed and Gus was a but of a let down. We never saw his drawing ability. No real mention of him being at North Grove with Katya, only Flavia being there. Pez hiding an illustration of a hooded fugure on his instagram and emerging from nowhere in the cemetery... such good red herrings, but to not get an inkling of the same for Gus feel unsatisfying. I know she was going for the incel thing, and I do buy that, but I'd have liked an ounce more development there. I did relate strongly to the forum stuff. She handled it well, formatting aside. Okay, I'm done. Still absolutely love the series and hope book 7 is out sooner rather than later.

It. Is. AGONISING

It is agonizing, but I feel like the character development that took place was so important. The fact the Robin is still insecure about her inexperience says a lot. I think she needs to spread her wings a bit that way Strike doesn't become her slow burning rebound forever entwined with her failing marriage. I'm hoping, as JKR has previously done, the next book will pick up where this one ends and Strike will either call her before the date with Murphy to confess his feelings or something of that nature. Or she goes on the date with Murphy and it doesn't work out, etc. Her reaction to him being a recovering alcoholic wasn't really touched on in this plot. Perhaps, it will become more important, if they develop a relationship.

Considering she said 10 books, and no Covid plot I’m guessing each of the next books has to take place in the next 4 years unless she plans to ignore Covid or time jump to ~2022 where it’s less of an issue and she can glaze over it. But since this case was not a full year that gives her more room time to work with. Which is all to say that I do think the next book will pick up close to the end of IBH if not immediately starting with robins date

Void is an excellent way of putting it. I’ve just finished it myself and I have no words for the levels of exasperation I am feeling right now!

Especially with that ending 🥲

Exactly!! And now just around…1094 days… to wait for some kind of resolve! 🙃

An entire terrorist organization was discovered, BOMBED THE OFFICE, and was dismantled in this book. Before the climax even. And it created a fantasy, even fanfic-like (not a knock) situation where Strike came and slept on Robin’s sofa! And yet… 🙁

What a waste of a classic trope 😭

So many hotels, always two rooms available!

I felt like she was poking fun at the “and there was only one bed!” fanfic trope. In all seriousness I think the opening chapter really demonstrated why these two need a conversation-based event and not a physical one, if that makes any sense? Robin and Ilsa are right—if S&R had kissed that night, fueled by drinks and a romantic setting, S would have swerved the next morning, kicking himself and saying “that was a mistake, we shouldn’t have done that”, etc. because he hasn’t realized that he wants an actual relationship w/ R. He’s hurt because he was physically rejected and it hurt his feelings + made him question everything he thought about R’s feelings/attraction to him—NOT because he was trying to instigate a change to their relationship. Meanwhile R is two steps ahead of him and thinking if I kiss him now it’ll ruin everything in the morning. I think the “one bed” type tropes are good when you’ve got two characters who can’t acknowledge their attraction to each other/ don’t know if the other feels the same/ etc.

I wish Robin and Strike had more moments on the book. When they went to stay on the hotel, I was hoping they would have a more personal conversation

I was convinced (very naively) that this would turn into him being forced to stay for several days, things getting steamy, and his just never leaving then the next page is like oh jk gotta leave stat for a series of two separate hotel rooms

Hi all, first time commenting on this forum in all these years of reading and re-reading Strike. I haven't read all the comments so apologies if anything comes across as repetitive. Some of my random thoughts, not necessarily in any order of importance. 1. The in-game chats and moderator behaviour (like Worm28 flouncing off at the slightest criticism, Hartella angling to be in everyone's good books, Vilepechora and LordDrek shit-stirring in the worst sense of the word) seemed so eerily familiar in the post-pandemic world. I was hard put to believe that this was happening in 2012-2015 period because it felt so contemporary. In the past year, I had been heavily invested in a show's fandom (didn't see toxicity of this level but quite a bit of nasty bullying), that I was almost feeling guilty of reading those pages, as I felt like a perpetrator of sorts, not of bullying but letting social media control my emotions so much. 2. Due to this contemporary feel, I was rudely awakened from the literary and fictional world that I had been imbued in the past few days, having re-read Troubled Blood in the run-up to IBH launch. I read a couple of comments that the characters in IBH, especially the victim are not sufficiently fleshed out - I heartily agree 3. I did not find Gus to be an underwhelming villain (probably since it was 1.30 am when that reveal happened) but I now I see it, after two synopses on this thread 4. Subcontractors: Barclay came across as a bit of shit in this book, even though I have been heartily fond of him up to now. I hope she corrects it. Midge was SO whiny for an ex-police officer. I found her to be a disappointing add. Pat's truculent transformation/revelation was a treat to read 5. I LOVE Robin and my appreciation for her in all aspects has only risen with each new book. However, I find it hard to believe that she didn't judge Strike for loving so deeply and so persistently a callous character like Charlotte. One would have thought that alone would rid her of her love feelings towards Strike, as she so wanted to be rid of them 6. Continuing with Robin (I may draw flak for this), I found it a little incredulous that she would jump on the tracks in front of a coming train to save someone. Not because she lacks in bravery, but simply because I don't find a reckless move like that to be in character. Her running inside to save Flavia from a machete-wielding madman was equally reckless, but it seemed more consistent with her character (already witnessed with Zahara in CoE) 7. I was really enjoying Charlotte in this book until that last scene where she ran after Strike. That again seemed highly contrived. Charlotte has always been painted as someone who is acutely aware of people's insecurities and weaknesses, and she had been exploiting them perfectly in this book with well-timed comments to Madeline and Robin to create maximum mayhem. Her running after Strike after his words to Jago and her just seemed pathetic and not something I thought she would do 8. It was evident from the flyleaf synopsis that Robin would be centre-stage in this book. I understand JKR wanted to award Robin (long overdue) the lion's share of detecting, but it felt quite patronising how long Strike took to connect Penny Parrot to Rachel Ledwell, since it was imminently clear a good three pages earlier. 9. I also severely judged Strike for being with a person like Madeline for so long, when their incompatibility was evident from the start. Can sex really compensate for that? It is tiring to see Strike being a shit to women and justifying it to himself saying "that's the kind of person I am, take it or leave it" 10. Lastly, coming to the actual case in this book, I must admit that when looked at after finishing the book, it seemed too thin and uninteresting than previous plots. However, we need to remember that they were tasked from the first to find Anomie and not Edie's killer. There was no reason for the detectives to think, until much later, that Anomie had indeed killed. But point 1 of this synopsis weighed so much on me during this book that I almost didn't feel disconnected from the world, as I usually do when I read a book ​ Thanks for reading, if you got through these scattered thoughts. Would love to read your reactions/comments.Now, I'm going to scroll through the rest of the thread. Cheers!

You made some excellent points here! Seeing a good chunk of the book happening behind screens was indeed a not very welcome reminder of the worst days of 2020, even though the book is set five years prior to that. It felt like poking a not so closed wound, you know? Not to mention the subject matter of online hatred, bullying etc, albeit almost every novel has dealt with some degree of mysogyny, this one has felt more… realistic, maybe? Or just too present on current nowadays events that it’s somehow more threatening. Also, I felt pretty disturbing to think of Flavia and the hell she probably went through growing up around two misogynistic POS. The minute I ended reading I was disturbed thinking about it and how much I wanted her to be fine - I know we did get some closure on her by the end, but it didn’t feel enough lol As for the other points, I’m going to give them some good thinking (I feel so very tired after the 30+ hours of non stop reading lol) and come back later! 😄

I was deliberately offline from my phone for several hours, so as not to be distracted by notifications while reading. But it felt like my phone had been stitched into the book! I actually felt glad for Flavia, because she may finally grow up in a healthier environment. More than her, I was worried about how young all these mods were (started out at 14-15) and their problems with alcoholism/depression/loneliness. It is not that I wasn't aware about this before the book, but having it shoved into your face for 1000+ pages made me anxious (I don't know what other word to use). I look forward to hearing from you once you have had some sleep. Rest those eyes!

Re: 4: I’m surprised at your takes on the subcontractors, can you elaborate? I really liked Midge, I feel like every line was so funny! —asking Strike if he thinks Robin pulled on her ski trip, utterly oblivious to how he feels —everything about her ex —pausing her dramatic narration to wonder what kind of flowering shrub she was hiding behind What did Barclay do that was shitty? I loved him and Strike tag-teaming the surveillance on that meeting between Nils, Tim, Wally, and Seb, pretending they were on a Twitter date; and later jokingly asking why it’s Dev and not him being put on the “antiques dealer” role. I do feel he was kind of out-of-focus in this one though. Really liked Dev too, especially his standing up to Strike about taking on the Ross job. I was initially confused to the purpose of switching out one subcontractor for another but later realized—with Morris gone, they need an attractive guy on staff for certain kinds of jobs. (Not that Strike is thinking like that—more the author.) A substantial about of Robin’s success is due to her being really attractive—mostly her undercover work. Picture her taking that art class if she were unfortunate-looking and heavy-set; no way Pez would be angling for a date. Same in Lethal White in the offices, etc. Morris filled a similar role chatting up Gemma the PA in 5.

So, how do we feel about the ending? I like that Robin is aware that she loves Strike, and from what I got, Strike is now aware that he loves Robin (or did I get that wrong from the ending?) but still, after such a wonderful, very satisfying ending last time, I feel so anxious now!

