Detective Cormoran Strike investigates the disappearance of eccentric writer Owen Quine, but the missing person case quickly turns into a murder mystery when Strike finds Quine dead, murdered in horrific fashion. All the editors, writers and publishers who make appearances in Quine's newly finished and slanderous novel manuscript are suspect, as is Quine's long-suffering wife. I really enjoyed this mystery, the second in the Strike series, written under J.K. Rowling's pen name. I did not guess the killer. No surprise there--I'm never clever that way. Looking forward to the next one in this series. This is radically different from the majority of modern crime novels in that it is constructed like a classic detective story, with a detective, a partner, a crime, clues, some obvious, some hidden and then obvious, a few red herrings, a couple of assumptions that are so wrong, and the detective explaining everything to the killer before the police arrive.In short this is the sort of book that when people say they don't write anymore they genuinely don't seem to write anymore and yet it shows why this form of fiction needs to still exist. In a world where the focus is on the psychological and the darkness at the heart of monsters it is refreshing to read a book where the main focus is on trying to guess who the killer is and not finding out until the last few chapters and where the main detectives have no major emotional disabilities to agonise over for endless chapters.
What do You think about Le Ver à Soie (2014)?
I enjoyed book #2 in the Cormoran Strike series, it read quickly and I like the detective team.
—casey1509
I surprised myself and actually enjoyed this second glimpse into Cormoran Strike's world.
—botun
Good second Cormoran Strike novel. Not as exciting as the first. Sadly forgettable...
—fvv
not quite as good as the first one but still brilliant
—Tricia
