crime novel

JK Rowling (or Robert Gabraith) has done it again. I was hooked with this one. Even with the book being around 1200 pages, I flew through it and was captivated and entertained throughout. A trap that long books like this can fall into is the pacing, the last book I read I Am Pilgrim fell into this, where some parts are rushed where others are dragged. This book was patient, delicate and precise and kept leaving you with enough information throughout that you are engaged and follow along but are wanting more and more. I did get a bit lost with all of the different characters but that might just be me more than anything. The ever-present relationship between Robin and Strike didn’t fail to keep teasing me and have me longing for more. Now, about the story. Wow! Super complex, the whole cult religion thing was really articulate and modern, I could full see some ‘religion’ like that gaining popularity today. I not only enjoyed this book but I was very impressed by it. Brings up a thought o...

The first book of the trilogy, Mr Mercedes is a chilling crime thriller that is pretty disturbing to say the least. The opening scene of the car driving through everybody is probably up there with my favourite book scenes of all time. The cat and mouse game throughout that follows the psycho Mr Mercedes as the 'mouse' and Bill Hodges as the 'cat', it is a gruesome and real depiction of events that really showed King's messed up mind, how he is able to not only create this characters, but live them out and create their personalities and their actions. This book is not for the faint hearted, but it is well worth the read.  Author: Stephen King

The follow up to Cuckoo's Calling, the Silkworm had high expectations from me, and it surpassed them. With his new found fame, there aren't any money issues in this book, which actually relieved me as I felt for the complex character of Strike that Rowling created. An author goes missing, and this missing persons case suddenly turns into a gruesome murder scene with the whole scene being a complex message being sent out. This suddenly throws everybody under the scope of Strike, and again Rowling nails the whodunnit book, leaving me on the edge of my seat guessing and wondering who the murderer is. A complex and well fleshed out book with a satisfying ending, this is probably my favourite of the series and one of my favourite crime books to date.  Author: JK Rowling (Robert Galbraith)

    After the previous two books took a step back to the past, the Ink Black Heart is very much set in the present, with a murder mystery surrounding a viral tv show turned video game. I really enjoyed this book and the use of modern technology without being outdated or 'cringe'. It is a really great story that had me hooked from the beginning, and is probably tied first with The Silkworm with my favourite books in the series. The idea that Anomie is claiming to be the killer and has this online presence whilst they try to find the real killer in real life, it was just a really cool and complex book, that had a whodunnit theme so well I was questioning whether the 13 year old child was the killer. Again, Rowling tortures us with Strike and Robin to the point now where it is painful to read, but you can't stop because you just want to see them flourish. Overall, a really great book with some really funny scenes like the comic-on and some real intense scenes like the crossove...

When trying to collect my thoughts on this book, I realised that I I think my enjoyment was diminished slightly because I was lost on all the different characters and the storylines within the book, who was who, who supposedly did what and who was William Wright. So you’d think that yeh, its convoluted so I didn’t enjoy the book, far from it. I haven’t felt such a desire to keep reading a book for a while, I was exciting to keep reading and see where the story would go. I’m super invested in the characters at this point, and JK Rowling went from teasing the relationship to twisting the knife, heaps of tension where at some points, takes over the story entirely. I do really like the ending, a great whodunnit where it is a creative ending that is unexpected and not corny. The revenge they got on those who wronged them (Kim) and the smart detective work, a great book. I love how JK writes, using the phonetic writing for accents was great and she’s amazing at creating awful villains to roo...

  The introductory book in the crime series following Cormoran Strike and Robin, it does an excellent job establishing the characters, the relationships between them and the strains they endure, as well as create an excellent whodunnit book. Most whodunnits are pretty sloppy or poorly written in my opinion, but this one was far from it however, as it makes you fall into a trance where you don't even realise what is happening. The characters are awesome, Strike's grizzly personality is refreshing to read and his disability adds tension and uniqueness to the story. Robin's flawed relationship with her husband is frustrating and gets evermore so throughout the series. The biggest surprise in this book is the ending, finding out that JK Rowling wrote this under a pseudonym. Made me think no wonder it was such a good book. Author: JK Rowling (Robert Galbraith)

  Usually after a couple of good books in a series, the third one becomes stale, repetitive or just not as good as the previous two. Career of Evil is interesting as it has the same elements of what made the previous books good, the whodunnit style and the complex characters and their dialogue, however what Rowling did to make this book remain fresh and interesting is that the crimes are targeted towards Strike himself. Someone from his past is going after Strike with Robin caught in the crossfire. It is a very interesting read, thrilling from beginning to end, however the most compelling parts throughout the book is the romance between Robin and Strike. Rowling puts her creativity and knowledge of relationships on show as she creates scene after scene of tension between Robin and Strike. It is interesting to me how Strike has so much love and care for Robin and doesn't want her in danger throughout the whole series, shows his true nature and feelings for her. Also, her husband is ...