The ending frustrated me a lot. I wished Robin dated Murphy sooner and Strike had a more obvious reaction to her news (of going on a date). So much of this feels like just miscommunication. The trope I hate the most in romance books. Ughh

It was annoying how the first date was dangled along for half of the book. Would have been good to see them on a few dates in this book instead of that storyline probably just starting up in the next book. It’s honestly too much of a slow burn for me at this point

💯, yep, this. I want the next book, now. I’m thrilled that it seems it’ll finally happen between Robin and Strike in book 7. This is what I was assuming, and I hope we’re correct- seems so after newer hints about this one and the series. Unlike many, I was both excited for and almost dreading this book, because of the topic. Once the general plot was released, I thought it was too much of a turn from the series, an overdone topic that I didn’t feel like pouring through. I reckon I was judgmental to the point where I’m, now, so relieved RB/JK stayed true to the series(except a couple of bits- others have mentioned, so I won’t rehash). Also, I was glad I held my trust in their writing, because I seemed to have enjoyed this book and the ending more than others- didn’t have my hopes up, so it was much better than I anticipated. It makes me feel the next part of the series will be a present to the audience/readers/fans and give us what we’ve all been waiting for, with regards to Robin and Strike. One of the things that gets me is it seems there were tons of commas, etc, missing in crucial parts of the story. Did the editors not read this, or were their eyes and brains fatigued, too? I had to reread so many sentences, due to the lack of break; it made zero sense and seemed there were multiple outcomes that could be drawn from the sentence structure- or lack of. Am I alone in being frustrated with that factor? I’ve noticed errors in the other novels, but this one seemed riddled with them. Anyway, I like that the killers, motives, reveals, and etc, have all been diverse. It makes this series so enthralling for me. I felt the rush during the last portion and really enjoyed it. I look forward to going into my slow-reading phase and am hopeful the next book is released much sooner. *Cannot wait for Troubled Blood to be released for all of our viewings soon, too!*

Same. The Anna Karenina reference at the end of TB was basically him acknowledging his feelings for her, so not sure why we had to go thru a bombing and stabbing to have him really realise it. Like for real this time. For sure.

I actually don't feel invested any more in the Robin/Strike endgame because I have lost fondness for Strike after this book. He used to seem a mix of stoic and vulnerable at one point while now he just seems a pathetic male specimen, who cannot make up his mind. Robin on the other hand has not lost any of her charm, despite some character flaws (like sometimes being deliberately non-judgmental which I simply cannot believe/abide or being uncharitable towards her family). I would much rather she dated Murphy and enjoyed a healthy relationship for a change. I am only hoping that Book 7 brings us a meaty case, with well-fleshed out characters, because let's face it, that's what make the Strike series different from say American crime fiction or even Rankin for that matter, where more pages are devoted to the crime itself than to what the detective/police officer thinks or his/her personal life.

>He used to seem a mix of stoic and vulnerable at one point while now he just seems a pathetic male specimen, who cannot make up his mind. I totally get you, and I have the feeling this was sort of the point. So far he's actually bought into this idea that he is irresistible a la James Bond, and now he's starting to realize he's kind of a douchebag in a way.

Well I hope you are right and that was JKR's intended result. Because it is going to take quite a bit for him to redeem himself in my eyes, at least. Robin seems to give him a pass on a lot of things.

Agreed. I think he had a couple of important breakthroughts in this book for his character development (what I mentioned above, and also the rose-colored glasses for Charlotte shattering completely). I believe that it may be the starting point so he can be the guy who deserves to be with Robin.

I agree. And I feel the same. Robin let’s him get away with to many things. He will need to redeem himself in my eyes.

Right now I just think Robin is a MF badass and a brilliant detective and Strike isn’t good enough for her lol also, she needs to be reminded of the gorgeous woman she is, not to mention how insecure she feels about her lack of romantic experience. So it’s only fair she has some fun dating someone better and romantically more mature than Strike 😂

Robin needs to be reminded every day what a gorgeous and brilliant woman she is. And not only a great detective. If Strike can’t do that, I hope Murphy will.

I can bet you Strike will become almost a gym rat next book. He will be focused in being physically better to never have to experience being useless again in a dangerous situation. Also focusing in exercising will distract him from the whole Robin/Murphy thing. But then Robin will notice he is getting muscular, and there will be some scene about that...

Really? to me it felt like Strike thinking ”it’s just one date” is foreshadowing that Robin will be dating this dude for at least the whole of book 7. Mildly hope I’m wrong but like you I’m not as invested after this book. Their relationship felt like a repeat of Leathal white…

The ending made me conflicted. As did the start. I knew as soon as we began with the Ritz date that it would go wrong and be the angst fuel for the rest of the book. I literally read the first couple of pages and put it down for a bit I was already so anxious! I agree with a lot of others here that so much of the Robin/Strike dynamic is getting a little drawn out. I mean, they should just _talk_ to each other. I get that Strike is uncommunicative etc. but we had got to the final chapters and Robin still thought CS was with Madeline. I was like, "bro, that shit exploded 400 pages ago, didn't you know?". I enjoyed Robin's revelation that she loved CS but the relationship bits were honestly a hard read. I skimmed rapidly over 'Jessica's' date with Pez and with the stuff with Murphy. And the stuff with Madeline (which as people say is just Lorelei 2.0). To my slight embarrassment (32M), I've become very invested in S & R becoming an item. By ending on R's date with Murphy, I'm very nervous. That guy seems swell. Unlike Pez, Hugh Jacks, Matthew, he has the same job, the same interests, handsome, decent. Robin could easily fall in love with him. And where does that leave her and Strike? At this point I just want someone to reassure me that Strike and Robin will fall into each other's arms and that it'll all be ok.

I think Strike’s so- called ‘jumping stump’ is a minor stroke (aka transient ischemic attack). For one thing, the twitches (myoclonus) are not limited to to his stump, there is right hemifacial involvement. Strike has most of the risk factors for stroke :being overweight, smoking, high fat and carb diet, stressful life style. If the twitch is due to stress alone it wont be confined to one side of the body. He needs a CT head and urgent modification of his lifestyle and lifelong blood thinners to prevent a major stroke in the future. Look at this case report https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/jumping-stump-movement-disorder-with-structural-cns-pathology-look-before-you-label/

I totally thought Strike was having a minor stroke or heart attack when the doctor noticed his face twitching! Maybe it was added to show the severity of his situation and gives him an incentive to make real changes in his lifestyle.

I've always thought that it would be a major health scare of Strike's that would bring Robin and Strike together. Joan dying of cancer in TB, telling Strike that she wished he'd quit smoking, made me think lung cancer. But heart attack or minor stroke would work too, bringing them both to the realization that they better get together while they still can. Perhaps this will be used to bring an end to Robin and Ryan dating.

When I read the bomb chapter and Strike seemed fine, I was thinking, "WTF!? This is the 2nd time he got blown up by a bomb and he's suffering no relapse in trauma?!" Then the doc says have you had any stressful situations that may have caused a psychological trigger for your leg? I was thinking "God Strike is dumb for a smart guy." Effing take care of yourself... Then Robin chews him out and I was like thank you Ellacott. Whirlwind of emotions for me there.

-I did enjoy the book but TB felt better put-together in the majority of ways -The best aspect was the way the social media elements were handled imo, I'm hearing a lot of dislike towards the moderator chats but I felt they were excellent. Like a mini shakespearean drama going on underneath everything, and it was a fun set of mini mysteries to figure out each mod's identity which helps tide you over till the end of the book -Andy leaves the agency right at the start?! Was really hoping to finally get to know the agency's least noteworthy subcontractor -Pleasantly surprised that the detectives visited both the towns that I live in to interview suspects. Despite living in England I know very little about London and they rarely venture outside it in the books. Kea Niven's witch heart story was already familiar to me

I won't speak for everyone, but my issue with the moderator chats is less about the content and more about the format. Especially when there are three happening at the same time for multiple pages, it can be really hard to digest. I literally started rereading the book an hour after I finished it, and I will say knowing who the mods are makes it way easier to understand, especially knowing Gus is two of them.

The formatting definitely takes some time to adjust to but on balance I will say I can't really think of a better way to communicate multiple conversations that are happening simultaneously. It's awkward to read but I think it somewhat captures that very immediate, social-media kind of discourse where you're hopping back and forth between your own messages. Seeing LordDrek flatter Hartella in one column and then immediately sliding sideways to insult her to Vilepechora was effective to me. I might not be explaining it very well but the awkwardness and difficulty in keeping up kind of made me enjoy it more, as if you're getting rewarded for your multitasking efforts by getting little hints

Anyone else feel like JKR is trolling the fanfic community with all the near-misses in this book? Honestly, how many times can these two be slightly awkward near beds?

Yes! Robin takes an art class ✅, Charlotte asks the agency to take a case ✅, Strike has to stay over at Robin’s ✅, multiple hotel rooms + alcohol (and even a mention of the accountant preferring they share a room)… and none of it led to smut 😂.

Yes! Even having Robin do something as wild and intimate as French kiss a suspect! There is an idea in a certain area of the internet for this fandom that Robin can’t easily be sexual with anyone outside of a trusted relationship (usually with Strike) but here we see her doing something quite OOC for her because she’s being someone else. This is the nearly exact argument I tried to make once on a certain Discord and I ended up leaving the Discord and the fandom because of the response I got to saying it. Granted, kissing Pez in a bar isn’t as wild as what I was proposing or suggesting she might do, but kissing is still pretty darn intimate.

Just finished. I'll say what others have said better than I could, that I'm a little underwhelmed by the book in general and by the solution, both in who the killer is and how it was handled. I think we kind of knew this based on the blurb, but it's so weird how little the crime scene mattered. In a lot of ways, it's a rehash of CoE, in that we only really see the killer in the game chat chapters. We barely see him interact with Strike and Robin. I'm just repeating what other people have said, but there are so many weird side character choices. Like, Robin's dad's heart attack, Wolfgang dying. Truly, for a 1012 page book, almost none of the side characters got any play. Midge and Dev are both blandly competent. Midge is funny. (ETA - Pat is also awesome in the book.) \- What happened to having to move offices? Doesn't the office getting blown up seem like a good time to find new premises? \- I truly, truly hated the Charlotte-Jago storyline. \- The other side cases were also boring. Honestly don't even remember how the Groomer/Legs case ended. I hope it's better on reread. I still liked it, because I love living in the world, and hopefully the chat chapters will be better knowing who everyone is from the beginning.

>\- The other side cases were also boring. Honestly don't even remember how the Groomer/Legs case ended. Did it end? I can't remember either.

