Lethal White: Cormoran Strike Book 4

I thoroughly enjoyed the first 3 Cormoran Strike books and was eagerly awaiting this 4th one. I was very disappointed though, because it just didn't live up to the earlier books. It was about twice as long, with less than half the action and humorous content and was quite frankly boring. Although I did manage to plough all the way through it, by the end I was left wondering why I'd actually bothered.

As a disclaimer, I read the first three of the Strike novels, and really enjoyed them: I had the new one on my Amazon List, but given I had an eight hour drive ahead of me, I ended up using my new Audible credit to buy it on Audio: I’d listened to at least two of the others that way, and Robert Glenister is a fine narrator. It can be a real test of a book as to how listenable it is as an audio edition: success falling somewhere between the quality of the writing and the reader of it. So, this review is based on the audio version, not the printed word.I have no problem, as a lot of reviewers seem to have, with the ‘will they/ won’t they’ on-going story line between Strike and his partner Robin – it’s a question/ plot point that has been earned in the three books which preceded this one, and I like them enough as characters to want to know what happens between them. It’s true that this time around the whole thing is a bit more in your face – there’s no subtlety this time around as to what they think of each other: we’re told it enough times through their inner monologues, which are incredibly simpatico at times…and it does occasionally bring the plot to more of a halt than the previous tales have, but I wouldn’t go anywhere near as far as to see it as ‘second rate Mills and Boon as some of the unkinder critics have claimed.Where it is like a Mills and Boon, in some respects at least, is that as a regular reader we by now know what to expect to a degree – Robin’s fiancé as was/ now husband, Matthew is a two-dimensional snivelling little foil to show how good, caring, and dammit, right for Robin, Strike is. Strike is irascible to the point where if you met him in a pub (where he’d definitely be drinking Doombar -seriously, is there a promotional tie in going on here?) you’d think he was a complete git, but we’re encouraged to see it as quirky/ lovable – as every woman in the world does, despite him being a ‘fat pube haired cripple’ as he repeatedly tells anyone who listens – yes, the self-depreciating is another winning characteristic. Robin is as plucky and naturally adept to her relatively new calling, and despite constantly getting into trouble, the books are at pains to tell us she is far from being a damsel in distress…even though, well, most of the time she ends up as a DiD…The characters around them are of the usual Strike type- both in the re-occurring characters (in a much reduced role this time around), and the new entrants: we have the snobs who look down at Strike and are fundamentally flawed even if they’re not murderers, the Press who are pretty much gutter snipes, the ex-girlfriend who’s appeal I still haven’t understood despite four books trying to describe her dazzling looks and ‘out-there’ personality.Of the four books in the series so far, I did find Lethal White the least effective. It’s not because of the over emphasis on the romance, it’s because of the basic plot and the bringing together of PTSD, dodgy politics, an Olympics plot which I’m not sure had any need to be there, and a bunch of secondary characters who we spend a lot of time with, but who seem to disappear off without a by-your-leave.Mostly, however, I was disappointed with the heavy-handed exposition in this one: there are essentially two scenes where two characters have pages and pages devoted to a conversation which outlines everything that has gone before: the worst culprit of this being in the final showdown, where in a reverse Bond villain move, the bad egg insists a character reveal their own plot to them, to ascertain how much the police know…and boy, does that go on some…

No matter how boring or terrible a book is I persevere to the end, but this book defeated me.These are characters I have grown to like and care about and yet midway through this borefest I gave up.I have no idea what happens at the end and I don't care.Joanne - get an editor. That edits. Please.Everyone else - do yourself a favour and wait for the TV series.

Never thought I would write such a review for a Strike book. LOVED previous three books. This book is poor. Filled with obscure words, designed to show how clever the author was. A travelogue of London streets. Up here, along there, down here. Fillers. Plot could fill 100 pages, but dragged through 649. I was determined to finish, thinking it must get better - Wrong. The family "secret" was ludicrous. Unbelievable. Ending designed to be enigmatic, and wanting more. Weak. Just don't care now. Wasted money on hard back - Charity shops will soon be filled.

This just didn't read like it was written by the amazing J K Rowling, it was full of clunky character stereotypes, particulary her horsy posh people sterotypes. Equally the storyline had none of the finesse of the previous Strike books. Having admired the professional partnership between Strike and Ellacott I was disappointed to see that tumble into more of a will they won't they storyline. Although the relationship between Robin and her husband was well written, I recognised JK in that, and also the PTSD storyline. There were glimpses of the glory of the previous works, but overall this read more like an generic Rom Com romance novel than a work by J K Rowling.