This might be the ‘newest’ book I’ve read, as it was published in 2024 and I read it in 2025. Really enjoyed the style and pacing of the book, the author Richard Osman has a really unique style of writing dialogue, the way people communicated was very abrupt, direct, sarcastic. Very dry and enjoyable humour. It does a really good job of having a lot of characters and moving in lots of different directions, but I wasn’t lost whilst reading and maintained clarity on who everyone was. That’s a trap a lot of whodunnits fall into, where too many forgettable characters are introduced, and you forget who Tom, Bill and Sarah are. This book successfully avoids this. All of its moving parts combined effortlessly and impressively at the end. This is a feel-good read, but a really cool ‘thriller’ story, pretty funny also. I enjoyed it a lot overall, also changed settings a lot which I appreciate quite a bit in a book. One thing that flags my concern, is where in the story a character uses Chatgpt ...

This is the 3rd book I’ve read from Alex Michaelidis (he only has 3 out) and I must say he is a consistently captivating writer and crafts really intriguing storylines. It’s hard for a whodunit style book to not have a predictable ending, but I did not see this one coming at all and I appreciate the book a lot for that. He does a great job of setting up tension and unease throughout, I was questioning everybody, and all of the side characters were really creepy. Reading it, you feel as helpless as the main character as you really can’t call what will happen. Really like the psychology aspect of it and the ties to the Greek tragedies, overall, a real solid read. This book beachside on a holiday would fulfil your needs completely. Author: Alex Michaelidis 

Super enjoyable read, I was absorbed into this book from the get-go.  It is great for what it is, a diverse story that has some cool twists, turns, reveals and a satisfying and interesting ending. Really enjoyed the perspective of how the daughter’s disappearance affected the family moving forward and the mother’s relationship with the rest of her family after the tragedy. The story kept me guessing throughout and without spoiling, super graphic ending which was good as it added that edge and extra element to the story. For what it is, short and dramatic thriller, does its job and I enjoyed the experience. Author: Lisa Jewel

 This is yet another cold case, however this one was more interesting to me for some reason. It's almost as if Rowling learnt what was boring from the previous book and made improvements to it. Maybe because the crime and the case was more interesting in this book or maybe because I could not figure out how she disappeared throughout the book so I was so intrigued. Regardless, this book was an improvement to the last one and was very good crime book to read. The relationship between Strike and Robin has me wanting to yell at the book to make them just drop everything and get together, but Rowling just wants to keep me and all the readers on edge I guess. Author: JK Rowling (Robert Galbraith)

Spoilers! This book got me like a sucker. I got baited big time, I really thought that I had guessed the book early, but it did a great job of having an unforeseen twist. I think the book loses some interest for me as the first half/portion before the reveal, it is written very basically with an inauthentic narrative voice. The first half makes sense in hindsight, the over accentuated innocence, but when reading it it feels corny and basic. It also doesn’t make sense looking back, as it was from the perspective of Patricia, we were in her thoughts, so why were we not privy to her true thoughts on Dr Hall and all that? It was left out deliberately to the audience for the big twist, but it’s kind of a cheap way to do it I believe. The ending was dynamic and interesting however, and the whole bait of her making EJ seem to be Ethan was good. The ending almost did too much, but it all came together in a twisted way which I enjoyed. Everyone in this story is an asshole in some way, except fo...

 This is a solid crime book that keeps you on edge, trying to guess who the murderer is until the end. It is investigating a crime from the past, which usually does not fare well for this genre, but it pulls it off in a way that is interesting.  Author: Karin Slaughter

I see what the book was trying to do with this one, however I think it missed it mark. Lethal White was a book where Strike and Robin had to solve a crime from years in the past. I have read a few crime books with a similar plot, and much like this one, they don't really cut it for me. There is no thrill or drama in solving a crime from so many years ago, so the spark and life from the first few books seems to be lost in this one. It is still a good read due to the interpersonal relationship and the drama that goes on with Robin and her love life, however the crime aspect of this book is not the best. I see what Rowling was trying to do, to keep doing different things to keep the novels fresh and unique, however the problem with this is that sometimes it might not work which it didn't to me with this one.  Author: JK Rowling (Robert Galbraith)

  I enjoyed parts of this book and was just not interested with parts of this book. The good qualities for me was the imagery and insight into Sweden, the international setting made this book global and interesting. The book also increasingly became more interesting, the last chapters of the book where surprisingly high action and entertaining. The depth of the character of the Pasha was also a highlight, the dichotomy of his religion and his evil actions. What brought this book down was the boring bank talk and the mundane work that is consistent throughout the first half. The whole idea of him trying to find his father's killer seemed forced to me, his actions of leaving his girlfriend and uproot his life to find a potential killer where to me unjustified and illogical which kind of made me think what's the point the whole time. The cliche ending was also pretty lame, woo hoo we saved the world just in time. Regardless, a decent read that had it's ups and downs. Author: C...

Following a coal mine accident, an investigation reveals the true nature of the incident and its implications on the local community. This crime/thriller book has a lot of boring mining talk. In a sense it was interesting to read about new things, something I have never really thought about before in mining, but it just ends up being flat and a bit of a boring read. I had no real connection with Amos and thought of him as being emotionless and a big brute, his whole storyline of his involvement with the drugs loosely weaved throughout the book. The redeeming factor of this book is the ongoing storyline of Will and his wife, the fake divorce and the complexities of their relationship was what kept bringing me back to the book but all the mine talk dragged it out longer than it should have.  Author: Gardiner Harris