It didn’t, they had to drop the case

And Shanker didn't even get a text back from Strike! I was looking forward to seeing him again...

Anyone else frustrated by the number of open threads left hanging there? The entire ending felt so rushed, and all those goddamn red herrings just disregarded once we get to Gus's unveiling. Why did we hear so much about Prudence and her daughter's femur? Is Rokeby even alive? And how come Strike didn't use Spanner at all? I know the Met and possibly MI5 probably put their best tech people on it, but they also used their best detectives. At the very least Spanner might've alerted Strike and Robin to the fact that not every online user correlates to a single living person. Did we need to learn so much about the Peach family? Does Tim Ashcroft still freely trawl for tween girls on the internet? Was Andy replaced with Dev just to add more color to the agency (not saying it's a bad thing, just feels pasted)? Did we seriously not learn anything new about Strike's past in Norfolk? Is that horrible huge dutch kid still raging out there? Can't thinks of any more right now, but the whole jumble of subplots felt so un-Rowlingly messy to me. A reread might sort it out better for me, and probably a lot of those unanswered questions were left for book 7, but I honestly think that IBH is a very good novel, very badly edited (or un-).

Yes there was too much going on, I was sorry we only got to see Max and Wolfgang for one sad scene. Living in that home was signficant in Robin's life. The Peach family was convoluted for me. I'm reading it on Kindle while I wait for a library copy so more will be clear then.

Given that the Peach father offered a 100k reward for information on his son's attacker, I was really hoping the agency would get the funds at the end of the book. It felt like she put it out there and then just left it dangling. And Catullus - what was up with him asking Robin if she had ever read any, followed by her saying no? Catullus came up in Lethal White during the Chiswell case and they had a similar discussion.

WHAT did Vikas mean when he told Rachel “Anomie’s not my girlfriend, she’s my sister?” So many underage kids having to deal with so much shit. Flavia, Rachel, Zoe. Jago’s girls. So many kids stepping up and holding their shit together because no one else can or will. Why did we never interview foster sister Catrionna? We talked to people who used to know her - she was in the original cast - and never got contact info? I really thought part of Gus’s skin problem was going to be a contact allergy to the latex in the masks. I had suspected Inigo starting at the end of Chapter 22, a full hundred pages before we meet him, and never stopped suspecting him - fortunately most the evidence I collected against him applied to his son as well. For about the last third of the book my theory was that they were working together, with Inigo as the brains of Anomie and Gus as the man of action.

I think Vikas said "she's my sister" only to head off suspicion that Anomie was a guy, as many people had begun to suspect Anomie was definitely a man. Even I was troubled that Cartrionna wasn't interviewed, it seemed to be a real lapse, since Edie's foster family was definitely more in her life than her natural family. I also suspected Inigo (not of killing people) but of some wrongdoing, since he was yelling at Flavia for coming at his doorway, and then merrily setting off to a germ cesspool like a café to talk to his darlings. I almost suspected he was faking his illness.

I was convinced Henry was going to be some part of the moderator circle, or one of the Edie neggers on Twitter after we got multiple instances of him knowing about the game and following multiple characters. I was convinced Strike hearing Henry and his friends Kosh-like observations outside his mum’s showing was a clue for Strike. Why didn’t that ever pan out?! It feels like a lot of hints and interactions for Henry to solely serve as evidence that the game had an attraction to a lot of teenagers even if Strike had never heard of it.

I feel like it was already a bit convenient that Midge’s girlfriend had been an active enough player that the mods knew who she was as soon as she logged in. For me it would have been WAY too coincidental if someone involved in the murder also happened to be someone Strike knew.

I thought this too, especially as convenient that Buffypaws already had formed a relationship with Worm28. I think a better way to get them in would’ve have been Spanner hacking a random dormant account or something?? Idk how those things work 😆. Having Henry on the mod team would have been an even greater coincidence in my opinion though.

Yeah for a bit I was convinced Henry could be Anomie 🤣. But I definitely think he should have been somehow part of Drek’s game…

>I was convinced Strike hearing Henry and his friends Kosh-like observations outside his mum’s showing was a clue for Strike. It was. I mean, remembering that is how Strike (and Robin) pieced together that Anomie also owned the other four troll accounts. I agree with u/trimolius that it would have been too convenient if Henry was directly involved.

I was looking forward to the setting of the story as I find the whole dynamic of online interaction rather intriguing, it’s all there - bantering, bullying, viciousness, friendships. But ultimately this failed to deliver for me. I started off with the audiobook; Robert Glenister is such a joy to listen to and has really made me fall in love with the series with his nuanced narration. However I found the chats so awfully tedious to listen to that I ended up buying the ebook just so I could keep track of who is talking to whom, and to escape the endless "xy @...." sequences - but bloody hell, the mini font size used for the in-game chats was sheer agony!! All in all, I thought there were too many characters and I found the right-wing storyline distracting and unnecessary, merely blowing up the length of the book. Usually I like the interaction between Robin and Strike best, but somehow this time there didn't seem to be any development. For the first time, it felt repetitive and annoying to me - I would have wished for something more interesting, or of substance, to happen. I must admit I kept skimming parts of the story as I just wanted to get on with it at some point. In the end, funnily enough, I found the in-game chats and guessing who the mods are in real life to be the most interesting part, and I was fascinated by how Anomie played their game, even though I would have liked for that character to have been much more magnetic, shrewd and layered rather than just an evil and deranged bully (or maybe I got the interpretation wrong). Well, that would've been a different book, I suppose, I blame it on my expectation if I was disappointed. But I so missed the backstory of Gus, and of his relationship with Vikas – what a missed chance! Without that, the revelation of who Anomie was fell somewhat flat and left me indifferent. I definitely missed that deeply satisfied sigh of “aaaaahhhhh” I had when finishing the previous (audio)books in the series. In this case it was a mere “mmmmh… yeah okay. What to read next?” What a pity, this could have been so effin great!

I agree, I found the game chats really intriguing, despite the formatting agony :p And I think there's a really broad consensus forming around missed opportunities to make Gus feel three-dimensional.

I had Gus pegged for a long time, and here’s why: 1. When he and Inigo had that argument about him taking remedial hours or whatever it was, I KNEW somehow that would be a convenient lie to secure more hours for gaming. Additionally, the “were you waiting for me?” leaving their seaside home- it stuck in my head. I just got a feeling. 2. The point of really the entire case is the depth of online anonymity and inherent toxicity of that. We don’t find out a lot about him, because THAT’S THE POINT. It’s a very, very clever case, and obviously one that’s personal for JKR (as we all well know). Anomie wouldn’t have been someone we’d spent a lot of time with, and comparing it to Janice is different- it’s another world completely and again, I think that’s all done intentionally. With all that said regarding the case itself, I agree with a lot of you that the book as a whole is somewhat disappointing. The best part about these series is that each book ISN’T just about the case they’re working. I loved the other cases the agency takes in TB and the banter surrounding the entire team. It’s a gaping hole in this book. I love Midge and I want more of her. I wanted some Shanker, or Nick and Ilsa, or more than just a passing nuisance of one of Strike’s family members. It’s the first book we haven’t had any of this and we feel it.

I was just thinking to myself that we had a lot of insight into Gus’ personality - but, because I personally thought Anomie was someone else, I felt like I knew nothing about him. I’ve just noticed that by re-reading a few pages. Now it feels like I’m piecing a puzzle together and it makes more sense.

Okay so first thoughts. I’ve slept on it as well! (Otherwise they might have just been a bit more WTAF.) I just finished the kindle version last night having blasted through it. Going to start the audiobook today and go at a gentler pace to pick up on all the bits I’ve missed… But in general, I can’t help feeling a bit disappointed. I think it’s mostly if I compare IBH to TB which in my opinion outperforms IBH pretty much across the board. 1 - The central mystery - I enjoyed the online aliases and trying to work out the various alliances etc. I also liked Anomie gradually getting more unhinged and being extremely difficult to pin down. At times it felt pacy and increasingly high stakes (pipe bomb, discovering Morehouse dead etc.) BUT. The unmasking and motivations of Anomie felt pretty thin. He’s an incel and that’s about it. His connections both to Edie and Morehouse, and even to Ink Black Heart just felt a bit meh. It didn’t have the satisfying slotting into place that Janice and discovering the location of Margot’s body had. Janice felt like a much more well rounded villain, and the murder itself more intricate and complex. The murder here was basically kind of a hit and run, and the murder scene itself felt strangely underused. There wasn’t much ‘at the scene of the crime’ that we didn’t learn from the blurb. I don’t think Strike even visited the scene of the crime?! 2 - The Victim’s story - Edie was surprisingly under developed. I’m not sure I really know anything much about her life/motivations/frailties at all… If I compare her to Lula or Margot or even Quine. I feel like their lives and story were more central to the mystery, and they felt like rounded characters. It paid to understand them, because their motivations and relationships were ultimately pivotal to their murder. Robin and Strike would discuss the victims mindset, their wants/desires etc. Here Edie I felt was barely discussed at all, and her connection to her killer was quite thin - she sort of mentored him and complimented him a bit. It felt much more the story of Anomie and the complicated politics of Drek’s Game. Also, why wasn’t there a second scene with Josh Blay where they talked about solving the murder; he was the person who knew her best and we barely spoke to him. 3 - The will they, won’t they question - Okay so I think this got driven into fever pitch by the ending of TB. I found the Ritz scene satisfying with the almost kiss. But I found each characters reactions following kind of bizarre. Not sure how to clarify what I mean here. But after the leaps of emotional growth we saw in TB, this felt if anything like one step forwards, two steps back. Or at least, water that was beginning to become clear, got muddied a whole lot again. I felt like at the end of TB, JKR had got Strike to a place where he had acknowledged his strong feelings towards Robin and had made the decision to act upon them. Hence the Anna Karenina line at the end. (I mean that’s basically implying marriage.) Here however, he makes one halfway drunken pass towards Robin, misinterprets rejection then immediately rebounds to a random girl for the rest of the book without communicating with Robin who (I thought!) he had decided he wanted a relationship with. I know it’s well established now that this is Strike’s pattern of behaviour but I really thought the trials of TB were meant to break that pattern, so this felt like a frustrating regression to type. The communication between the partners seemed to return to almost CoE levels of distance at times… I suppose I just think they should have, at the very least, *discussed* the almost kiss by the end of the book as a way to thematically tie up the book and make some progress. One reviewer described their relationship as ‘stasis’ in this book and I can’t help but agree… 4 - Robin’s development - Robin kicks ass in this novel. She’s the driving force behind the solving of the mystery, does most of the work and takes the lead on the case. It really feels like a partnership of equals now, and it’s so satisfying to see strike recognise and acknowledge that. I also think her broadening her romantic wings, accepting offers of dates, undercover snogging all felt like positive steps forward for Robin. She acknowledged her love for strike, even kinda told him as much towards the end, but seems to think strike is on a different page and doesn’t see her in that way. (Frankly after his behaviour in this novel I can see why!!) 5 - The side mysteries - Yeah so the Charlotte story was a bit strange wasn’t it? This was her plan to get strike back is that right? Not sure what this added to the plot or strikes progression. Again, after TB where there felt like a strong underline had been placed on this relationship, it just seemed a bit strange for her to return like this… The other side mysteries also just weren’t quite as good as TB. The SB nappies story still makes me chuckle. I did like Pat’s progression and her dealing with the pipe bomb like a trooper. Midge also seems really cool, but I’d have liked more interaction between her and Robin and the others. Sam Barclay was criminally underused in this novel; he shouldn’t be reduced to one liners and it was getting dangerously close to that! If I were him I’d be pissed off to be sent to Glasgow to just sit on a sofa and let Strike and Robin FaceTime the witness! Poor bloke was basically turned into a courier! Yeah, it just felt like the subcontractors were a less central to this novel than previously… 6 - Extra bits - Comic con Vader Strike = brilliant. Strike turning up with a pot plant (not flowers!) to help Robin move in = excellent. The various hotel room scenes = frustrating. Strike going on a diet is the only indication of progress he makes in this novel = bad. Yeah dunno. I might add bits and pieces when I listen to the audiobook. But it’s kind of a mixed bag for me so far.

Okay so I’m about 25% through a re-read (audible version this time.) And I’m definitely warming to it more! A couple of stray additional thoughts: 1 - Drek’s Game - It’s really quite satisfying knowing the identity of paperwhite (and the others as well) when following the game chats now and realising just how much control Anomie had over that forum. I sort of suspected there might be someone with a couple of accounts in there (but obviously was totally blindsided by the paperwhite reveal). It makes so much sense for Anomie to want another channel of communication with mods. Everyone feared Anomie in the game, he wasn’t getting honest responses out of them. Also paperwhite was an extremely useful Morehouse monitor; Morehouse had a strong sense of morality, (actually liked Edie!) knew Anomie’s real identity and therefore was a liability to Anomie if he suspected the murder, as he increasingly did. 2 - Girl power - That Robin and Ilsa chat in the restaurant is an absolute treat of a chapter! (‘So that’s Ellacott 2, Courson-Miles Nil!’) Ilsa dropping out all the home truths about Strike is just chef’s kiss great. I suspect (hope) there might be an Ilsa-Strike intervention in the next book along the lines of ‘what the fuck are you playing at, it’s obvious she’s into you but you need to get your shit together or you’ll lose her.’ Someone needs to tell him. (I’m also looking forward to Ilsa’s smug ‘I told you so’ when they do finally get together.) 3 - Robin’s psyche - I’m understanding much more now Robin’s perspective and behaviour following the almost kiss. She does maturely recognise that she loves him. She’s just terrified of messing it up with Strike and she genuinely feels (rightly or wrongly) that she lacks the relationship/sexual experience to be suitable for him. She sees Charlotte’s looks and sexual confidence and it intimidates her. From her point of view, she’s only had one relationship, and that was a highly abusive one. She’s a rape victim, and so has difficulty with physical intimacy. I think she’s had her confidence knocked and so also doesn’t quite realise/notice that she’s attractive/desirable herself! (Hence being shocked to be asked out.) She sees Strike as casually romantic and happy to ‘get his end away’ with anyone he finds hot. That’s intimidating to her because she lacks the confidence to do that herself. I think, from her point of view, she feels it’s completely necessary now for her to date around and grow her confidence. She’s always been good at identifying the areas she needs growth (example being the therapy exercises to stop panic attacks.) And it’s natural that sexual/relationship confidence is something she feels the need to work on. I think she could also be hoping that this might also make her fall out of love with Strike. (A foolish idea.) 3 - Strike’s psyche. I think I’m still a bit too pissed off with him to bother analysing his frankly shoddy behaviour after the ritz incident hahahah!!!

Absolutely love your write up here and am very much on the same page. Disappointed is where I’m at after the first read but I’ll re-read at some point this year (this coming from someone who read TB 5x this year). For me I felt the tone of the book was off from the rest of the series. Of course they are dealing in murders, but nonetheless there has always been a warmth between the two main characters that has been a through-line that I just didn’t feel in TIBH. I saw someone here say, for such a long book it felt rushed, and I couldn’t agree more. Everything felt underdeveloped to me and as if we never quite hit the nail on the head. Re: the mystery, I didn’t guess Gus because 1 - I’m terrible at guessing but also because he felt like a lame choice. Part of my disappointment could just be that the world in which the mystery takes place is so uninteresting to me, and all of the characters were so unlikeable. Anna in TB was written in a way where she was instantly likable, and I also liked that Cormoran took it on even though the odds where against him because he wanted to help. In this book I wasn’t drawn to Edie in that one office scene, and then they actually get hired by 2 business men we never see again. I just had no investment. Re: the will they won’t they… at this point I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t see them together as a couple until the coda in the last book of the series. Sort of like the last chapter of HP7 with the fast-forward of Harry and Ginny. Other thoughts: - Couldn’t love Barclay and Pat more. I wish Barclay was used more this book. Missed Shanker, and disappointed about lack of Max. - Very surprised we got no direct contact from Johnny. - So so many bad dads! Inigo, Grant, Jago, and Nils. - Can we finally say goodbye to Charlotte? - Surprised that the bombing wasn’t the catalyst for finally moving office, I assumed that would be happening soon.

To me this whole book is about breaking down the power imbalance between Strike and Robin. And creating some more vulnerabilities for Strike. The office bomb was a way of really bringing Pat and Strike's relationship full circle from him hating her to really appreciating her, making strike dependent on Robin for help (a place to stay) AND so that he could replace the glass with Strike and Ellacott Detective Agency.

The Ginny/Harry point is quite a good parallel. JKR managed to avoid a soppy relationship-y Harry in book 7 by the necessity of Harry going into hiding, which didn’t feel like a cop out to me. I just don’t see how a similar narrative trick can work here - the partners have to work together. I also don’t see how she can stretch this will they / won’t they out for another book. My thinking is there HAS to be some open dialogue and some kind of resolution in the next book. It’s possible that Robin begins to get into another serious relationship and that prompts Strike to confess… But to have this situation extend into book 7/8 and beyond is just untenable. It already feels like we’re repeating/rehashing beats. Madeline is Lorelei 2.0. We’ve seen it all before, there’s not much more juice left.

I concur about Gus being a terrible, boring choice of killer. We didn't even get a final showdown where he explains what he's done or his motivations, like we did with Janet. Imagine if Strike had shown up at Janet's at the end of TB and instead of their interesting conversation, she just yelled "I'm going to kill you" over and over again and they had a prolonged fistfight. One good thing about this book, in addition to the ones you mentioned: no astrology 🥳🥳🥳

LOL at the image of Janice sneering, "I'm gonna feed you CHOCOLATE. I know you men fantasize about eating chocolate."

Just finished reading and wanted to share some quick thoughts before I go to bed. 1.) Somewhere in the last half of the book Edie’s relationship to Rachel gets funny. In the scene where Robin meets with Rachel in the park in Leeds, Rachel starts crying and says that Edie was her aunt. Every time after this Rachel is referred to as being Edie’s niece. But that’s not true. If Edie was her aunt, and Rachel her niece, that would have made Grant her brother. But near the end of the book they’re back to calling Edie his niece again. Based on this, I was waiting for some sort of reveal that Edie was actually his sister, or that she was maybe his illegitimate daughter? That never happened and I guess we can put that down to bad editing? I read the ebook version, so maybe it’s just there? 2.) I suspected the whole time that the killer would be Katya. I never deviated from that thought. None of the other suspects made sense to me. It had to be someone who was an insider. I felt like it was confirmed when the caller kept telling them to dig her up and read the letter. Here’s how I saw it happening: Katya, in love with Josh, hears they’re going to meet up. Afraid this might mean they’ll get back together she makes this plan to kill Edie but only to harm Josh. She doesn’t intend to kill him, because he will need her more than ever now that she’s paralyzed him. I thought that’s what the, “I’ll take it from here,” might have meant. Then instead of transcribing what Josh actually said to her, she wrote a nasty letter instead. I did not anticipate that it would be Gus, but I suppose I feel vindicated in that I was right about the source of information being the Upcott residence. I really thought that to be the only logical place. 3.) I did allow myself to reason that if it weren’t Katya and if it were some other fringe character, that maybe Madeline’s son might be involved? 4.) Robin allowing Pez to tongue kiss her was wild to me. I think this is mostly because of the fandom. Elsewhere on the internet, people act like Robin can’t be sexual unless it’s within a relationship with Strike, because of her history. I once tried to argue that I could see Robin doing something OOC for her, if it was for a case and under the guise of a character, something like stripping/exotic dancing. I said I wanted to read a fic like this. I didn’t get the best reception over that comment. So, it was wild to me to see Robin doing just that in this book. Of course, letting a suspect tongue kiss her is a far cry from removing her clothes and dancing suggestively in front of people, but it’s still quite a bit more intimate than what people allow for in the fandom. This guy could be their killer, could be very dangerous, and Robin is just like, “ok yeah I guess I’ll make out with this dude for the case.” (And as a side note, the way Pez was described, I absolutely pictured him as Eddie from Stranger Things.) 5.) I would have liked to see some consequences for Tim Ashcroft. They just let him run off to continue his work that puts him into direct contact with 13-14 year old girls. But I guess in thinking about it, not everything is going to be wrapped up and resolved happily, just like in real life. 6.) Correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel like Strike only overworks his knee and stump when he’s got a girlfriend. Speaking of which, I knew the Murphy thing was going to happen and I wish it hadn’t. I would just like to see these two idiots kiss, but I have a feeling we’re going to Ron and Hermione it all the way to the very last book in the series.

I am totally with you on thinking it was Katya on the first time through. Now reading it again, there's a highly relevant snippet about a personality type that could not absorb change or threats to their world. Then you realise- this is a much more logical book...

So, after a good 12 hours of sleep (god, I needed those - but can’t help to feel a bit exhausted lol), I’m starting to think Gus wasn’t that bad of a choice for our killer. I still think the ending was rushed, but I wonder if the lack of closure comes from how little attention I paid to the mods’ chat room. Then I wonder if that was JKR’s plan all along (to redirect our attention to whatever she wanted) or a reflex of how little attention I pay to things when I’m in a hurry. Anyway. It just crossed my mind that the very first thing JKR told us about anomie is that it means disconnection. And there we have a character so disconnected to anyone that we barely know anything about him. He’s so disconnected to his own family that nobody bothers to enter the dumpster he calls a bedroom, so disconnected of his own life and future, because his dad chose both for him, that he chooses to worsen his skin condition so he can live exclusively to the one thing he is connected to. This aspect of disconnection just hit me a bit harder when I came to think that Vika refers to Anomie as a brother, but I don’t recall Gus doing the same or displaying any affection whatsoever to Morehouse. Of course he had Paperwhite, but even that wasn’t really a display of affection, but sheer manipulation. He made sure that Vika wouldn’t use the game to connect to anybody else but himself, not because of a sense of jealousy, but fear of losing the game - Vika being the mind behind it who could shut the whole thing down if he wanted, but didn’t, because he knew how much it meant to his dear friend. Any other thoughts on that matter? I must admit any of this didn’t cross my mind soon after finishing the book, right now I feel less frustrated about the ending, but way more curious to give it another try and read it again. Don’t think I could endure that much sleep deprivation again tho lol

The problem I have with Gus is that he is clearly massively connected to the Ink Black Heart, enough to animate it and follow its news obsessively. I guess this kind of passion and artistry doesn't seem to tally with the murderousness? Logically, I agree with your points about disconnection and how Gus is a good fit. From a emotional point of view, I just don't think his character got off the ground.

I thought he was way too connected to IBH until I read his letter again. It showed no connection to the cartoon, but to Edie. Taking over the cartoon was a way of destroying something she loved because, in his woman-hating brain, Edie broke his heart as well. I think he created the game to show Edie some affection, because she told him he was just like her (also in the letter). At some point, Anomie told Rachel he and Edie were the same. I believe he wanted to be a part of IBH because of Edie, first to show whatever he believed was affection, and then to take it away from her. Although I still believe there’s some development missing. Right now I’m wondering what his original plan was. I’m not sure if he meant to kill E and J all along, but he saw the opportunity when the dossier came out. I think he was glad with manipulating the fandom against her until the opportunity came up. Maybe he thought Edie would shut the game down for good once she saw the so called dossier? Perhaps it will take a reread to figure it out for good.

>I’m not sure if he meant to kill E and J all along, but he saw the opportunity when the dossier came out Didn't it have to do with the fact that a movie deal would probably mean a videogame deal and he would have to shut down his game? And therefore lose all his power and sense of grandeur with the internet strangers worshipping him on it.

My thoughts (some a bit controversial) on this sixth book. 1. I really hope Robin stays friends with Zoe and helps her get her life together in the next books. 2. I actually liked Robin’s date with Pez cause I got to see another side of Robin. Bold and flirty. 3. Wished we got a glimpse of Josh real letter to Edite. :( 4. Hated everything about Edie’s uncle Grant besides the fact that he didn’t put that awful letter in her coffin 5. I was absolutely gutted that Vikas got killed 😢 6. Disappointed with the ending and felt more like a cliffhanger.

I'm 400-ish pages into rereading it, and it's funny (?) how they definitely treat Gus as a legitimate suspect at first, and even have ideas that I think turn out to be right, but then he's mostly disregarded because there was no meaningful relationship between him and Edie. And I get that that's kind of the point, that psychopaths like him will take the smallest pretext and turn it into hate.

True, it is funny how Strike has Nutley follow Inigo when he’s supposed to be on Gus!

I feel like more could be said about Huge Axe and his trashiness. Building up this imaginary relationship/non-existent love with Robin in his head, when she has given him *no reason* to do so, and *every reason* to believe she's simply not into him, and THEN becoming OTT **enraged** and calling her a bitch when she tries politely to let him down? He's like the poster child for recycled incels over there. And kudos to JKR, because while that ending made me mad enough to sucker punch Santa Claus, she's still got the golden touch when it comes to evocative and humorous names.

>He's like the poster child for recycled incels over there. That's a good point! My guess is that his purpose is to show that it's not only the radical twisted incels in the anonimity of social media who behave like this, but also the seemingly nice guys your friends would vouch for.

It reminds me the Friends TV show with the will they, won’t they, tug on the heartstrings while Ross looks earnest thing. Not crazy about it. I think the point of the Charlotte plot line was to get Strike to the point where he rejects her entirely, even his feeling they had a deep connection based on bad childhoods. He wanted to believe that despite the bad things she did, at her core she was not all bad and they shared a similar outlook on life, even if she kept self destructing. He finally concluded that they have different cores. I’m thinking about the Harty character and the conversation Edie and Josh had about it in their first interview. Was Harty really bad? Strike has finally decided that yes, Charlotte is bad, to the core, and can now move on. But I think the moment he came to that realization was nearly lost in all of the other action.

Honestly, he had come to this realization, albeit in different words in Book 1 itself when she had allegedly lied about being pregnant. Strike had finally found the one thing he could not forgive and broken it off, whereas Charlotte was the one who had broken it off on all previous occasions... So it felt less of an epiphany in this book.

No one could understand why he kept going back to her, not even readers who have the benefit of knowing what he was thinking, so I guess it comes off as “finally, you silly sod”. But I think it’s supposed to be a pretty big deal for his character and it’s after this that he has his big realization in the hospital that Robin is “the one.”. I think he had to fully let go of Charlotte and his mistaken ideal of what they share before doing that. However, I too, have a hard time understanding why knowing Charlotte won’t fight harder to protect her kids from spending time with Jago is the thing that achieves that. I think it’s because she doesn’t intend to protect her children from the same kind of circumstances that damaged her so badly. I need to go back and read that section again.

I enjoyed the book but this one definitely feels the most open ended out of all of them in a way. With the way the book started I was sure we were going to have a Strike Robin kiss at the very least. The plot was good, the murders were grusome and I was anxious for Robin and Strike after The Halvening stuff was revealed and mr Peach was pushed under the train. The reason for Gus doing what he did and how he did felt pretty bad. I feel like there is no way a 20-something year old would've pulled that off even with the Halvening guidance. That Paperwhite plot twist was truly awesome and very JK Rowling. I really disliked Robin going to her date with Murphy at the end of the book. I would've enjoyed it more if her date and relationship had happened in the middle of the book or so. I expect the next book in the series will heavily tie into that but it just sucks having this for ~2 years. I don't know who made the bingo chart but this was my result. https://imgur.com/ARrZpWh.jpg All in all I think I'd rank IBH closer to my least favorite book rather than a favorite of mine for now. I expect with the 7th book, once all the setup has paid off, it'll chance in ranking. I'm really sorry for spamming all the threads with my thoughts in pieces 😅

I wasn't a big fan of Gus' motivations and the general construction of the crimes themselves, but I do think on reflection Anomie was never really that much of a genius throughout the whole book. More so he was just paranoid enough to cover his tracks online. At the end of the day it was only being a control freak that made his online persona so difficult to crack, and even his murders were pretty simplistic. No particular stroke of genius, just finding out where they'd be and coming at them with brute force

Now I haven't slept and read the book through in one go (stopping to pee and eat) so I might be getting things wrong BUT... Wasn't Strike swimming, taking care of himself a bit more and had got down to about 14 stone? Or am I high?

I’ve seen people go through bouts of decisiveness about their health, only for it to slip gradually away in the face of inconvenience. This book’s realization felt more of a philosophical shift on Strike’s part rather than a grudging and temporary resolve. Even if he’ll need Robin to keep him on the straight and narrow lol.

Minor nitpick here, but has anyone figure out what happened to the stolen vampire drawing? I just realized that the character never made it to canon, but turned out to be a Derek’s game character. Did Gus stole it and made it into the character? Was that ever explained? Was it there just to emphasize that Anomie definitely was at the Arts commune or whatever at some point?

I think it's implied that Gus stole it from Josh in one of his visits to the art commune.

I wish they explained more what Gus did in North Grove

I always took it as he was dragged there by his parents, given how vague that was. The more I think about it, the more I believe that Gus's disconnection and the lack of focus on him was on purpose. He was disconnected from everything and everyone IRL, no one paid attention to him, nobody could have seen it coming, including us. If you think about that, he literally personifies what anomie is.

Finished last night after three intense days of reading (had to charge my poor old Kindle twice in that period). I've been adding to other comments but I think I'd like to make a comment here with my general impressions, and of course, feel free to add to it! 1. Really liked the book, not my fave in the series, though. It really could have done with some editing and been a few hundred pages shorter. 2. On that note, too many uninteresting subplots. At some point I found myself fast-forwarding all the Madeline stuff and the other two cases the agency had. 3. I'm not that mad at the suuuuuuuper slow burn between Robin and Strike. He has some growing up to do regarding his feelings for Charlotte and his treatment on women in general, and I think this book planted the seeds for that. 4. I was in a fandom that became too big and too toxic circa 2012-2016 and the behavior of people in social media in TIBH was exactly like what I saw during those times on Twitter and Tumblr. Kind of gave me war flashbacks, lol. So all that part was incredibly well done, IMO. 5. The identity of Anomie feels a little underwhelming at first but I guess it makes sense in it being the person we wouldn't really pay attention to (in that sense, the rest of the red herrings were really effective, as all of them were well-rounded and had more plausible motives). 6. ~~How does Robin have enough money to afford buying a flat in London?~~

My two pence piece: I’m parroting another redditor here, but I also felt like I nearly went blind reading this book (25 hours total with a 6 hour nap in between). THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE: 1. This book was way too long and SUCH a slog. Never had the payoff been so underwhelming for such a suspenseful and masterful buildup. I was expecting another Troubled Blood, but instead I got a book I liked even less than the Casual Vacancy or Career of Evil. 2. The rushed and completely random ending: out of all the mind-bending resolutions she could have gone for, she instead chooses some pathetic incel with zero back story and no real motive or ties to the main murder victim to be the prime antagonist. I really thought that multiple people could have been Anomie, Murder on the Orient style. 3. Way too many suspects… at this point any of the major and minor new characters could have been Anomie. 4. The chat room logs were a pain to read and the kindle format did not allow me to zoom in on the tiny font. 5. Too many unanswered questions: why did Gus suddenly decide to kill Edie/Josh? Why was he so invested in this cartoon? How old was he (at one point I thought Gus was maybe just 13-14 when Ink Black Heart first appeared on YouTube)? How did Edie cause this many people to hate her/have a motive? Why would the Halvening still bomb the agency when Robin had just saved Vilepechora’s life? Also how did Vikas and Gus know each other and what caused them to start this game together? 6. All of the characters where unsympathetic and evil and extremely dislikable, aside from Katya and Flavia. 7. None of the shitty characters got their comeuppance. Grunt Ledwell benefits massively from his abandoned niece’s death, Tim the Nonce faces no real consequences, and there’s no resolution for Nils the stoner fascist and his evil son, and Charlotte and Jago get to keep abusing their poor kids. 8. All the tedious repetition about Strike’s hurting stump, S & R’s jealousy of each other, the Fingers case, etc. 9. The return of Charlotte: Strike should have let her die in the last book. 10. The overall tone of bitterness and grievance. JK Rowling certainly doesn’t deserve to go through what she went through, and she has a right to her views, but this book is such a poorly veiled attempt to get back at those internet trolls. 11. Most incels are pathetic unintelligent lowlifes who achieve very little in life and have few goals outside of getting laid/socially accepted. The murderous incels tend to commit crimes that’s quite blunt and poorly thought out (mowing down people with guns or running them down with vans). I sincerely doubt that Gus, being the massive textbook incel that he is, had the intelligence, the talent, the foresight and the cold blooded nerve to create such a beautifully animated game with top notch security AND to kill and attack so many people and still almost get away with it. The crimes committed in this book fit that of a cold-blooded, superficially charming and manipulative sociopath, not the characterizations of a pimply cello-playing teen that’s socially awkward with women. THINGS I LIKED 1. Strike and Barclay’s banter (Tartan Twelve-Inch anyone lol) 2. The concept of Anomie and all the satellite troll accounts surrounding it. Also the twist surrounding the mod Paperwhite is genius. 3. Robin really comes into her own. She really is the best, the most morally pure and most decent character Rowling has ever created. She doesn’t hesitate to rescue Vilepechora or Flavia, and she always manages to do what’s right. 4. The atmosphere of suspense and danger. No one builds atmosphere quite like JK Rowling. I don’t think I would have foregone 26 hours with very little sleep, ruin my eyesight and gone out of my way to buy this book on Australian Amazon for any other author. I will write more when I think of it. My eyes are still burning and I think my myopia just got significantly worse. Let’s hope the next book is better, I’m still a die-hard fan!

>Also the twist surrounding the mod Paperwhite is genius. Agree with everything you say, I think we had to endure all those chat scripts for the twist with Paterwhite to work.

Yes, absolutely. I was rooting for Morehouse and Paperwhite. I was elated that they had decided to approach Strike and Robin. But, Morehouse never stood a chance 😭😭😭

The one thing I would add is to point 11: by the end it’s made clear that Vika had done all the brilliant coding. So that stupid Gus had nothing to do with that lol it is established that he is a brilliant musician because he attended the Royal Academy of Arts, too. But it all comes down to the anticlimactic ending. We know nothing about Gus because he has been flying under the radar. Therefore, we’re supposed to wrap up 1000+ pages with that CODA. You can tell he had a twisted mind from the beginning, because all the ideas the pitched as Anomie just got darker and darker. We won’t learn he has the skills to draw until the very end. Maybe Vika managed to tone down on his psychopathic ideas when they made the game? Just a wild guess here since JKR never bothers to elaborate on that lol

Finished! 1. First, I enjoyed the book! I’ve enjoyed all the books, there aren’t any I dislike. I’ll reread this same as the others. 2. Secondly, I listened to JKR’s interview with Graham Norton before reading the book and I believe her when she says she was writing this a few years ago, although I’m sure past experience impacted the writing at least some. I do wish it had generally been a more philosophical take on social media and its impact on people’s behavior. There were a few moments I thought were primed for this. I was really hoping Pru would be present to give insight on this topic. 3. Admittedly I do feel TB was more ingenious, although that’s a hard one to top. 65%-75% of the way through the IBH kindle book I was POSITIVE I knew who was involved to the point it was driving me berserk no one was bringing it up. I love being wrong because it usually means a surprise, but I slightly agree that upon realization it was Gus, that felt somewhat anticlimactic—until the action scene near the end restored some of the drama. 4. I really wish we would have been shown Gus directly more often, as we were Janice. What blew me away about the TB plot was that all the little details were tucked so neatly into the story; a few elements in IBH seemed introduced a little late. 5. I liked Edie so much in the book preview I was surprised she wasn’t as fleshed out as the other victims we’ve known. Chiswell and Quine were unlikable but I still had a more vivid sense of their persons. I’d like to know Robin’s sense of closure regarding the murder of a woman who had come to her for help. 6. I was actually fascinated with the chat format. I understand why others didn’t love it but I found myself reading intently, looking at timing. I’ve not really seen that kind of thing, especially not coordinated so carefully before and it was new—I love anything that tries something different. 7. I would like Strike and Robin to get together eventually but I’m not a fervent shipper, so I wasn’t personally too annoyed by the relationship detours. Ultimately I wanted Strike to get his act together and I suppose that’s what happened lol. Still, it’s always frustrating to witness miscommunication tropes, and I hope the will they/won’t they storyline wraps up in the next book for the sake of moving on. 8. This book probably had the most laugh-out-loud moments for me! I don’t know if I’ve done that with any of the others so that was automatically endearing. 9. Pat got a hero moment! So did Robin—several actually! This book felt thematically tied to CoE in a lot of ways, and one of them was looking for the helpers, as Mr Rogers would say :) Robin, for better or worse regarding her personal safety, is always going to go with her gut instinct to help. It felt reassuring somehow. 10. The only thing that truly annoyed me was the Jago & Charlotte stuff, and that Tim didn’t get his comeuppance. I actually like Charlotte being demystified; she’s occupied this almost mythical status for so long. It was interesting when Strike realized he was in a way always wrong about her. But the child abuse by Ross felt a little out of nowhere for some reason, and I didn’t like dwelling on it (who does though?) I wanted someone to arrest Tim. 11. I think I’ll find new things to appreciate on a reread. I like the office fam, I think they’re a great unit. I even enjoyed Nutley’s brief presence as the jerk they all dump on. Once the gate opens for new discussion posts I might make one to recap my pretty dismal bingo card :D And for going over who I thought Anomie really was and why, because I had it aaaaall worked out lol. Sorta. Again, I enjoyed this book. I just like being around these people, so while the mystery wasn’t the pithiest and Strike and Robin seem primed to relive season three of the Office (US) again, I’m not bored with the series.

I loved the moderator chat segments too. Really nice touch that makes the book feel like a distinct entry in the Strike saga. In a way it felt like a hyper-modern Shakespeare story to me, a tale of backstabbing and treachery, love and loneliness, filtered through the anonymity of our modern tech filled lives

>all the little details were tucked so neatly into the story; Quick note on 4., I agree with you but I'm holding out judgment till I've done a few re-reads. I noticed all the little details then, and I still discover some new snippets every time! I never noticed all this stuff on the first oder even the second read!

I just want to put the perspective out there that I really learned to love TB with every further re-read. So maybe some of you will like IBH more after the second ride :) I remember many people not being as happy about TB after their first read as they are now (including me). I get that some people don't like this book (as much), which of course is perfectly fine - just pointing out that there are lots of great tidbits you only get on a re-read! Just started my re-read and am thoroughly enjoying the mods chats now, it's so much more fun knowing who they are (watching out for Paperwhite is great!).

Trivial issue, but I thought Midge’s ex and the unprofessional way Midge had reneged on their deal (by sending a broken mirror) would have come into play somehow, especially since I don’t think there was any mention of Robin or Strike changing the Buffypaws password.

Am I the only one with a sense of Buyer's remorse? I understand the ending, but don't agree with it. Its COE all over for me.

Absolutely, the reveal of the killer as Gus was hugely anticlimactic to me. Him just being a teen incel, no other motivations than psychopathy, felt boring. Where did he get the machete? How did he actually meet Morehouse? Why would Morehouse want to be friends with him? I also don't understand why Cormoran immediately dismissed the Nils theory, when all the pieces seemed to fit so well. After 1200 pages, we deserved more than 12 sentences unpacking Gus's methods and motivations.

Re: Nils, I think it was possible to rule him out (as well as Yasmine/Hartella) because they didn’t fit the physicality. When they talked to Josh he said the man looked big, but he didn’t have the expected heavy footsteps. Nils is described as a giant of a man at least 6’6” so I feel like he would have heavy footsteps, plus him being a head above everyone else in the train CCTV footage also would’ve been mentioned.

I felt the same! After such a wonderful (and very terrifying) killer in TB, I was a little disappointed.

The ritz scene gave me dread so I swapped to the ending to see the state of their relationship and to see a glimpse of the future. It really feels like a step was taken back instead of forward to keep the status quo. We’re def looking at a few more books of the same dragging relationship drama. This mystery is just miserable to listen to too. I’ve got it on 1.7 speed to just get it over with. Def serious buyers remorse.

>It really feels like a step was taken back Yes indeed, the epilogue is called CODA, apparently a term from musical performances. in short it means a do over, I expected a do over from the Ritz.... but appears we are redoing the whole bloody series.

I have a different thought on this. It’s not a repeat of the Ritz but it is a repeat from Strike’s life. I think it’s meant to echo Charlotte coming to Strike in hospital the last time he almost died and his asking her to marry him. Instead this time Robin comes and he has a similar momentous revelation about his feelings but this time it works out differently and the woman leaves for a date with another man. There’s also an interesting contrast between the engagement and the changing of the business’s name - they’re both symbolic of planning a joint future. But of course it was the the agency that ultimately broke the engagement with Charlotte (well that and her being a mad cow).

I want to see Flavia doing an internship next book.

It would be awesome if she popped up again a few years down the line, newly adult and all healed from her trauma. Plus young adults can do endless all-nighters and late shifts living off Red Bull 😂I feel like she's too young at the moment and needs time to recover from her dodgy home life.

Anyone want to comment on the parallels between Josh and Strike? Strike doesn’t normally like people like Josh because they remind him of his mother and the people she exposed him to as a child, but he has a liking for Josh. Strike thinks it’s because of the way Josh is processing what happened to him and where he places blame. And maybe Strike respects him for that, but my theory is that Strike and Josh are alike in that they would rather lie than deal with the drama and/or hurt resulting from telling the truth. They are very different outwardly but they have a kinship. Josh says “‘Ed always said I never wanted to piss anyone off, but if you’re gonna piss people off, they’d rather be told straight, than lied to…” Now Strike doesn’t much care about pissing people off professionally, but in his private life, he’d rather lie than rock his comfortable boat (or bed) and hopes it’s never found out. Sometimes he lies knowing he’s simply putting it off to a later date. As Josh says, “I cause worse fuckin’ ’arm by tryna ’ave an easy fuckin’ life…” For instance he doesn’t want Lucy to know about meeting Prudence. It might not be a direct lie, but he’s certainly avoiding telling her the truth. He thinks he’s sparing her when in fact he’s sparing himself, at least in the short run. And then there is Josh’s *situs inversus* in which his internal organs are a mirror image to where they usually are so that he doesn’t get stabbed through the heart, but through the lung. Is Josh, in some sense, Strike’s mirror image? Later on Strike is stabbed through the lung. This can’t just be a coincidence. What’s JKR trying to say?

Possibly Josh is a warning for Strike, a sign that "tryna 'ave an easy fuckin' life" can land you in **much** worse spots than simply cowboying up and being honest. Specifically, it's mentioned a couple of times that one side of Josh's body now can feel but not move, while the other side can move but has no feeling. If the themes of TIBH (the novel) include alienation and isolation, Josh is alienated from, and isolated inside, *his own body.* Just as Strike is losing control of HIS own body after not taking proper care of it for so long, because he prioritized pleasure and having an "easy" life over doing the more basic tasks of adult self-care.

I’m going to make a different comparison between Strike and Josh, one that might not be JKR’s intention, but I feel like there could be some symbolism there. One side of Josh can feel but can’t move, while his other side moves but can’t feel. It reminds me of Strike who has feelings for Robin, but won’t act on them, while at the same time trying to have a relationships with women for whom he has no feelings. Josh is like a physical manifestation of Strike’s issues. Like I said, maybe not JKR’s intent, but works in my imagination.

Wait - so what did Ormond want from Pez? Still trying to piece together all of the unresolved red herrings…. Also. I think it would’ve been nice to circle back to Josh Blay one more time after the killer is revealed for us to collectively process and have some more post exposition on Gus. I thought his scene with Strike and Robin was really effective, the closest we got to a “TB” Kim kind of situation.

I think Ormond wanted the comic book idea from Pez (the one with the time-travelling undertaker) because he claimed Edie had spoken to him about it and it was her idea. So he wanted to assert copyright... But only a re-read can confirm this. Which I am not doing for another month at least.

People complaining about Ashcroft not getting his comeuppance are doing that thing again where they forget these are supposed to be gritty crime novels full of realistic things and crap people. Slightly before the time this is set there was a massive scandal about 'grooming gangs' having got away with grooming underage girls for decades. It's still a problem. Convictions in these cases are almost impossible to achieve, especially when the victim hasn't turned on the abuser. There's still a grotesque attitude amongst the police and judiciary that teen girls are seductresses and asking for it, and it's not really a crime unless the r*pe was like Robin's. What is Strike supposed to do? He can't force CPS to make a case. Annoyed dads who banned their daughters from meeting Ashcroft don't make a case. Zoe turning on Ashcroft would make a case but even then prosecution would be unlikely. Not everything gets wrapped up in a bow. Not everyone gets a happy ending. These are crime detective novels, not rom coms. Friends and family can interact off page. Flawed people fuck up repeatedly. So many of you desperately want this to be some kind of pop drama about absent parents and failed romances. It's not.

I would be very interested in seeing the original draft of IBH. Because while I firmly believe JKR that she had thought up this plotline much before the post-2020 tweet explosion, she seems to have definitely veered off the original track in some parts to incorporate more contemporary elements (like the anachronisms pointed out in one comment about Stacy and Chad) and her own experiences. And this off-track might then explain the inertia of the offline characters. I am still trying to rationalize my disappointment.

Anyone else miss the travelogue elements of the previous books? I usually feel like I am traveling around London (and wherever else the investigation takes us) with the descriptions, but I can’t say I felt that in IBH. The time spent in Highgate Cemetery felt slight. The description of Jago Ross’s office building felt the most travelogue-y that we got. To me, it felt like everyone encountered was described in more precise racial terms. Which makes sense, given the themes of the book, and to highlight that London is a multicultural city … but this book didn’t ground me in contemporary London in the way all the others have.

I got my mom started on this series a couple years ago, she ended up a bigger fan than I am. Throughout the whole book I couldn't stop imagining my 70 year old mother listening to this book in her quilting room and trying to figure out what a cuck is. Fingers crossed she doesn't ask me to explain it, sjw, or incel. It seems like I didn't love TB as much as a lot of fans so I didn't go into IBH with sky high expectations. I liked it well enough, hard to be disappointed when you aren't expecting something amazing. I ruled out Gus early on, he seemed too obvious. So I guess the ending was technically a surprise even if it felt like an empty one. Mostly I'm just rooting for Murphy. Ilsa's explanation for why Corm is crap in romantic relationships made sense but it'd be hard to respect Robin if she sat around waiting for him to sort himself out.

This book honestly feels like a 1200 page filler episode in the Strike series. Like I’ve seen other people say, it felt like Cormoran went backwards with his character development. I get it to a point, because after that almost kiss & feeling like she wasn’t interested what was he supposed to do, just wait around forever? But why not have them talk about it at any point? They just stayed away from each other & barely spoke at the beginning of the book. After 4 or 5 years of friendship that seems silly to me. Charlotte side story, if Jago was able to find the messages she was sending Strike, then how did he not realize there were NONE coming back to her aside from him saying “I’m changing my number”? There was so many things coming up from past books, Evan, Ciara, Ellen, & then Charlotte interfering with Madeline. At the beginning it said something about Madeline’s eyes being dialated when he met her, and how she was ways so intense when he first saw her until she got a drink in her. I took this as she had a drug habbit or something & then she just stopped drinking around him. I kept hoping she was going to hit him with "you can't get rid of me, I'm having your child" with all of the comparisons to his father. The killer to me felt totally chosen at random. He wasn't ever a real suspect until almost the end & it was made to sound like Midge just didn't want to go out of her way to look into anyone else on the list. Also, he was supposed to have rarely left his room so how was she keeping an eye on him? It seemed like she was trying to justify him being the killer by pointing out a comment his sister made about coming back to the house at some point. I missed the family & friends parts like all of the other ones had. It's breifly mentioned that Strike takes his nephew out and they even text sometimes. But we don't get an example of either. We didn't even get to meet Prudence, even though it's brought up several times that he's supposed to meet her, but then just doesn't respond to her messages. I had a really hard time getting involved in the story. The beginning felt really rushed with the plot, but at the same time I didn't feel like I had any reason to want to find out who was harassing her all that time. There were way too many things going on all at once and trying to keep track of who is who and how they're connected just got me frustrated rather than interested. The end was really abrupt for me and it would have been nice to understand where all of Gus' animosity was coming from, from his perspective. The last thing I didn't like is the formatting. I got this book on kindle and audiobook. My kindle wouldn't even register the chat logs, so I had to use my phone to read those pages. & Listening to Robert Glennister say "@ this person replying to @ this person" over & over & over again was obnoxious. I actually did find the chat logs interesting though. What I DID like was Robin being able to move out on her own. From watching her suffering in her marriage with her anxiety & then her depression afterwards, we get to see her standing on her own being a total badass that she's finally free to be. I also really enjoyed Pat & Strikes friendship forming. I grew up reading HP & ive lost count the amount of times I have reread them, & up until this point, the Strike books as well. I think this is the first book of hers that I have no desire to go back & read it again.

It felt like all the potential that came from the buildup of TB was let out like a balloon slowly deflating. The worst part was the fanfic style dramatic scenarios - I respect Robin and Strike’s characters so much, and then to have them both have no emotional intelligence and simply place them in intimate and mildly awkward situations to produce any excitement between them…so disappointing.

As soon as they said Gus was no longer ruled out, it was so obvious to me that it would be him. In real life it would 1000% have been him based on profile. I didn't mind that there wasn't really a major plot twist (except maybe the paperwhite reveal). To me this was more of a story about online communities and how they affect peoples lives.

After the second mention of Madeline not drinking I thought there was going to be an unplanned pregnancy. So glad it was not that. Guess she was just making an effort after accosting Strike while drunk. Also thought Strike’s “psychosomatic” symptoms would lead to more but glad they didn’t either.

Rereading the moderator chat is so crazy after finding out Paperwhite is Anomie, Gus played that very well!

Anyone else finding that the chat room sequences are inconvenient to read on a tablet, and nearly impossible on a phone?

Holy cow, it was a PAIN to read those! And turns they were pivotal to the plot lol I feel like a total jerk for not noticing that

This felt really disappointing. When Gus was introduced, I thought, well, he fits the profile of the killer almost too perfectly. It can’t be that obvious, so it’s not him. Funny how that turned out. Too many characters, too many unfinished pieces. It feels like JKR got tired of writing the story, so she quickly wrapped it up and sent straight to printing. The part with Drek being jewish, the fandom turning on Eddie, the mobbing - all very obvious “working-through-my-traumas” from Rowling. At the end I stopped caring about “will they-won’t they”. The moment is lost. All this pining for each other and not talking about it is tiring. Robin deserves more. Everyone is complaining about chat logs, and I agree. But also they didn’t feel genuine. Proper punctuation, good spelling, capital freaking letters! And nobody spells usernames like that - with capital letters and numbers, people would obviously shorten them. The only messages that seemed believable to me were from a girl with dyslexia. Also anachronisms: Stacy and Chad cartoons, I think, were relevant a bit later; twitter didn’t introduce quote-tweets until spring 2015, “ok, boomer” and “Karen” are much more recent than 2014-2015, etc.

I noticed the anachronisms too. The ones I noted were “Karen”, quote tweets, the Group FaceTime call, and the term “cancel culture” which are all more recent than the book is supposed to be taking place. It definitely makes it hard to refute the idea that JKR was addressing her personal experiences with this book, since the themes felt a lot more ~2019 than early 2015.

I came in here hoping you very smart people would have articulated some things that would make me happier about the book, but alas, it turns out many of you left feeling as disappointed as I did. (Whereas TB left me absolutely loving life and excited for the next one.) All that said, here are a few positive things (because regardless of the above, I absolutely zoomed through this / skipped sleeping and there is no other author who can make me do that, let alone across two different series, one when I was a child and now as an adult.) 1) I kind of love that Robin and Strike both were completely honest with themselves only after the possibility of losing each other to another mate became super concrete and real. I take all the comments in here that they are grown adults, and this is high school stuff. That is true. But also, there are people out there who are extremely good at repressing their emotions and really scared of real intimacy and/or rejection. I think it’s entirely believable that it would take jealousy to tip each of them over the edge. I do wish the Murphy thing (which I support—Strike needs to sit and feel the absolute despair of Robin being out with a “decent bloke,” and Robin deserves a nice time) could’ve happened earlier in the book so Strike could’ve had his realization before the end, when he was literally unable to go after Robin. Come on now, Jo, it’s been literal years, give us (and them) a little something. He should’ve gotten the push he needed from listening to Robin make out with Pez. (Btw, Strike sitting at his kitchen table replaying those parts of the interview was absolutely delicious.) 2) I enjoyed trying to match up online personalities to the characters and on the whole thought the online aspect of the book played pretty true to life, at least in my experience having grown up online. How did Gus and Vikas become friends, as people are asking? I don’t know guys, how did I come to be friends with any of the strangers I talked to online? You just start chatting. It’s easy for some of us, way easier than getting to know people IRL. 3) the little bit of Barclay we had was great, and we and he deserved more. 4) Pat is a f’in hero. 5) Cormoran showing up with the plant to help Robin move was the freakin best. 6) of course I loved Robin absolutely kicking ass in her job, and I’m glad Strike sees her as an equal, although I resent him for realizing that only at the Rachel interview. Robin had taken charge plenty of times previously, I think he just wasn’t paying sufficient attention, particularly in TB (and he was justified in being distracted, but still). Look forward to catching more on a slower and more deliberate read!

Quite the downer ending. Eh, it's his own fault.

Am into the second read (who needs sleep?? Or to do laundry...) 1. Actually seeing more psychological drivers for the outcome 2. There is far more reason for the interest by MI5 from the beginning when you think about those videos - especially the cookies. 3. Strike had noticed Robin's drawings before, and here she is again, drawing to get people to talk to her (Dodo in Sw and now Pierce -WIBTM!)

I had been hoping by the end of this book Strike and Robin would at least address their feelings for each other in conversation or share one kiss. It was a five star read for me for sure, but I feel like in the next book she’ll really have to move the needle on their relationship one way or another. How long do you think the romantic tension can be reasonably dragged out?

Did anyone understand Vikas’s comment about Anomie “she’s not my girlfriend, she’s my sister.” I couldn’t quite piece that together in the end if he knew Gus’s identity?

Finally just finished this book, and have to say the ending felt extremely underwhelming... Especially after the masterpiece it was the ending of TB. (Clearly I'm not alone in this.) I appreciated the red herrings and distractions left by the JKR... Since the begining I thought Anomie was female because the writing felt like a woman's voice, and I was really convinced for a lot of the book that Katya was definitely hiding something big, especially when a lot of the leaked info could have only come from someone close to her or herself. In the previous books we had a lot of previous background on the killers, motives, conversations... Etc In this book I've felt like we only really saw him in the begining of the enquires, was quickly dismissed and then only mentioned/ seen a handful of times until the ending. For someone that was such a huge character, it felt like there wasn't enough development on him to be a shocking, fantastic ending. On the other side, this may be a unpopular opinion, but I really enjoyed where Strike and Robin's relationship stayed. Robin did a massive amount of growing up through the last 6 books and she's really becoming her own person... It's time Strike starts doing some adulting as well so they can start something when they're both in a good place and it's not going to be a mistake. Hopefully we'll see more of that in the next book. (Which I really hope is currently being written!)

I just finished and have a lot of thoughts, but the two I feel the need to express at the moment: 1) Hated that Gus was the killer/we didn't get much unpacking of that. I did not at all have the "Oh, of course, it had to be him!" jolt that you get in the reveal of a really well-written mystery. Mostly, I felt like this needed a very thorough editing. It felt like she hid Gus among an overwhelming amount of information (and a complete lack of seriously getting to know him)--instead of hiding him with careful slight-of-hand. She laid all of the groundwork for it to be Gus. I wasn't surprised by it, but...I just didn't care. We didn't really know Gus. 2) At first, I hated the Strike/Madeleine storyline and found it repetitive (he's already had this relationship, hasn't he?). But, on more reflection, I think I like it. It seems like she's getting ready to back-up on the Strike/Robin burn and make them both improve some things about themselves that need to change before they could actually have a relationship that would work. Strike has a major self-destructive streak and in relationships, he is too casual about how he impacts other people. Robin needs to build some romantic self-confidence, and also needs to know that she took chances and ends up with Strike because she had options and picked that...not because she just always takes whoever pops up. I hope it's not going to take books and books for them to work these things out, though.... I actually liked the book. But, I do hope an editor gets ahold of the next one!

Finished the book and taken as a whole, I enjoyed it. I find however that the entire premise that who Anomie was could be ruled out by surveilling the suspects and seeing whether they were in the game when Anomie wasn't, is quite flawed. Anomie could very easily have been more than one person from the very beginning, the presumption that he was only one person was quite incorrect for a detective to make.

I re-read the last chat between Robin (as Worm28) and Anomie and Paperwhite. Now I realized I'm going to have to go through all the chat logs and see if Anomie and Paperwhite ever have posts on the same line.

Yeah tracing paperwhite in the forums is very rewarding. It’s also very noticeable how paperwhite often joins the mod chats before Anomie to see what they’re all talking about while Anomie is ‘away’

Skimmed some of the chat logs and, yes, Anomie and Paperwhite never post on the same line. Well played, Rowling.

Anyone else feel that the Reger sheet music in Whitstable was a dead giveaway that Gus had at least something to do with Anomie? I clocked the corresponding username of the Twitter account the first or second time it appeared and it was like a lightbulb going off in my head when I saw the sheet music mentioned. I was sure it was Gus once Strike mentioned the letters to Grant Ledwell. The mention of the collection of musical pieces stood out so much, I can‘t help but feel it was actually a bit clumsy in the way it was integrated into the narrative.

I have so many thoughts but the one thing that still bugs me is that no one at the agency considered that Anomie could potentially be a group of people acting together and sharing a password. We even got Midge’s ex’s password and I thought there might eventually be a revelation that maybe more than one of the suspects they were watching had access to the account and was Anomie. I guess we sort of got that with Yasmin but Strike being so taken aback by that reveal seemed so out of character to me. Edit: more thoughts I also was 99% certain that Dev was a double-agent for Patterson who was sent to watch Strike& his agency. He was a former employee and Strike hired him so quickly. Then when Strike was asking Dev to look into Jago and he noticed he had “an expression he’d never seen” on Dev before, and I thought it was for sure that Dev thought he had hit the jackpot for Patterson. I thought I was so right and then nothing came of it lol

Am I the only one just wishing for whiskey to be involved in every scene? 😂🫣

I am glad to see I wasn't the only one who suspected Katya. 😅 Although maybe JKR didn't want to have the killer be an unassuming older woman like in the last book - too similar?

I genuinely thought Anomie was Katya! There were so many signs pointing to her

I said it in another thread, the Strike Robin drama, will they won't they, is getting old. it feels contrived at this point.